Acronis True Image 2021 USER GUIDE
Table of contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................7 1.1 What is Acronis® True Image™? ................................................................................................7 1.2 New in this version ....................................................................................................................7 1.3 Backups created in Acronis True Image 2020 or later ........................
.7 Integration with Windows .......................................................................................................41 3.8 Wizards ....................................................................................................................................42 3.9 FAQ about backup, recovery and cloning ................................................................................43 4 Backing up data ...............................................................................
5.4 Recovery from Acronis Cloud ................................................................................................103 5.4.1 5.4.2 5.4.3 5.5 Recovering Office 365 data....................................................................................................109 5.6 Recovery options ...................................................................................................................110 5.6.1 5.6.2 5.6.3 5.6.4 5.6.5 5.6.6 5.6.7 5.6.8 Disk recovery mode .............
9.5.1 Reverting to a previous file version ........................................................................................................... 135 9.6 How to clean up your space on Acronis Cloud ......................................................................135 9.7 How to recover a deleted file ................................................................................................136 9.8 Deleting a sync ..........................................................................
12 Troubleshooting .......................................................................................................... 189 12.1 Resolving the most frequent issues .......................................................................................189 12.2 Acronis System Report...........................................................................................................190 12.3 Acronis Smart Error Reporting ...............................................................................
1 Introduction 1.1 What is Acronis® True Image™? Acronis True Image 2021 is a complete data protection solution that ensures the security of all of the information on your PC. It can back up your documents, photos, emails, and selected partitions, and even the entire disk drive, including operating system, applications, settings, and all of your data.
Full and quick Scheduled and manual run Quarantine. Configure the automatic or manual moving of suspicious files to a safe location from which they cannot harm your data. Web filtering protects you from potentially harmful websites and untrusted web resources by blocking the access to them, based on your list of trusted or untrusted URLs. Videoconference protection prevents injection attacks on Zoom, Cisco Webex, and Microsoft Teams.
In case automatic or manual cleanups are configured, some small auxiliary files may stay in the storage after the cleanup. Windows may show the size of these files bigger than the real one. You can see the physical size by checking Windows file properties. Please do not delete any files manually! Cleaning up local backups manually has the following scheme: Full backups can be deleted with the dependent versions only.
Mouse or other pointing device (recommended) Warning! Successful backup and recovery are not guaranteed for the installations on virtual machines. Other requirements An internet connection is required for the product activation, for downloading protection updates, and for all features that use Acronis Cloud, including online backup, cloud archiving, and data synchronization.
1.4.4 Supported Internet connection types The table below shows which Internet connection types are supported by the product functions.
1.5 Installing Acronis True Image 2021 To install Acronis True Image 2021: 1. Run the setup file. Before starting the setup process, Acronis True Image 2021 will check for a newer build on the website. If there is one, the newer version will be offered for installation. 2. Click Install. Acronis True Image 2021 will be installed on your system partition (usually C:). 3. When the installation is complete, click Start application. 4.
1.6 Activating Acronis True Image 2021 To use Acronis True Image 2021, you need to activate it via the Internet. Without activation the fully functional product works for 30 days. If you do not activate it during that period, all the program functions become unavailable except the recovery. Activating Acronis True Image 2021 You can activate Acronis True Image 2021 either on your computer or from another computer, if your computer is not connected to the Internet.
Enter a new serial number. If you do not have one, you can buy it in the Acronis built-in store or at the Acronis website. Move the license to your new computer from another one on which the product is already activated. To do this, select the computer from which you want to move the license. Note that Acronis True Image will be deactivated on that computer. You reinstall Windows or change hardware of your computer. For example, you might upgrade motherboard or processor in your computer.
Acronis Cloud You have 1000 GB of storage space on the cloud during the trial period. You can use this space to store your online backups, archives, and versions of synced files. After the trial period is over, Acronis Cloud works in recovery-only mode for 30 days. After this period, you won't be able to use the Acronis Cloud service and all your data on the Cloud will be deleted. Purchasing the full version You can buy the full version at the Acronis website or using in-app purchase functionality.
To access the in-app store, go to the Account tab, and then click Acronis Store. You will see the in-app store and all available purchase options. 1.9 Technical Support Maintenance and Support Program If you need assistance with your Acronis product, please go to https://www.acronis.
