RTM User's Guide
Table of contents 1 Getting started ......................................................................................................................6 1.1 Introduction ...............................................................................................................................6 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.1.3 1.1.4 1.1.5 1.1.6 1.1.7 1.1.8 1.1.9 1.1.10 1.2 Program workspace .................................................................................................................15 1.2.
2.10 Consolidating backup versions ................................................................................................49 2.10.1 2.10.2 2.10.3 2.10.4 Archive to consolidate protection................................................................................................................ 50 Backup selection............................................................................................................................................ 50 Result location ........................
.5.5 4.5.6 4.5.7 4.5.8 4.6 Recovery from Acronis Cloud ..................................................................................................90 4.6.1 4.6.2 4.7 5 Removing data from Acronis Cloud .........................................................................................91 Creating bootable rescue media..............................................................................................93 5.1.1 5.1.2 5.1.3 5.2 Selecting a hard disk.................................
7.5 Creating a custom rescue CD .................................................................................................136 7.6 Viewing log.............................................................................................................................136 7.7 Acronis Customer Experience Program .................................................................................138 8 Glossary of Terms ...................................................................................
1 Getting started 1.1 Introduction In this section What is Acronis Small Office: Server Cloud Backup? ................................. 6 Acronis Small Office Backup basic concepts .............................................. 7 FAQ about backup and recovery ................................................................ 9 System requirements and supported media ...........................................10 Small Office Backup installation...............................................................
In any event, some functions are available to you without Internet (offline mode). All the program functions that can be run from the Windows Start menu are available in the offline mode. For example, you can create a bootable rescue media and mount images. If you have scheduled backups, the new versions of the backups will be created according to the schedule even in the offline mode.
Backup file format Acronis Small Office Backup usually saves backup data in the proprietary tib format using compression. This reduces the amount of needed storage space. When creating a tib file, the program calculates checksum values for data blocks and adds these values to the data being backed up. These checksum values allow for the verification of data integrity. The data from tib file backups can be recovered only through the Acronis Small Office Backup program.
1.1.3 FAQ about backup and recovery I have a 150GB system partition, but the occupied space on that partition is only 80GB. What will Small Office Backup include in a backup? - By default, Small Office Backup copies only the hard disk sectors that contain data, so it will include only 80GB in a backup. You can also choose the sector-by-sector mode. Note than such a backup mode is required only in special cases. For more information see Image creation mode (p. 39).
Furthermore, recovering a backup of a dual boot machine to different hardware requires using Acronis Universal Restore. Does Small Office Backup support RAID? - Small Office Backup supports hardware RAID arrays of all popular types. It also supports all software RAID configurations except RAID 1 (mirrored) and RAID 5. Acronis Bootable Rescue Media supports most of the popular hardware RAID controllers.
VMware vSphere / ESX / ESXi and Workstation Microsoft Hyper-V and Virtual PC Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) and KVM Citrix XenServer Parallels Workstation and Server Bare Metal Small Office Backup also lets you create a bootable CD-R/DVD-R that can back up and recover a disk/partition on a computer running any Intel- or AMD- based PC operating system, including Linux®. (Note that the Intel-based Apple Macintosh is not supported.) 1.1.4.
Small Office Backup provides full support of SSDs. It keeps the proper offset of SSD during such operations as image recovery and cloning. Specifically, full support means that: If you recover a disk backup to an SSD or clone a disk to an SSD, the offset will be automatically set to the default 1024 KB (2048 sectors). If you recover a partition backup to a target empty non-partitioned (unallocated) SSD, the offset will be automatically set to the default 1024 KB (2048 sectors).
Activation will be performed automatically if the following conditions are met: Your computer has an Internet connection. You have an Acronis account. You purchased a full subscription or serial number. You installed the product only on 1 computer. Acronis Small Office Backup is activated when you sign in for the first time after purchasing the full subscription. Moving license between computers If you have one Acronis account, you can activate Acronis Small Office Backup on 1 computer only.
To get a full subscription: 1. Start Small Office Backup. 2. In the login window, enter the email address and password of your Acronis account, and then click Sign in. If you do not have the account yet, click Create account. See details below. 3. On the toolbar, click the Manage subscription button. 4. In the opened webpage, choose a tariff plan, click Upgrade and provide your payment information.
Advantages of installing Acronis Hotfixes: Hotfix installation does not require much time and resources. You do not need to wait until the next product update to fix a particular issue. A hotfix package is much smaller than the product installation package, though it may include files from previous hotfixes for consistency. You can install only necessary hotfixes, if several hotfixes are available.
1.2.1 Main window The main window provides quick access to all of the program functionality. If you have not created any backups yet, the program will offer to create a new backup or add an existing backup. If you have at least one backup, the screen will display the list of your backups. The toolbar See the toolbar commands description in Toolbar (p. 18). The backups area The area shows the backups you already have.
Operations menu Clicking the gear icon in the box of a selected backup or right-clicking in the free area of the box opens an Operations menu containing the following items: View log - click to open the log for the current backup. Back up now - adds a new backup version to the existing backup or replaces the existing backup version, depending on the backup scheme being used. Open location - opens the folder containing the backup files.
Consolidate versions - you can delete the backup versions you no longer need while maintaining the consistency of the backup. Clone settings - clones the current backup settings when you need to create several similar backups. Clone the backup settings and then introduce the required changes. Move... - click to move all the backup files to another location. The subsequent backup versions will be saved to the new location.
Browse for backup Click this item to browse for backups on your computer and add them to the backup list. This may be useful when you have backups created on another computer. Recover Click this item to recover data from your backups and then select the backup that contains the required data. Show only my favorite backups This icon filters the backups which you have marked as favorite. Expand all backup boxes This icon expands all collapsed backup boxes.
