User manual
Table Of Contents
- 1 Introducing Acronis Backup
- 2 Getting started
- 3 Understanding Acronis Backup
- 3.1 Owners
- 3.2 Credentials used in backup plans and tasks
- 3.3 User privileges on a managed machine
- 3.4 List of Acronis services
- 3.5 Full, incremental and differential backups
- 3.6 What does a disk or volume backup store?
- 3.7 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows)
- 3.8 Support for Advanced Format (4K-sector) hard disks
- 3.9 Compatibility with encryption software
- 3.10 Support for SNMP
- 3.11 Support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012
- 3.12 Support for UEFI-based machines
- 4 Backup
- 4.1 Back up now
- 4.2 Creating a backup plan
- 4.2.1 Selecting data to back up
- 4.2.2 Access credentials for source
- 4.2.3 Source files exclusion
- 4.2.4 Backup location selection
- 4.2.5 Access credentials for archive location
- 4.2.6 Backup schemes
- 4.2.7 Archive validation
- 4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials
- 4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup)
- 4.2.10 Sequence of operations in a backup plan
- 4.2.11 Why is the program asking for the password?
- 4.3 Simplified naming of backup files
- 4.3.1 The [DATE] variable
- 4.3.2 Backup splitting and simplified file naming
- 4.3.3 Usage examples
- 4.3.3.1 Example 1. Daily backup replacing the old one
- 4.3.3.2 Example 2. Daily full backups with a date stamp
- 4.3.3.3 Example 3. Hourly backups within a day
- 4.3.3.4 Example 4. Daily full backups with daily drive swaps
- 4.3.3.5 Example 5. Daily backups with weekly drive swaps
- 4.3.3.6 Example 6. Backups within working hours
- 4.4 Scheduling
- 4.5 Replication and retention of backups
- 4.6 How to disable backup cataloging
- 4.7 Default backup options
- 4.7.1 Additional settings
- 4.7.2 Archive protection
- 4.7.3 Backup cataloging
- 4.7.4 Backup performance
- 4.7.5 Backup splitting
- 4.7.6 Compression level
- 4.7.7 Disaster recovery plan (DRP)
- 4.7.8 E-mail notifications
- 4.7.9 Error handling
- 4.7.10 Event tracing
- 4.7.11 Fast incremental/differential backup
- 4.7.12 File-level backup snapshot
- 4.7.13 File-level security
- 4.7.14 Media components
- 4.7.15 Mount points
- 4.7.16 Multi-volume snapshot
- 4.7.17 Pre/Post commands
- 4.7.18 Pre/Post data capture commands
- 4.7.19 Replication/cleanup inactivity time
- 4.7.20 Sector-by-sector backup
- 4.7.21 Task failure handling
- 4.7.22 Task start conditions
- 4.7.23 Volume Shadow Copy Service
- 5 Recovery
- 5.1 Creating a recovery task
- 5.2 Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa
- 5.3 Acronis Active Restore
- 5.4 Bootability troubleshooting
- 5.5 Reverting a Windows system to its factory settings
- 5.6 Default recovery options
- 6 Conversion to a virtual machine
- 7 Storing the backed up data
- 8 Operations with archives and backups
- 9 Bootable media
- 10 Disk management
- 10.1 Supported file systems
- 10.2 Basic precautions
- 10.3 Running Acronis Disk Director Lite
- 10.4 Choosing the operating system for disk management
- 10.5 "Disk management" view
- 10.6 Disk operations
- 10.7 Volume operations
- 10.8 Pending operations
- 11 Protecting applications with disk-level backup
- 12 Administering a managed machine
- 12.1 Backup plans and tasks
- 12.2 Log
- 12.3 Alerts
- 12.4 Changing a license
- 12.5 Collecting system information
- 12.6 Adjusting machine options
- 13 Cloud backup
- 13.1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup
- 13.1.1 What is Acronis Cloud Backup?
- 13.1.2 What data can I back up and recover?
- 13.1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the cloud storage?
- 13.1.4 How do I secure my data?
- 13.1.5 Supported operating systems and virtualization products
- 13.1.6 Backup and recovery FAQ
- 13.1.6.1 What backup methods are available?
- 13.1.6.2 What recovery methods are available?
- 13.1.6.3 Is the cloud storage available under Acronis bootable media?
- 13.1.6.4 What if a network connection is lost during cloud backup or recovery?
- 13.1.6.5 What happens if I run out of space?
- 13.1.6.6 What is the cleanup task for?
- 13.1.6.7 How do I make a recovered machine recognize its subscription?
- 13.1.7 Initial Seeding FAQ
- 13.1.7.1 What is Initial Seeding?
- 13.1.7.2 Why would I want to use Initial Seeding?
- 13.1.7.3 Is Initial Seeding a paid service?
- 13.1.7.4 What types of hard drive can I use for Initial Seeding?
- 13.1.7.5 Can I send more than one backup under a single Initial Seeding license?
- 13.1.7.6 Can I send backups taken from a number of machines on a single hard drive?
- 13.1.7.7 How to buy an Initial Seeding license?
- 13.1.7.8 How do I perform initial seeding?
- 13.1.7.9 How to package a hard drive for shipment?
- 13.1.7.10 How do I track an Initial Seeding order status?