2 Getting started In this section User interface language .................................................................................................... 17 Protecting your system ..................................................................................................... 17 Backing up all data on your PC .......................................................................................... 20 Creating an Acronis Survival Kit ................................................................
2.2.1 Step 1. Backing up your computer When should I back up my computer? Create a new backup version after every significant event in your system. Examples of these events include: You bought a new computer. Important system update. You reinstalled Windows on your computer. You configured all system settings (for example, time, date, language) and installed all necessary programs on your new computer.
The best: Acronis Cloud (p. 28) or an external hard disk. Refer to Deciding where to store your backups (p. 35) for details. How many backup versions do I need? In most cases, you need 2-3 backup versions of your entire PC contents or your system disk, with a maximum of 4-6 (see above for information about when to create backups). You can control the number of backup versions by using automatic cleanup rules. Refer to Custom schemes (p. 60) for details.
2.3 Backing up all data on your PC What is an Entire PC backup? An Entire PC backup is the easiest way to back up the full contents of your computer. We recommend that you choose this option when you are not sure which data that you need to protect. If you want to back up your system partition only, refer to Backing up disks and partitions (p. 45) for details. When you select Entire PC as a backup type, Acronis True Image backs up all your internal hard drives in disk mode.
We recommend that you back up your computer to Acronis Cloud or to local or network storage. Refer to Deciding where to store your backups (p. 35) for details. 6. [optional step] Click Options to set the options for the backup, including Schedule (p. 55), Scheme (p. 58), and Password protection (p. 67). For more information see Backup options (p. 55). 7. Click Back up now. When you back up your data to Acronis Cloud, the first backup may take a considerable amount of time to complete.
No matter how many backups are stored in this external hard disk, only one Acronis Survival Kit is required to recover a computer. Its bootable media component works with any system partition or entire computer backup if they both are created for the same computer or computers with the same configuration. As a device for an Acronis Survival Kit you can use: an external hard disk drive It should be larger than 32 GB and have an NTFS, FAT32, or exFAT file system.
need to save a backup of your system partition, entire computer, or any disk backup to this drive. To do this, click Back up now. If you skip this step, do not forget to create a backup on this drive later. Refer to Backing up disks and partitions (p. 45) for details. When your Acronis Survival Kit is ready, you can use it to recover your computer. Refer to Recovering your system to the same disk (p. 89) for details.
NAS—Select an NAS from the list of found NAS devices. If you have only one NAS, Acronis True Image 2021 will suggest using it as a backup destination by default. Browse—Select a destination from the folder tree. 6. Click Back up now. Refer to Backing up files and folders (p. 47) for details. Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/i4J1AN. 2.
If the program finds two disks, one partitioned and another unpartitioned, it will automatically recognize the partitioned disk as the source disk and the unpartitioned disk as the destination disk. In this case, the next steps will be bypassed and you will be taken to the cloning Summary screen. 3. On the Source Disk step, select the disk that you want to clone. 4. On the Destination Disk step, select the destination disk for the cloned data.
Case 1. How to recover computer if Windows works incorrectly? 1. Start Acronis True Image 2021. 2. On the sidebar, click Backup. 3. From the backup list, select the backup that contains your system disk. The backup can be located on local, network storage, or Acronis Cloud. 4. On the right panel, click Recovery. 5. Depending on the backup type, click Recover PC or Recover disks. 6. In the opened window, select the backup version (the data state from a specific date and time). 7.
2. On the Welcome screen, select My disks below Recover. 3. Select the system disk backup to be used for recovery. Right-click the backup and choose Recover. When the backup is not displayed, click Browse and manually specify the path to the backup. In the same window, you can connect to Acronis Cloud and select an online backup. Refer to Recovering your system from Acronis Cloud (p. 106) for details. 4. At the Recovery method step, select Recover whole disks and partitions. 5.
2.9 Getting started with Acronis Cloud Acronis Cloud might be unavailable in your region. For more information, click here: https://kb.acronis.
Trial version When you activate the trial version of the product, a 1000 GB storage and free subscription to Acronis Cloud for the True Image trial period is assigned to your account automatically. See details in Trial version information (p. 14). Full version You can purchase the full Acronis Cloud subscription in the Account section of your version of Acronis True Image or at the Acronis website. See details in Upgrading Acronis True Image 2021 (p. 15).