Not-backe This command removes all "empty" backup d-up-yet boxes from the backup list. Be careful because, boxes after removal, such backup boxes cannot be returned to the list. 1.2.2 Wizards and notification area icons When you use the available Acronis Small Office Backup tools and utilities, the program will in many cases employ wizards to guide you through the operations. Wizards have a sidebar listing all the steps (both required and optional) needed for completing the operation.
allows you to explore and recover backed up data (both partitions and individual files and even file versions). It also allows for operations with backups - you can validate them, mount images as disks, and delete backup versions you no longer need. Let's have a closer look on the Acronis Backup Explorer. It has two tabs for viewing backups and their content: Disks and partitions and Files and folders. 1.2.3.
Right-clicking on a backup version opens the shortcut menu with other available operations: Recover - select to recover the current backup version. Validate - select to check the integrity of the backup version data. Mount - select to mount the backup version as a disk. Delete version - select to delete the backup version (the backup chain will not be corrupted). View - select to set up the time line to show some additional information.
Selecting a disk, partition, file or folder to make it the current item in a list does not mean selecting it for recovery! The majority of user interface elements located on this tab are described in the Disks and partitions tab (p. 21) section. Here we describe the items specific for the tab. When you click an item, short information on this item is displayed under the browser area. The set of displayed parameters depends on the item's type.
The picture below shows various states of a time line. The states vary depending on the number of backups and the time interval through which you are navigating. The "Now" interval shows backup versions created during the last hour. The "Today" interval shows backup versions created from the beginning of the current day to the last hour. The "week" interval can be named either "Week ago" or "This week". When today is Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, the "week" interval is named "Week ago".
The "Older" interval shows backup versions created from earlier than the beginning of the current year. Working with time intervals and backup versions Time intervals may be expanded (when the number of backup versions fits onto the time line) or folded into a square "block". When a time interval is expanded, the squares representing backup versions may contain a "warning" or "error" icon. Such an icon indicates that warning(s) or error(s) have been written into the Log during version creation.
Viewing additional information on the time line You can also set up the time line to show additional information. The appropriate commands are available in the View submenu. The View submenu is opened by right-clicking on a backup version or by right-clicking on time line's free space. Show software installations - if this item is selected, the time line shows icons that indicate moments when new programs have been installed on your computer.
Customer Experience Program - allows joining or leaving Acronis Customer Experience Program. For more information on the program click the Learn more link in the opened window. Timeout settings - allows you to specify the time interval the program should wait for your response. For more information see Timeout settings (p. 131). 1.2.6 Help menu The Help menu allows you to open the program's Help, perform certain operations, view product's build number, etc.
2 Backing up data In this section What is a disk/partition image? ...............................................................28 Full, incremental and differential backups ..............................................28 Backing up partitions and disks................................................................29 Making reserve copies of your backups...................................................31 How to make bootable removable media with a backup ........................
"Incremental" - These are most useful when you need frequent backups and the ability to roll back to a specific point in time. Having created a full backup once, if you then create an incremental backup each day of a month, you will get the same result as if you created full backups every day of the month. As a rule, incremental backups are considerably smaller than full or differential backups.
then select the disk's check box. To return to the partition selection, click Switch to partition mode. 3. Select a destination for backup (you can leave the default destination when it suits you or browse for a destination after clicking the Browse button). You will not be able to change the selected destination after creating the first backup version. When the backup destination is any removable media (USB stick, BD, DVD...), the Make this media bootable check box becomes selectable.
2.4 Making reserve copies of your backups You can create reserve copies of your backups and save them on the file system, a network drive, or a USB flash drive. A reserve copy may help you if the main backup becomes corrupted or if the storage of the main backup fails. In addition to enhancing the backed up data security with replication, this feature allows you to copy a set of documents, for example, to a USB stick for working on them at home.
This may be a viable option if your backup is not very large. For example, we strongly recommend not to back up to DVDs if the number of discs used will be more than three. If your backup takes several DVDs, recovery will require a lot of disc swapping. Here is the procedure to use: 1. 2. 3. 4. Start Small Office Backup and click Disk and partition backup. Select a partition or the whole disk to back up.
2.6 Adding an existing backup to the list If you have backups that are not shown in the backups list (for example, backups created on another computer), you can add them manually. To add a backup to the backup list: 1. Click Browse for backup. 2. In the opened window, select the backup you want to add. 3. Click the Add to backup list button. 2.7 Deleting backups and backup versions You may want to delete backups and backup versions you no longer need.
After you have installed the application, all options are set to the initial values. You can change them for your current backup operation only or for all backups that will be created in future. Select the Save the settings as default check box to apply the modified settings to all further backup operations by default. Note that options of each backup type are fully independent, and you should configure them separately.
2.8.1 Backup schemes Backup schemes along with the scheduler help you to set up your backup strategy. The schemes allow you to optimize backup storage space usage, improve data storage reliability, and automatically delete the obsolete backup versions.
2.8.3 Version chain scheme At first the program creates the 1st full backup version. The version will be kept until you delete it manually. After that, according to the specified schedule (or when you run backup manually) the program creates: 1 full and 5 differential backup versions, then again 1 full and 5 differential backup versions and so on. The versions will be stored for 6 months. After the period the program analyzes if the oldest backup versions (except the 1st full version) may be deleted.
Create a full version after every [n] incremental versions - select this item to create several backup version chains. This is a more reliable but more space-consuming backup scheme. Automatic cleanup rules To delete obsolete backup versions automatically, you can set one of the following cleanup rules: Delete versions older than [defined period] (available for full method only) - Select this option to limit the age of backup versions.
After creating a custom backup scheme, you can use it as any other existing backup scheme while configuring a backup. You can also use a custom backup scheme without saving it. In this case, it will be available only for the backup where it was created and you will be unable to use it for other backups. If you do not need a custom backup scheme anymore, you can delete it. To delete the scheme, select it in the backup schemes list, click Delete, and then click Delete scheme in the confirmation window.