- 13.1.8 Large Scale Recovery FAQ
- 13.1.8.1 What is Large Scale Recovery?
- 13.1.8.2 Why would I use Large Scale Recovery?
- 13.1.8.3 Do I need to perform initial seeding to be able to use Large Scale Recovery?
- 13.1.8.4 Is Large Scale Recovery a paid service?
- 13.1.8.5 Can I perform large scale recovery on a different machine?
- 13.1.8.6 Can I obtain backups taken from a number of machines on a single hard drive?
- 13.1.8.7 How to buy a Large Scale Recovery license?
- 13.1.8.8 How do I track a Large Scale Recovery order status?
- 13.1.8.9 How to perform large scale recovery?
- 13.1.9 Subscription lifecycle FAQ
- 13.1.9.1 How do I access my account management webpage?
- 13.1.9.2 Where do I find the subscriptions that I purchased?
- 13.1.9.3 When does my subscription begin?
- 13.1.9.4 What happens when my subscription expires?
- 13.1.9.5 How do I renew a subscription?
- 13.1.9.6 What is the “Group” column for?
- 13.1.9.7 Can I revoke a subscription from a machine?
- 13.1.9.8 Can I cancel my subscription?
- 13.2 Where do I start?
- 13.3 Choosing a subscription
- 13.4 Configuring proxy settings
- 13.5 Checking the firewall settings
- 13.6 Activating cloud backup subscriptions
- 13.7 Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a web browser
- 13.8 Limitations of the cloud storage
- 13.9 Terminology reference
- 13.1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup
- 14 Glossary
- Acronis Active Restore
- Acronis Plug-in for WinPE
- Acronis Secure Zone
- Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (ASRM)
- Activity
- Agent (Acronis Backup Agent)
- Archive
- Backup
- Backup archive (Archive)
- Backup operation
- Backup options
- Backup plan (Plan)
- Backup scheme
- Bootable agent
- Bootable media
- Built-in group
- Cataloging
- Centralized backup plan
- Centralized management
- Centralized task
- Centralized vault
- Cleanup
- Console (Acronis Backup Management Console)
- Consolidation
- Data catalog
- Deduplicating vault
- Deduplication
- Differential backup
- Direct management
- Disaster recovery plan (DRP)
- Disk backup (Image)
- Disk group
- Dynamic disk
- Dynamic group
- Dynamic volume
- Encrypted archive
- Encrypted vault
- Export
- Full backup
- GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son)
- Image
- Incremental backup
- Indexing
- Local backup plan
- Local task
- Logical volume
- Machine
- Managed machine
- Managed vault
- Management server (Acronis Backup Management Server)
- Media builder
- Personal vault
- Plan
- Recovery point
- Registered machine
- Registration
- Replenishable pool
- Replication
- Retention rules
- Single-pass backup
- Static group
- Storage node (Acronis Backup Storage Node)
- Task
- Tower of Hanoi
- Unmanaged vault
- Validation
- Vault
- Virtual machine
- WinPE (Windows Preinstallation Environment)
75 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2016
Retain the backup until all dependent backups become subject to deletion (movement)
The outdated backup (marked with the icon) will be kept until all backups that depend on it
also become outdated. Then, all the chain will be deleted at once during the regular cleanup. If
you chose moving outdated backups to the next location, the backup will be copied there
without delay. Only its deletion from the current location is postponed.
This mode helps to avoid the potentially time-consuming consolidation but requires extra space
for storing backups whose deletion is postponed. The archive size and/or the backup age or
number can exceed the values you specify.
This mode is not available for Acronis Cloud Storage when you copy or move backups there. In
the cloud storage, all backups are incremental except the first backup of an archive which is
always full. This chain cannot be entirely deleted because the most recent backup must always
be kept.
Consolidate these backups
The software will consolidate the backup that is subject to deletion or movement, with the next
dependent backup. For example, the retention rules require to delete a full backup but to retain
the next incremental one. The backups will be combined into a single full backup which will be
dated with the incremental backup date. When an incremental or differential backup from the
middle of the chain is deleted, the resulting backup type will be incremental.
This mode ensures that after each cleanup the archive size and the age or number of backups are
within the bounds you specify. The consolidation, however, may take a lot of time and system
resources. You still need some extra space in the vault for temporary files created during
consolidation.
This mode is not available if you selected the Archive size greater than rule for any archive
location except for Acronis Cloud Storage.
What you need to know about consolidation
Please be aware that consolidation is just a method of deletion but not an alternative to deletion.
The resulting backup will not contain data that was present in the deleted backup and was
absent from the retained incremental or differential backup.
4.5.5 Usage examples
This section provides examples of how you can replicate backups and set up retention rules for them.
4.5.5.1 Example 1. Replicating backups to a network folder
Consider the following scenario:
You want to perform a full backup of your machine manually.
You want to store the backups in Acronis Secure Zone (p. 145) on the machine.
You want to store a copy of the backups in a network folder.
In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Manual start scheme. When creating the backup plan,
specify Acronis Secure Zone in the Location field, select Full in the Backup type field, select the
Replicate newly created backup to another location check box, and then specify the network folder
in the 2nd location field.
Result:
You can recover the machine’s volumes or files from a readily available local backup, which is
stored in a dedicated area of the hard disk.
You can recover the machine from the network folder if the machine’s hard disk drive fails.