3 Basic concepts In this section Basic concepts ................................................................................................................... 30 The difference between file backups and disk/partition images ..................................... 31 Full, incremental and differential backups ....................................................................... 33 Deciding where to store your backups .............................................................................
Backup versions represent full, incremental and differential backups - see Full, incremental and differential backups (p. 33). The backup versions are similar to file versions. The file versions concept is familiar to those who use a Windows feature called "Previous versions of files". This feature allows you to restore a file as it existed on a particular date and time. A backup version allows you to recover your data in a similar way.
Disk/partition backups are different from file and folder backups. Acronis True Image 2021 stores an exact snapshot of the disk or partition. This procedure is called "creating a disk image" or "creating a disk backup" and the resulting backup is often called "a disk/partition image" or "a disk/partition backup". What does a disk/partition backup contain? A disk/partition backup contains all the data stored on the disk or partition: 1.
3.3 Full, incremental and differential backups Acronis True Image 2021 offers three backup methods: full, incremental, and differential. Full method The result of a full method backup operation (also known as full backup version) contains all of the data at the moment of the backup creation. Example: Every day, you write one page of your document and back it up using the full method. Acronis True Image saves the entire document every time you run backup. 1.tibx, 2.tibx, 3.tibx, 4.
2.tibx, 3.tibx, 4.tibx—files of incremental backup versions. Additional information Incremental method is the most useful when you need frequent backup versions and the ability to roll back to a specific point in time. As a rule, incremental backup versions are considerably smaller than full or differential versions. On the other hand, incremental versions require more work for the program to provide recovery. Recovery: In the example above, to recover the entire work from the 4.
2.tibx, 3.tibx, 4.tibx—files of differential backup versions. Additional information Differential method is an intermediate between the first two approaches. It takes less time and space than "Full", but more than "Incremental". To recover data from a differential backup version, Acronis True Image needs only the differential version and the last full version. Therefore, recovery from a differential version is simpler and more reliable than recovery from an incremental one.
USB flash drive Acronis Cloud SMB share FTP server DVD Memory card + + + + + + + + + GPT/dynamic volumes or disks + + + + + + + + + + Files and folders + + + + + + + + + + Network share SSD (internal or external) + File server, NAS or NDAS HDD (internal or external) MBR partitions or entire disks (HDD, SSD) Though backing up to your local hard drive is the simplest option, we recommend that you store your backups off-site because it enhances the security of your dat
1. Open Disk Management. To do this, go to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tool, start Computer Management, and then click Disk Management. 2. Find the disk marked as Offline. Right-click the disk and then click Online. 3. The disk status will be changed to Online. After that, you will be able to initialize the disk. To initialize a disk: 1. Open Disk Management.
Troubleshooting When you create a network share that you plan to use as a backup storage, please ensure that at least one of the following conditions is met: Windows account has a password on the computer where the shared folder is located. Password-protected sharing is turned off in Windows. You can find this setting at Control Panel —> Network and Internet —> Network and Sharing Center —> Advanced sharing settings —> Turn off password protected sharing.
Retention rules Local backups Acronis Nonstop Backup keeps all backups for the last 24 hours. The older backups will be consolidated in such a way that Nonstop Backup will keep daily backups for the last 30 days and weekly backups until all Nonstop Backup data destination space is used. The consolidation will be performed every day between midnight and 01:00 AM. The first consolidation will take place after the Nonstop Backup has been working for at least 24 hours.
3.5.2 Nonstop Backup - Frequently asked questions Why does Acronis Nonstop Backup pause on its own? - This is the designed behavior of Acronis Nonstop Backup. When the system load rises to a critical level, Acronis Nonstop Backup receives the overload alarm from Windows and pauses itself. This is done to aid Windows relieve the load caused by other applications. The overload can be caused by running resource-intensive applications (for example, performing a deep system scan with your antivirus software).
Naming convention for backup files created by Acronis True Image 2020 or higher A backup file name has only the backup name and an incremental counter. It does not contain any additional information such as backup method, backup chain number, backup version number, or volume number. A backup name may look like: 1. 2. 3. 4. my_documents.tibx my_documents_0001.tibx my_documents_0002.tibx my_documents_0003.