3. Click Turn on for the Schedule item. In the Scheduler window click Monthly, and specify, for example, the 1st and 15th days of the month. This will result in a backup version in about every 2 weeks. Then specify a start time for the backup operation. 4. Click Incremental next to the Backup scheme item (Incremental is the default backup scheme). 5. In the Disk Backup Options window, make sure that the Backup scheme tab is selected. 6. Choose Custom scheme instead of Incremental scheme. 7.
This option becomes available if you have selected the previous parameter, Back up sector-by-sector. By default, while performing sector-by-sector backup, unallocated space is not included into the backup file. Enabling this option will include all unallocated disk space into the backup. 2.8.6 Backup protection A backup file can be password-protected. By default, there is no password protection for backups. To protect the backup: Enter the password for the backup into the Password field.
Please do not try to execute interactive commands, i.e. commands that require user input (for example, "pause"). These are not supported. 2.8.7.1 Edit user command for backup You can specify user commands to be executed before or after the backup procedure: In the Command field, type-in a command or select it from the list. Click ... to select a batch file. In the Arguments field enter or select command execution arguments from the list.
Creating images directly on CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, BD-R/RE might take considerably more time than it would on a hard disk. 2.8.9 Backup validation option You can specify the additional validation setting: Validate backup when it is created. When this option is enabled, the program will check the integrity of the recently created or supplemented backup version immediately after backup.
Also remember that you will pay for the enhanced convenience and increased security of your data by the time required for performing the backup because normal backup and reserve copying are performed one at a time and not simultaneously. Please, be aware that CD/DVDs are not supported as locations for reserve copies. 2.8.11 Removable media settings When backing up to removable media, you can make this media bootable by writing additional components to it. Thus, you will not need a separate bootable disk.
Note that by default the comment will be assigned to all versions of the backup. You can edit the comment of a specific backup version in Backup Explorer. 2.8.13 Error handling When the program encountered an error while performing backup, it stops the backup process and displays a message, waiting for a response on how to handle the error.
2.8.15 Windows account When you create a backup, you can specify a Windows account under which this backup should be performed. This may be useful if your computer is used not only by you, but also by your relatives. In such a case each user often has personal documents, e-mail accounts, settings, and other personal data. By default Acronis Small Office Backup backs up data of the current user.
Network connection speed limit If you frequently back up data to network drives or FTP, think of limiting the network bandwidth used by Acronis Small Office Backup. You can specify the network backup data transfer speed by choosing the following: Limit transfer rate to - enter the bandwidth limit for transferring backup data in kilobytes per second. 2.8.17 Notifications for backup operation Sometimes a backup or recovery procedure can last an hour or longer.
Set the port of the outgoing mail server. By default the port is set to 25. If the mail server requires your credentials, select the Server requires authentication check box. Enter the user name in the User name field. Enter the password in the Password field. To check whether your settings are correct, click the Send test message button.
How to use the default exclusion settings After you have installed the application, all the exclusion settings are set to the initial values. You can change them for your current backup operation only or for all backups that will be created in future. Select the Save as default check box to apply the modified settings to all further backup operations by default.
2.9 Validating backups The validation procedure checks whether you will be able to recover data from a particular backup version, so when you select for validation on the time line… a full backup version, the program validates the full backup version only. an incremental backup version, the program validates the initial full backup, the selected incremental backup version, and the whole chain (if any) of backup versions to the selected incremental backup version.
On the box of the backup you want to consolidate, click the gear icon, point to More and then click Consolidate versions. Follow the wizard's steps. 2.10.1 Archive to consolidate protection The archive you chose is password-protected in order to prevent it from unauthorized access. You need to specify the previously entered password to obtain access to the archive. To specify the password: Type-in the password in the Password field.
Click the Proceed button to start the listed operations. Click the Options button to perform the optional steps. Click the Cancel button to exit the wizard without performing any operations. 2.11 Cloning backup settings When you already have a backup and you need to create a new backup of the same type, there is no need to configure the backup process from scratch. The program allows you to copy all settings from an existing backup.
3 Recovering data The purpose of data backup is to recover backed up data when the original is lost due to hardware failure, fire, theft or accidental deletion of files. We hope that you backed up your system and data using the backup features provided by Acronis Small Office Backup. If so, nothing will have been lost. The following sections describe how to recover disks, partitions, files and folders. In most cases, you will use Acronis Backup Explorer to recover files and folders.
If the utility correctly detects your system hard disk drive, then the cause of the crash is probably a virus, malware or corruption of a system file required for booting. If the system drive is healthy, try to recover the system using a backup of your system disk or system partition. Because Windows does not boot, you will have to use Acronis bootable rescue media. You will also need to use a system disk backup when recovering the system after replacing the damaged hard disk drive. 3.1.
3. Select My disks below Recover on the Welcome screen. 4. Select the system disk or partition backup to be used for recovery. Right-click on the backup and choose Recover in the shortcut menu. 5. Select Recover whole disks and partitions at the Recovery method step. 6. Select the system partition (usually C) on the What to recover screen. If the system partition has a different letter, select the partition using the Flags column. It must have the Pri, Act flags.
In case of Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2012 the System Reserved partition will have the Pri, Act flags . You will need to select for recovery both the System Reserved partition and the System partition. 7. At the "Settings of partition C" (or the letter of the system partition, if it is different) step check the default settings and click Next if they are correct. Otherwise, change the settings as required before clicking Next.