Acronis True Image 2021 button on the taskbar Shortcut menu commands Windows Start menu The Start menu displays Acronis commands, tools and utilities. They give you access to Acronis True Image functionality, without having to start the application. Acronis True Image 2021 button on the taskbar The Acronis True Image 2021 button on the Windows taskbar shows the progress and result of Acronis True Image 2021 operations.
For example, see the screen shot below. A wizard window usually consists of the following areas: 1. This is the list of steps to complete the operation. A green checkmark appears next to a complete step. The green arrow indicates the current step. When complete all the steps, the program displays the Summary screen in the Finish step. Check the summary and click Proceed to start the operation. 2. This toolbar contains buttons to manage objects you select in area 3.
kept the default location of the My documents folder. If you have just a single hard disk in your PC, such a backup will contain all of the operating system, applications and data. I have an old hard disk drive which is almost full in my notebook. I purchased a new bigger HDD. How can I transfer Windows, programs and data to the new disk? - You can either clone the old hard disk on the new one or back up the old hard disk and then recover the backup to a new one.
4 Backing up data In this section Backing up disks and partitions......................................................................................... 45 Backing up files and folders .............................................................................................. 47 Backing up mobile devices ................................................................................................ 52 Backing up Office 365 data ..........................................................................
To back up dynamic disks you can use only the partition mode. 7. Click the Backup destination area, and then select a destination for backup: Acronis Cloud—Sign in to your Acronis account, and then click OK. If you do not have an Acronis account, click Create account, type your email address, password, and then click the Create account button. Refer to Acronis account (p. 27) for details. Your external drive—When an external drive is plugged into your computer, you can select it from the list.
Once an online backup is started, you are free to close Acronis True Image 2021. The backup process will continue in background mode. If you suspend the backup, turn off your computer, or disconnect it from the Internet, the backup will resume when you click Back up now or when the Internet connection is restored. A backup interruption does not cause your data to be uploaded twice. 4.
NAS—Select an NAS from the list of found NAS devices. If you have only one NAS, Acronis True Image 2021 will suggest using it as a backup destination by default. Browse—Select a destination from the folder tree. 8. [optional step] Click Options to set the options for the backup, including Schedule (p. 55), Scheme (p. 58), and Password protection (p. 67). For more information see Backup options (p. 55). 9. [optional step] Click the Add a comment icon, and then type a comment to the backup version.
6. In the opened window, select the check boxes next to the files and folders that you want to back up, and then click OK. 7. Click the Backup destination area, and then select a destination for backup: Acronis Cloud—Sign in to your Acronis account, and then click OK. If you do not have an Acronis account, click Create account, type your email address, password, and then click the Create account button. Refer to Acronis account (p. 27) for details.
Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/WjUoPZ. 4.2.1.1 Using Blockchain technology Acronis True Image 2021 uses the Blockchain technology to provide top-level security for your backed-up files. This technology gives you the guarantee that your files have not been modified by fraudulent software, and when it is time to recover, you recover data from exactly the same file that was backed up.
To verify a file's authenticity: 1. 2. 3. 4. Start Acronis True Image 2021. On the sidebar, click Backup. From the backup list, select the notarized backup which contains the file that you want to verify. On the right panel, open the Recovery tab. 5. Browse to the required file, click the Menu icon ( ), and then click one of the following: View certificate—The certificate containing the detailed information about the file security will be opened in the web browser.
Step 3. Check that the hash is included in the tree 1. Download the command line utility from the GitHub repository: https://github.com/acronis/notary-verifyhash/releases. 2. Follow the instructions at: https://github.com/acronis/notary-verifyhash. 4.2.1.4 Acronis ASign What is Acronis ASign? Acronis ASign is an online-service that allows multiple people to sign a file electronically. The file should be preliminarily uploaded to Acronis Cloud via backup, archiving, or sync.
2. Tap a plus icon to create a backup. Note that this step does not occur the first time you back up your mobile device. 3. Select computer as a backup destination. 4. Tap Scan QR code, point your camera at the QR code on the computer screen, and then wait until the mobile device is connected to the computer. 5. Select the data categories that you want to back up, or tap Confirm if you want to back up all of them. 6. Allow Acronis Mobile to access to your personal data. 7.