8. Carefully read the summary of operations at the Finish step. If you have not resized the partition, the sizes in the Deleting partition and Recovering partition items must match. Having checked the summary click Proceed. 9. When the operation finishes, exit the standalone version of Small Office Backup, remove the rescue media and boot from the recovered system partition. After making sure that you have recovered Windows to the state you need, restore the original boot order. 3.
To start the recovery in Acronis Backup Explorer, click the gear icon and select Recover files. On the time line, select the required version, click the Disks and partitions tab, select the partitions you want to recover and click the Recover button. 1. Select the corresponding check box of the partition to recover. If you backed up an entire disk, you can choose to recover the entire disk at once by clicking Switch to disk mode. To be able to select partitions again, click Switch to partition mode. 2.
We recommend that you clear the Recover disk signature check box when: You use an image backup not for disaster recovery but for cloning your Windows hard drive to another one. In this case, Small Office Backup generates a new disk signature for the recovered hard drive, even if you recover to the same drive. Disk recovery options - click to set up additional parameters for the disk recovery process. Use Acronis Universal Restore - click to use Acronis Universal Restore technology during recovery.
3. Select a partition to recover. This opens the recovery destination field below the partition name (label). 4. Click the down arrow to the right of the field and select the destination hard disk. The partition to be recovered is then placed on the selected hard disk. It occupies all the available disk space. To reduce the partition size so as to leave enough disk space for the remaining partition, click the Partition properties link below the recovery destination field.
Remember that you need to leave as much unallocated (free) space after having resized the partition as will be needed for the remaining partition. Select a disk letter and partition type. When you finish the settings, click OK to confirm them and return to the main Disk Recovery window. 6. Select the next partition's check box. 7. Select the unallocated space on the destination hard disk. The program creates a partition occupying the entire unallocated space.
8. Click the Partition properties link and make the settings for the partition. Select a disk letter and partition type. When you finish the settings, click OK to confirm them and return to the main Disk Recovery window. If the image contains more than two partitions, leave enough unallocated space for other partitions to be recovered and repeat steps 5-7 until you make the settings for all partitions. 9. Click Recover now to recover the partitions to the destination hard disk. 3.
Disk letters may differ when booting from the rescue media. The names will help you find the drive containing your backups, as well as the target (new) drive. Information on partition sizes, drive capacities, their manufacturers, and model numbers can also help to correctly identify the drives. It is highly recommended to install the new hard drive to the same position in the computer and to use the same cable and connector that was used for the original drive. This is not always possible, e.g.
4. Select Recover whole disks and partitions at the Recovery method step. 5. At the What to recover step, select the boxes of the partitions to be recovered. Do not select the MBR and Track 0 box, because this will result in selecting the entire disk for recovery. Recovering the entire disk does not allow you to resize partitions manually. You will be able to recover the MBR later. Select the partitions and click Next. Selecting partitions leads to appearance of the relevant steps "Settings of partition ..
6. You can specify the following partition settings: location, type, and size. You first need to specify the settings of the hidden partition (System Reserved partition in our case) as it usually does not have a disk letter. Because you are recovering to the new disk, click New location. Select the destination disk by either its assigned name or capacity. 7. Clicking Accept returns you to the "Settings of partition 1-1" screen. Check the partition type and change it, if necessary.
8. Proceed to specifying the partition size by clicking Change default in the Partition size area. By default the partition occupies the entire new disk. You need to keep the hidden partition size unchanged and place it in the same location on the disk (at the start or the end of disk space). To do this, resize and relocate the partition by dragging it or its borders with a mouse on the horizontal bar on the screen.
Click Accept, check the partition type (change, if necessary). The system partition must be primary. Specify the partition size which by default equals the original size. Usually there is no free space after the partition, so allocate all the unallocated space on the new disk to the second partition. Click Accept and then click Next. 9. Carefully read the summary of operations to be performed and then click Proceed.
3.5 Recovering specific files and folders You will usually start recovering files and folders from Acronis Backup Explorer. When recovering a specific file version, you will start recovery from the View Versions window. In either case, starting recovery opens the File Recovery window. Let's consider recovery of files and folders from the Backup Explorer. 1. Start Small Office Backup. 2. Find the disk backup which contains the files and folders you want to recover.
Until you select a file version, the Open and Recover... buttons remain disabled. Selecting a file version enables the buttons: Select the required version by its backup time and click the Recover... button. This will open the File Recovery window. Select the destination and recover the file version to the folder of your choice. For more information see Recovering specific files and folders (p. 67).
Acronis Universal Restore is applicable for: Instant recovery of a failed system on different hardware Hardware-independent cloning of operating systems 3.6.1.1 General principles of Acronis Universal Restore 1. Automatic selection of HAL and mass storage drivers Acronis Universal Restore searches the Windows default driver storage folders (in the image being restored) for HAL and mass storage device drivers and installs drivers that best fit the target hardware.
4. Select the Use Universal Restore check box. Then click Settings to open the Drivers manager window. 5. If the target hardware has a specific mass storage controller (such as an SCSI, RAID, or Fibre Channel adapter) for the hard disks, specify where to find the driver or drivers for the specific hardware. If the driver is stored on a diskette or CD, select the Search removable media for device drivers box.
the path to the backup file. In such a case click Browse and select the disk and folder that stores the backup. 4. Choose Recover whole disks and partitions and select the Use Acronis Universal Restore check box.
5. If the target hardware has a specific mass storage controller (such as an SCSI, RAID, or Fibre Channel adapter) for the hard disks, specify where to find the driver or drivers for the specific hardware at the Drivers manager step. If the driver is stored on a diskette or CD, select the Search removable media for device drivers box. If some drivers are stored on a local hard disk or a network share, select the Search for device drivers in the following locations box (when it is not selected by default).
3.6.3 Limitations in using Acronis Universal Restore 1. The system recovered by Acronis Universal Restore might not start, if the partition structure in the image or the target disk partitioning does not coincide with that of the source disk. The loader restored from the image will point to the wrong partition and the system will not boot or will malfunction.