Note: All mobile backups are always stored in the same folder and cannot be separated. To change a local destination for mobile backups: 1. On the Settings tab, find the Mobile backup location option. 2. Click Change, click Select location, and then select a new location for the backups. Note, you can select a location only on your internal hard drives. To change the new location to the initial one, click Reset to default. 4.
4.5 Backup options When you create a backup, you can change additional options and fine-tune the backup process. To open the options window, select a source and destination for a backup, and then click Options. Note that options of each backup type (disk-level backup, file-level backup, online backup, nonstop backup) are fully independent and you should configure them separately. After you have installed the application, all options are set to the initial values.
The Schedule tab allows you to specify the backup and validation schedule settings. You can choose and set up one of the following backup or validation frequencies: Nonstop (p. 38)—The backup will run every five minutes. Monthly (p. 57)—The operation will be executed once a month or several times a month on the selected dates. Upon event (p. 57)—The operation will be executed upon an event. Daily (p. 57)—The operation will be executed once a day or more frequently. Weekly (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 missed operations at the system startup with delay (in minutes) check box. Additionally, you can set a time delay to start backup after the system startup. For example, to start backup 20 minutes after system startup, type 20 in the appropriate box.
Event When an external device is connected – the operation will be executed each time the same external device (USB flash drive or an external HDD) you previously used as a backup destination is plugged into your computer. Note that Windows should recognize this device as external. User logon – the operation will be executed each time the current user logs on to the OS. System shutdown or restart – the operation will be executed at every computer shutdown or reboot.
Version cleanup rules Acronis True Image 2021 allows you to choose from the following backup schemes: Single version (p. 59) - select this scheme if you want to use the smallest backup storage. Differential - select to create only differential backups after an initial full backup. Version chain (p. 60) - this may be the optimal scheme in many cases. Incremental - select to create a full version after every five incremental versions. This is the default scheme. Custom (p.
Backup scheduler setting for file backup: daily. Result: you have a single up-to-date full backup version. Required storage space: minimal. 4.5.2.2 Version chain scheme This backup scheme differs for disk backup and file backup types. Disk backup version chain At first the program creates the 1st full backup version. The version will be kept until you delete it manually.
Full (p. 33) Select this method if you want to create only full backup versions. Differential (p. 33) Select this method if you want to create backup chains containing only full and differential backup versions. You can configure the scheme by using one of the following options: Create only differential versions after the initial full version - select this item to create only one backup version chain. Automatic cleanup is not available for this option.
If you select incremental or differential method, the first backup chain will start from the second full backup version. And only the third version of the backup will be incremental or differential one. Note that when the check box is selected, the Store no more than [n] recent versions check box will change to Store no more than 1+[n] recent versions. Managing custom backup schemes If you change anything in an existing backup scheme, you can save the changed scheme as a new one.
2. File backup “Daily incremental version + weekly full version” Case: You have files and/or folders you work with every day. You need to save your daily work results and want to be able to recover data state to any date for the last three weeks. Let’s see how you can do this using a custom backup scheme. 1. Start configuring a file backup. Refer to Backing up files and folders for details. 2. Click Options, open the Schedule tab, click Daily, and then specify a start time for the backup operation.
4.5.3 Notifications for backup operation Location: Options > Notifications Sometimes a backup or recovery procedure can last an hour or longer. Acronis True Image 2021 can notify you when it is finished via email. The program can also duplicate messages issued during the operation or send you the full operation log after operation completion. By default, all notifications are disabled.
1. Click Show extended settings. 2. Configure additional email settings: Enter the sender's email address in the From field. If you are not sure what address to specify, then type any address you like in a standard format, for example aaa@bbb.com. Change the message subject in the Subject field, if necessary. To simplify monitoring a backup status, you can add the most important information to the subject of the email messages.
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.
You can use wildcard characters (* and ?): *.ext - all files with a .ext extension will be excluded. ??name.ext - all files with a .ext extension, having six letters in their names (starting with any two symbols (??) and ending with name), will be excluded. To exclude a folder from a disk-level backup, click the plus sign, click the ellipsis button, go to the directory tree and select the folder you want to exclude, and then click OK.