The operation will not affect neither The destination partition will be partition layout nor bootability of converted to GPT style that will make My source disk is MBR the disk: partition style will remain the destination disk bootable in UEFI. and my OS supports UEFI MBR, the destination disk will be bootable in BIOS.
Among other things, the BIOS menu allows you to adjust the boot order. Computer BIOS allows booting operating systems not only from hard disks, but also from CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, and other devices. Changing the boot order may be required, for example, to make your rescue media (CD, DVD or USB stick) device the first booting device.
3.10.1 Disk recovery mode With this option you can select the disk recovery mode for image backups. Recover sector-by-sector - select this check box if you want to recover both used and unused sectors of disks or partitions. This option will be effective only when you choose to recover a sector-by-sector backup. 3.10.2 Pre/Post commands for recovery You can specify commands (or even batch files) that will be automatically executed before and after the recovery procedure.
Having recovered a partition from an image, Acronis Small Office Backup can check the integrity of the file system. To do so, enable this option. Limitations on use of this option: Check of the file system is available only when recovering partitions using FAT16/32 and NTFS file systems. The file system will not be checked if a reboot is required during recovery, for example, when recovering the system partition to its original place. 3.10.4 Computer restart The preset is Disabled.
To delete a criterion, for example, added by mistake, click the Delete icon to the right of the criterion. 3.10.7 Performance of recovery operation On the Performance tab you can configure the following settings: Operation priority Changing the priority of a backup or recovery process can make it run faster or slower (depending on whether you raise or lower the priority), but it can also adversely affect the performance of other running programs.
Local hard drives USB cards and drives Network shares (SMB/NFS) The message will not be displayed if the Do not show messages and dialogs while processing (silent mode) check box is selected in the Error handling settings. This option cannot be enabled for FTP servers and CD/DVD drives. E-mail notification You can specify an e-mail account that will be used for notifying you of the recovery process.
4 Using online backup In this section What is Acronis Cloud? ............................................................................80 How it works ............................................................................................80 Backing up to Acronis Cloud ....................................................................81 Scheduling ................................................................................................82 Online backup options .................................
immediately start uploading your data to Acronis Cloud. See details in Backing up to Acronis Cloud (p. 81). An online backup created by using Acronis Small Office Backup is compatible with the Acronis Backup & Recovery product. It means that if you upgrade your Small Office Backup to Acronis Backup & Recovery, you will not need to recreate your online backup from scratch. You will be able to change settings and continue your existing online backup. 4.
the schedule, click the down arrow to the right of the Back up now button and select Later in the drop down list. The backup with the settings you have made will run according to the schedule. The backup will run even after you sign out of Acronis Cloud. 7. Click the Back up now button if you want to run backup immediately. You can also delay the backup start for up to six hours by clicking the down arrow to the right of this button and selecting a delay interval from the dropdown list.
Advanced settings Clicking Advanced settings allows you to specify the following additional settings for backup and validation: To postpone a scheduled operation until the next time the computer is not in use (a screen saver is displayed or computer is locked), select the Run the backup only when the computer is idle check box. If you schedule validation, the check box will change to Run the validation only when the computer is idle.
If you select Every, choose a numeral and the day of the week from the dropdown lists (example: First Monday - the operation will be performed on the first Monday of every month) If you select On, choose the date(s) for operation execution (example: you may want the operation to be run on the 10th, 20th, and last day of the month) Start time Set the operation's start time. Enter hours and minutes manually, or set the desired start time using the up and down buttons.
In case of any network problems, if the first connection attempt fails, the program will repeat the attempts until a connection is successfully established. You can set the number of connection attempts and the time interval between the attempts in seconds. To do so, type or select the values in the appropriate boxes. 4.5.2 Acronis Cloud cleanup You can configure the cleanup settings for Acronis Cloud to optimize usage of its space.
Select the Store no more than … recent versions check box and enter a value that limits the maximum number of all versions in the storage. 4.5.3 Encryption key To protect your data on Acronis Cloud from unauthorized access, you can use encryption. In this case your data will be stored on Acronis Cloud in encrypted form. To encrypt and decrypt your data, the program needs the encryption key, that you should specify when you register your computer.
2. Type the account name and password in the appropriate fields. 4.5.5 Operation priority Changing the priority of an operation process can make it run faster or slower (depending on whether you raise or lower the priority), but it can also adversely affect the performance of other running programs. The priority of any process running in a system determines the amount of CPU usage and system resources allocated to that process.
Select the Limit transfer rate to check box and specify an optimal value and an appropriate measurement unit (kilobits or megabits per second) 4.5.7 Notifications You can specify an e-mail account that will be used to send you e-mail notifications. First of all, choose which notifications you want to receive: Send e-mail notifications about the operation state - select this check box to receive messages about the backup process state.
To check whether your settings are correct, click the Send test message button. Additional notification settings: To send notification concerning process completion, select the Send notification upon operation's successful completion check box. To send notification concerning process failure, select the Send notification upon operation failure check box. To send notification with operation messages, select the Send notification when user interaction is required check box.
4.5.8 Exclusions You can exclude from online backup hidden or system files and folders, as well as files matching the criteria you specify. For more information see Excluding items from backup (p. 47). 4.6 4.6.1 Recovery from Acronis Cloud Recovering data from online backups With Small Office Backup you can browse and recover data that was backed up on Acronis Cloud. 1. Start Small Office Backup and click the Recover button on the box of the online backup from which you want to recover data.
3. After the File Download window opens, click Save to start download. 4. By default the data will be downloaded to the Downloads folder. You may change the download path. 5. After the download finishes, you may click Open folder to open the Downloads folder. 4.6.2 Selecting a version to recover By default Small Office Backup selects the latest versions with respect to the date you specified. However, for any file you can select a specific version of the file to recover.
Note, that this command deletes all the backup versions from Acronis Cloud. The backup box will remain in the backup list, and the backup settings will not be changed. Cleanup settings The Online backup options provide for automatic cleanup of Acronis Cloud. You can specify deletion of files that have been kept longer than the specified number of months or days. In addition, you can set the maximum number of file versions to be kept on Acronis Cloud.
5 Tools Acronis Tools include protection tools, image mounting tools, and the Add new disk utility. Protection tools Acronis Startup Recovery Manager Allows you to start Acronis Small Office Backup without loading the operating system by pressing F11 at boot time before the operating system starts. Rescue Media Builder Allows you to create a bootable rescue media with Acronis products (or their specified components) installed on your computer.
Please note, you cannot boot Windows operating system from a bootable media created on a USB flash drive. Acronis Small Office Backup also provides the ability to create an ISO image of a bootable disc on the hard disk. If you have other Acronis products, such as Acronis Disk Director Home installed on your computer, you can include standalone versions of these programs on the same bootable media as well.
To select a component: Select the check box of the program you want to include into the bootable media. The bottom field displays the space required for the selected components. If you have other Acronis products installed on your computer, you can also include standalone versions of these programs into the same bootable media. If automatic start of the program is necessary, select the Starts automatically after check box.
nodma Disables DMA for all IDE disk drives. Prevents kernel from freezing on some hardware. nofw Disables FireWire (IEEE1394) support. nopcmcia Disables PCMCIA hardware detection. nomouse Disables mouse support. [module name]=off Disables the module (e.g. sata_sis=off). pci=bios Forces to use PCI BIOS, and not to access the hardware device directly. For instance, this parameter may be used if the machine has a non-standard PCI host bridge.
If you use non-optical media, the media must have a FAT file system. This limitation is not applicable for an ISO image. 5.1.1.4 Destination file selection If you chose to create a bootable disk ISO image, specify the ISO file name and the folder where to place it: Select the destination folder from the folder tree Enter a name for the .iso file in the File name field Click Next to continue 5.1.1.5 Bootable media creation summary This page displays operations to be performed.
You will need a USB flash drive with a capacity of 256 MB or more. The drive must be formatted in FAT16 or FAT32 file system. To create a bootable USB flash drive, attach the drive to a USB port. Start Acronis Media Builder and then select the drive as the destination for the rescue media creation. Then follow the Media Builder wizard steps. If Acronis Media Builder does not recognize your USB flash drive, you can try using the procedure described in an Acronis Knowledge Base article at http://kb.acronis.
2. 3. 4. 5. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30652 [optional] Burn the Windows AIK to DVD or copy to a flash drive. Install the Microsoft .NET Framework v.2.0 from this kit (NETFXx86 or NETFXx64, depending on your hardware). Install Microsoft Core XML (MSXML) 6.0 Parser from this kit. Install Windows AIK from this kit. It is recommended that you familiarize yourself with the help documentation supplied with Windows AIK or Windows ADK.
In case you create Win PE 4.0 ISO, specify the path to the folder WinPE\media (for example c:\winpe_x86\media). 5. On the next screen choose the Add components and build an ISO option and click Next. 6. Specify the full path to the resulting image file including the filename or leave the default path and filename (AcronisMedia.iso).
7. Check your settings in the summary screen and click Proceed. 8. Burn the .ISO to a CD using a third-party tool (for example, Nero) and you will have a bootable Windows PE disc with Small Office Backup. Once a machine boots into WinPE, Small Office Backup starts automatically. Be aware that startup may take a considerable amount of time. 5.1.2.2 Adding the Acronis Plug-in to the existing WinPE 2.x or 3.0 ISO To add the Acronis Plug-in to the existing WinPE 2.x, WinPE 3.0 or WinPE 4.0 ISO: 1.
2. Specify the path to the source WINPE.WIM file. The standard path to this file for x86 hardware is \Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\X86\winpe.wim. In case of WinPE 4.0 the path is the following: \Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Windows Preinstallation Environment\x86\en-us\winpe.wim. 3. Specify the full path to the resulting WIM file, including the filename or leave the default path and filename (AcronisMedia.wim). 4.
1. In the Start menu, click Microsoft Windows AIK, then right-click Deployment Tools Command Prompt and select Run as administrator. 2. Run the copype.cmd script to create a folder with Windows PE files. For example, from a command prompt, type: copype x86 C:\winpe_x86 3. Mount the base image by using the DISM tool to a local directory. For example, Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:C:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\winpe_x86\mount 4.
Based on the size, we can assume that in the above example the USB memory stick is disk 2. Take extreme care to get the disk number right. You don't want to wipe the wrong drive! 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Type select disk [number] to select your flash drive. Type clean to remove any formatting from the selected disk. Type create partition primary. Type select partition 1 to select the only partition now on the flash drive. Type active to mark the partition as active.
If there are any partitions on the new disk, they must be deleted first. If the added disk contains partitions, Acronis Small Office Backup will warn you by displaying the warning message. Click OK to delete the existing partitions on the added disk. You can also see the properties of all the hard disks installed in your system, for example, the name and the model of the selected disk drive, its capacity, file system and its interface.
5.2.2 Selecting initialization method Acronis Small Office Backup supports both MBR and GPT partitioning. GUID Partition Table (GPT) is a new hard disk partitioning method providing advantages over the old MBR partitioning method. If your operating system supports GPT disks, you can select the new disk to be initialized as a GPT disk. To add a GPT disk, click Initialize disk in GPT layout. To add an MBR disk, click Initialize disk in MBR layout.
partition letter and label. If you allocate all unallocated space on the disk to the new partition, the Create new partition button disappears. 5.2.3.1 Partition settings Specify the settings for the partition being created. Size You can resize and relocate the partition being created. If you want to resize the partition: Point the cursor at the partition border. If the cursor is pointed exactly at the partition border, it will change into two vertical lines with arrows on each side.