A password cannot be retrieved. Please memorize the password that you specify for a backup protection. 2. To confirm the previously entered password, retype it into the corresponding field. 3. [optional step] To increase the security of your confidential data, you can encrypt the backup with strong industry-standard AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) cryptographic algorithm. AES is available with three key lengths – 128, 192 and 256 bits to balance performance and protection as desired.
4.5.7.1 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. In the Working directory field, type-in a path for command execution or select it from the list of previously entered paths.
You can specify the following settings: Validate backup each time after it is completed - Select to check the integrity of the backup version immediately after backup. We recommend that you enable this option when you back up your critical data or system disk. Validate the latest diverse backup only - A quick validation of the last backup slice. Validate entire backup Validate backup on schedule - Select to schedule validation of your backups to ensure that they remain "healthy".
4.5.11 Removable media settings Location: Options > Advanced > 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. Acronis True Image 2021 does not support creating bootable media if a flash drive is formatted in NTFS or exFAT. The drive must have a FAT16 or FAT32 file system.
Note This topic applies to backups that use local or network backup destinations. For error handing options for backups that use Acronis Cloud as a backup destination, see Error handling for Cloud backups and replicas (p. 72). To set up the error handling policy: 1. On the Backup dashboard > Options > Advanced > Error handling 2. Set the error handling policy: Do not show messages and dialogs while processing (silent mode) - Enable this setting to ignore errors during backup operations.
This option is only available for file-level backups. This option is not available for the backups that use Acronis Cloud as a backup destination. You can specify security settings for backed up files: Preserve file security settings in backups - selecting this option will preserve all the security properties (permissions assigned to groups or users) of the backup files for further recovery. By default, files and folders are saved in the backup with their original Windows security settings (i.e.
This option is only available for online backup. You can configure the cleanup settings for Acronis Cloud to optimize usage of its space. To set the limits for the amount of versions on Acronis Cloud: Select the Delete backup versions that are older than check box and enter a value that limits the maximum age of the older versions. All other versions will be automatically deleted except the most recent versions.
Compression level You can choose the compression level for a backup: None - the data will be copied without any compression, which may significantly increase the backup file size. Normal - the recommended data compression level (set by default). High - higher backup file compression level, takes more time to create a backup. Maximum - maximum backup compression, but takes a long time to create a backup. The optimal data compression level depends on the type of files stored in the backup.
point in time. Therefore, the data in the backup would be inconsistent. To eliminate it, Acronis True Image 2021 creates a so-called snapshot that fixes the data to back up to a particular point in time. This is done before the backup starts and guarantees that the data is in consistent state. Select a backup snapshot type from the list: No snapshot A snapshot will not be created. The files will be backed up one by one as an ordinary copy operation.
When you work on your laptop and there is no power supply around you or when your computer has switched to UPS after a blackout, it's reasonable to save the battery charge. Long-term backups may consume the battery power quite fast, for example when you back up significant amount of data to the cloud.
4.6 Operations with backups 4.6.1 Backup operations menu The backup operations menu provides quick access to additional operations that can be performed with the selected backup. The backup operations menu can contain the following items: Rename - allows you to set a new name for a backup in the list. The backup files will not be renamed. Reconfigure (for backups manually added to the backup list) - allows configuring the settings of a backup created by a previous Acronis True Image version.
backup box only. When you delete a backup box, the backup files remain in the location and you will be able to add the backup to the list later. Note that when you delete a backup completely, the deletion cannot be undone. Open location - opens the folder containing the backup files. Convert to VHD (for disk-level backups) - allows you to convert a selected Acronis backup version (.tibx file) to virtual hard disks (.vhd(x) files). The initial backup version will not be modified.
disk-level backup versions the value of this parameter can be less than the value of the Data to recover parameter. Speed—Backup operation speed. Time spent—Time spent for the backup operation. Data to recover—Size of the data that can be recovered from the last backup version. Method—Backup operation method (full, incremental, or differential). For more information, refer to the Knowledge Base article: https://kb.acronis.com/content/60104.
Command Sort by Description Date updated This command sorts all backups by date of the last version. The newer the last backup version, the higher the backup will be placed in the list. To reverse the order, select Least recent on top. Size This command sorts all backups by size, from biggest to smallest. To reverse the order, select Smallest on top. 4.6.4 Source type This command sorts all backups by the source type.