File System Choose the file system type for the partition being created. Different partitions may have different type of file system. You can either leave the partition unformatted, or choose between the following file system types: NTFS is a native file system of the Windows NT family of operating systems. Choose it if you use these operating systems. FAT 32 is an improved 32-bit version of the FAT file system that supports volumes up to 2 TB. Ext2 is a Linux native file system.
When you finish to specify the settings for the partition being created, click Accept to continue. 5.2.4 Add new disk summary The Add new disk summary graphically (as rectangles) illustrates information about the new disk layout before and after partitioning. Click Proceed to start creating new partition(s). Click Cancel to cancel the procedure and quit to the main program window.
2. Click the Activate button. Attention When Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is activated, it overwrites the master boot record (MBR) with its own boot code. If you have any third-party boot managers installed, you will have to reactivate them after activating the Startup Recovery Manager. For Linux loaders (e.g. LiLo and GRUB), you might consider installing them to a Linux root (or boot) partition boot record instead of an MBR before activating Acronis Startup Recovery Manager.
Please keep in mind that, though both file backups and disk/partition images have a default ".tib" extension, only images can be mounted. If you want to view file backup contents, use the Explore operation. How to mount an image 1. Start Small Office Backup. 2. On the toolbar, click Tools and then click Mount image. The Mount wizard opens. 3. Select the backup for mounting.
If the backup was password-protected, Acronis Small Office Backup will ask for the password in a dialog box. Neither the partitions layout will be shown, nor will the Next button be enabled until you enter the correct password. 4. Select a partition to mount as a virtual disk. (Note that you cannot mount an image of the entire disk except in the case when the disk consists of one partition).
You can also select a letter to be assigned to the virtual disk from the Mount letter drop-down list. If you do not want to mount a partition, select Do not mount in the list or clear the partition's check box. 5. If you select the Mount the partitions in the read-write mode box, the program assumes that the mounted image will be modified and creates an incremental backup file to capture the changes. It is strongly recommended that you list the forthcoming changes in the Comments section to this file.
If you have mounted several partitions, by default all of them will be selected for unmounting. You can disconnect all mounted drives together or disconnect only those you do not need mounted anymore. You can also do this in Windows Explorer by right-clicking on the disk icon and choosing Unmount.
6 Useful information In this section Protecting your system ..........................................................................115 Deciding where to store your backups ..................................................116 Making sure that your rescue media can be used when needed ..........118 Testing that your backups can be used for recovery .............................123 Migrating your system from an HDD to an SSD .....................................123 Scheduling ..............................
2. This opens the Disk Backup window with your system partition (usually C:) selected by default. 3. Select a destination for backup (you can leave the default destination or browse for a destination after clicking the down arrow to the right of the current destination and selecting Browse...). 4. Click Back up now. Additional recommendations Many IT professionals recommend that you have at least two copies of your system backup (three are even better).
Home file server If you have a Gigabit Ethernet home network and a dedicated file server, you can store backups on the file server practically like on an internal drive. If you decide to use an external hard drive, file server, etc., you will need to check whether Small Office Backup detects the selected backup storage. You need to check this both in Windows and when booted from the rescue media.
The firewall settings of the source computer should have Ports 20 and 21 opened for the TPC and UDP protocols to function. The Routing and Remote Access Windows service should be disabled. 6.2.2 Authentication settings If you are connecting to a networked computer, in most cases you will need to provide the necessary credentials for accessing the network share. For example, this is possible when you select a backup storage in the Browse for destination window.
If you do not have a spare mouse or keyboard, contact Acronis Support. They will build a custom rescue CD that will have drivers for your models of the mouse and keyboard. Please be aware that finding the appropriate drivers and making the custom rescue CD may take some time. Furthermore, this may be impossible for some models. 4. When the program starts, we recommend you try recovering some files from your backup. A test recovery allows you to make sure that your rescue CD can be used for recovery.
3. At the Recovery Method step, select Recover chosen files and folders. 4. When recovering files with the rescue CD you are able to select only a new location for the files to be recovered. Therefore just click Next at the Location selection step. 5. After the Destination window opens, check that all your drives are shown under My Computer. If you store your backups on the network, you should also check that you can access the network.
7. Select several files for recovery by selecting their check boxes and then click Next. 8. Click Proceed on the Summary window to start recovery. 9. After the recovery finishes, exit the standalone Small Office Backup. Now you can be reasonably sure that your rescue CD will help you when needed. 6.3.1 Selecting video mode when booting from the rescue media When booting from the rescue media the optimal video mode is selected automatically depending on the specifications of your video card and monitor.
2. When the command line appears, type "vga=ask" (without quotes) and click OK. 3. Select Acronis Small Office: Server Cloud Backup in the boot menu to continue booting from the rescue media. To see the available video modes, press the Enter key when the appropriate message appears. 4. Choose a video mode you think best suitable for your monitor and type its number in the command line. For instance, typing 338 selects video mode 1600x1200x16 (see the below figure). 5.
6.4 Testing that your backups can be used for recovery Here are some recommendations: Even if you start recovery of the active partition in Windows, the program will reboot into the Linux environment after the recovery process starts. This is because Windows cannot be left running during the recovery of its own partition. So you will recover your active partition under the recovery environment in all cases.
SSD alignment Another question concerns the alignment of SSDs. To get the optimum performance from an SSD and to prolong its life, the partition offset must meet certain criteria. In most cases you do not need to check or manually fix the alignment, the program will do it automatically. In any event, we recommend that you perform one of the following: Create the backup you are going to use for migration in disk mode. In other words, back up the source disk entirely, not just the system partition.
2. Select Tools & Utilities -> Add New Disk in the main menu and the Disk selection screen will show the information about all hard disks in your system. Use this for checking whether the SSD is detected in the recovery environment. 3. If the screen shows your SSD, just click Cancel. If the rescue media does not recognize the SSD and the SSD controller mode is ACHI, you can try to change the mode to IDE (or ATA in some BIOS brands) and see whether this solves the problem.
Disable Indexing Service. Turn off the hibernation mode. 6.5.1.3 Checking SSD partition alignment If you installed Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2012 from the installation DVD to a new hard disk, the operating system automatically aligns the hard disk during installation to a multiple of 4096 and usually to 1.024 MB. In any case, it will be useful to check. 1. Mount the SSD into the intended location in your computer. 2. Type cmd in the Search field and press Enter. 3.
7. Validate the backup to make sure that it can be used for recovery. 8. Click the Recovery tab and then click Disk recovery. 9. Select the backup of your SSD at the Archive selection step and then click Next. If the disks have different disk letters in Windows and the recovery environment, click Browse and show the path to the backup. 10. 11. 12. 13. Select Recover whole disks and partitions and click Next. Select the check box of the entire SSD disk and click Next.
6.6 Scheduling To open the Scheduler window, click the Turn on link to the right of Schedule while configuring a backup. Here you can specify the backup and validation schedule settings. You can choose and set up one of the following backup or validation frequencies: Daily (p. 83) - the operation will be executed once a day or more frequently. Monthly (p. 83) - the operation will be executed once a month or several times a month on the selected dates. Upon event (p.
If the computer is switched off when the scheduled time comes, the operation won't be performed. You can force the missed operation to run at the next system startup. To do so, select the Run at system startup with delay (in minutes) check box and set a time delay to start operation after the system startup.
Week days Select the days on which to execute the operation by clicking on their names. Start time Set the operation's start time. Enter hours and minutes manually, or set the desired start time using the up and down buttons. Description of the Advanced settings see in Scheduling (p. 82). 6.6.
6.9 Timeout settings Sometimes when the program performs an operation, an error message or a warning message may interrupt the operation progress. To resume the operation, some additional information or a decision is required from the user. For example, such a situation may occur during a backup operation when the storage space in the destination location becomes insufficient for completing the backup.
7 Troubleshooting In this section Acronis System Report ...........................................................................132 Acronis Smart Error Reporting ...............................................................133 How to collect crash dumps ...................................................................134 General recommendations ....................................................................135 Creating a custom rescue CD ..........................................................
2. Change the current directory to the Small Office Backup installation folder. To do so, enter: cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Acronis\SmallOffice 3. To create the system report file, enter: SystemReport File SystemReport.zip will be created in the current folder. If you want to create the report file with a custom name, type the new name instead of : SystemReport.exe /filename: 7.
This will open a confirmation window that lists the information to be sent via Internet to the Acronis Knowledge Base. Click OK to permit sending the information. If in future you would like to send such information without confirmation, select the Always send without confirmation check box. An error in a low-level module Sometimes, an error may occur in a low-level program module and then propagate to higher-level modules resulting in errors in those modules as well.
If Small Office Backup crashes, please provide the following information: 1. A description of the exact sequence of steps performed before you encountered the issue. 2. Dr. Watson crash dump. For information on how to collect such a dump, see the Acronis Support Knowledge Base (KB) article at http://kb.acronis.com/content/2192 If Small Office Backup causes a Windows crash: 1. A description of the exact sequence of steps performed before you encountered the issue. 2. A Windows dump file.
code displayed in the error box to search for a solution in the entire KB. For more information, see Acronis Smart Error Reporting (p. 133). System report Acronis Support personnel may request you to provide the system report. To create the report, select Generate system report in the Help menu, then save the report and send it to Acronis Customer Central. For more information see Acronis System Report (p. 132). 7.
You can also open the log for viewing by selecting View log in the Operations menu of a backup box. In this case you will see only the log items for the last run of the selected backup. Viewing log entries By default all logs are selected for viewing. The right pane shows all major log entries in the collapsed state. To expand a log entry for viewing individual log items, double-click it. To collapse the expanded log entry, double-click it again.
Etc. The three buttons to the left filter the following events: successful completion states, warning messages and error messages. To reset all the filters to their default values, click Reset all filters. At the upper-right corner there are the Save all to file and Delete all buttons. They do the same operations as the corresponding shortcut menu items.
Copyright Statement Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2013. All rights reserved. “Acronis” and “Acronis Secure Zone” are registered trademarks of Acronis International GmbH. "Acronis Compute with Confidence", “Acronis Startup Recovery Manager”, “Acronis Active Restore”, “Acronis Instant Restore” and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis International GmbH. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. VMware and VMware Ready are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of VMware, Inc.
Bootable media 8 Glossary of Terms B Backup 1. The same as Backup operation (p. 140). 2. A set of backup versions created and managed by using backup settings. A backup can contain multiple backup versions created using full (p. 141) and incremental (p. 141) backup methods. Backup versions belonging to the same backup are usually stored in the same location.
Differential backup version Incremental backup version A differential backup version stores changes to the data against the latest full backup version (p. 141). You need access to the corresponding full backup version to recover the data from a differential backup version. A backup version (p. 140) that stores changes to the data against the latest backup version. You need access to other backup versions from the same backup (p. 140) to restore data from an incremental backup version.
any) of backup versions to the selected incremental backup version. If the chain contains one or more differential backup versions, the program validates (in addition to the initial full backup version and the selected incremental backup version) only the most recent differential backup version in the chain and all subsequent incremental backup versions (if any) between the differential backup version and the selected incremental backup version.