4.6.5 Validating backups The validation procedure checks whether you will be able to recover data from a backup. For example, backup validation is important before you recover your system. If you start recovery from a corrupted backup, the process will fail and your computer may become unbootable. We recommend that you validate system partition backups under bootable media. Other backups may be validated in Windows. See also Preparing for recovery (p. 88) and Basic concepts (p. 30).
4.6.7 Adding an existing backup to the list You may have Acronis True Image backups created by a previous product version or copied from another computer. Every time you start Acronis True Image 2021, it scans your computer for such backups and adds them to the backup list automatically. If you have backups that are not shown in the list, you can add them manually. To add backups manually: 1. In the Backup section, at the bottom of the backup list, click the arrow icon, and then click Add existing backup.
then follow the on-screen instructions. Refer to Cleaning up backup versions manually (p. 84) for details. After the cleanup, some auxiliary files may stay in the storage. Please do not delete them! Cleaning up backup versions automatically To configure automatic cleanup rules for a backup: 1. Go to the Backup section. 2. Perform one of the following: For a new backup, click Add backup, choose Create new backup, select backup source and destination, and then click Options.
Nonstop backups. Notarized backups. To clean up specific backup versions: 1. Start Acronis True Image 2021. 2. In the Backup section, click the down arrow icon next to the backup to clean up, and then click Clean up versions. The Clean up backup versions window opens. 3. Select the location from which you want to clean up versions. Local folder All versions except the last one, then click Delete. Acronis Cloud 4.
Removing data from Acronis Cloud (p. 86). 4.6.9 Removing data from Acronis Cloud Because the available space on Acronis Cloud is limited, you need to manage your cloud space by cleaning up the obsolete data or the data you do not need anymore. Cleanup can be done in Acronis True Image and also via the Acronis Cloud web application. Deleting an entire backup The most drastic option is deleting the entire backup from Acronis Cloud. When a backup is deleted, all of its data is permanently erased.
Deleting the versions of a backup replica to cloud In Acronis True Image: 1. In the Backup section, locate a local backup that is replicated to cloud, click the down arrow and select Clean up versions. The Clean up backup versions dialog opens. 2. Under Delete versions from, select Acronis Cloud. The list of backup replica versions appears. 3. Select the replica versions that you want to delete and click Delete. 4. In the confirmation dialog, click Delete.
5 Recovering data In this section Recovering disks and partitions ........................................................................................ 88 Recovering files and folders ............................................................................................ 101 Searching backup content............................................................................................... 102 Recovery from Acronis Cloud ............................................................................
Validate the image under bootable media. A backup that can be read during validation in Windows, may not always be readable in a Linux environment. Under bootable media, there are two ways to validate a backup: To validate a backup manually, on the Recovery tab, right-click a backup and select Validate Archive. To validate a backup automatically before recovery, on the Options step of the Recovery Wizard, select the Validate backup archive before recovery check box.
4. On the Home screen, select My disks below Recover. 5. Select the system disk or partition backup to be used for recovery. When the backup is not displayed, click Browse and specify path to the backup manually. If the backup is located on a USB drive, and the drive is not recognized correctly, check the USB port version. If it is a USB 3.0 or USB 3.1, try connecting the drive to a USB 2.0 port. 6. Select Recover whole disks and partitions at the Recovery method step.
7. 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. If you have the System Reserved partition, select it, too. 8. 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.
9. 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. 10. When the operation finishes, exit the standalone version of Acronis True Image 2021, 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. 5.1.1.
6. Select the system disk or partition backup to be used for recovery. When the backup is not displayed, click Browse and specify path to the backup manually. If the backup is located on a USB drive, and the drive is not recognized correctly, check the USB port version. If it is a USB 3.0 or USB 3.1, try connecting the drive to a USB 2.0 port. 7. If you have a hidden partition (for example, the System Reserved partition or a partition created by the PC manufacturer), click Details on the wizard's toolbar.
with hidden partitions). The partitions then take an ascending order of partition disk letters. This order cannot be changed. The order may differ from the physical order of the partitions on the hard disk. 10. On the Settings of the hidden partition step (usually named Settings of Partition 1-1), specify the following settings: 94 Location. Click New location, select your new disk by either its assigned name or capacity, and then click Accept. Type.
Size. Click Change default in the Partition size area. By default the partition occupies the entire new disk. Enter the correct size in the Partition size field (you can see this value on the What to recover step). Then drag this partition to the same location that you saw in the Backup Information window, if necessary. Click Accept. 11. On the Settings of Partition C step, specify the settings for the second partition, which in this case is your system partition.
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. 12. Carefully read the summary of operations to be performed and then click Proceed. When the recovery is complete Before you boot the computer, please disconnect the old drive (if any).
3. In the Backup section, select the backup which contains the partitions or disks you want to recover, then open the Recovery tab, and then click Recover disks. 4. In the Backup version list, select the backup version you want to recover by its backup date and time. 5. Select the Disks tab to recover disks or Partitions tab to recover specific partitions. Choose objects you need to recover. 6. In the recovery destination field below the partition name, select the destination partition.
5.1.2.1 Partition properties When you recover partitions to a basic disk, you can change properties of these partitions. To open the Partition Properties window, click Properties next to the selected target partition. You can change the following partition properties: Letter Size You can resize the partition by dragging the right-side border with your mouse, on the horizontal bar on the screen.
Basic volume or disk. The target volume remains basic. Bare-metal recovery. When performing a so called "bare-metal recovery" of dynamic volumes to a new unformatted disk, the recovered volumes become basic. If you want the recovered volumes to remain dynamic, the target disks should be prepared as dynamic (partitioned and formatted). This can be done using third-party tools, for example, Windows Disk Management snap-in.
Before you start the procedure, please ensure that you have: Acronis bootable media. Refer to Creating Acronis bootable media (p. 19) for details. Backup of your system disk created in disk mode. To create this backup, switch to disk mode, and then select the hard drive that contains your system partition. Refer to Backing up disks and partitions (p. 45) for details. To transfer your system from an MBR disk to a UEFI-booted computer: 1.
To boot from Acronis bootable media: 1. If you use a USB flash drive or external drive as a bootable media, plug it into the USB port. 2. Turn your computer on. During the Power-On Self Test (POST), you will see the key combination that you need to press in order to enter BIOS or UEFI BIOS. 3. Press the key combination (such as, Del, F1, Ctrl+Alt+Esc, Ctrl+Esc). The BIOS or UEFI BIOS setup utility will open. Note that utilities may differ in appearance, sets of items, names, etc.
5. Select the files and folders that you want to recover, and click Next. 6. Select a destination on your computer to where you want to recover the selected files/folders. The selected items will be recovered without recovering the original, absolute path. 7. When needed, set the options for the recovery process (recovery process priority, file-level security settings, etc.). To set the options, click Recovery options. The options you set here will be applied only to the current recovery operation. 8.
2. When selecting files and folders to recover, enter the file or folder name into the Search field. The program shows search results. You can also use the common Windows wildcard characters: * and ?. For example, to find all files with extension .exe, enter *.exe. To find all .exe files with names consisting of five symbols and starting with “my”, enter My???.exe. 3. By default, Acronis True Image 2021 searches the folder selected on the previous step.
5. (Optional) From the Version drop-down menu, select the backup version that you want to recover. If you do not select a version, Acronis True Image 2021 recovers the latest recovery point. 6. Select the files and folders that you want to recover and click Next. 7. Select the destination on your computer where you want to recover the selected files and folders. To select a new location to store your data, click Browse.
5. From the Backups list, select the cloud backup which contains the files or folders that you want to recover. 6. From the list of files and folders, select the ones that you want to recover. 7. DOWNLOAD to start the recovery on the sidebar. If you selected several files and folders, they will be placed into a zip archive. 5.4.2 Recovering a file version By default Acronis True Image 2021 selects the latest versions with respect to the date you specified.
Recovery to a new location When you recover a disk to a different location or to an unallocated space, the process is very similar to a recovery from a local storage. The only difference is in the data writing method. Acronis True Image downloads and writes data by separate blocks, and not continuously. This technology increases recovery speed and reliability of the entire process.
3. On the Home screen, select My disks below Recover. 4. To add the online backup of the system disk or system partition to the list of available backups, click Browse. 5. In the directory tree of the opened window, select Acronis Cloud and enter credentials of your Acronis account. 6. Select the backup you want to use for recovery, and click OK.
7. On the Archive selection step, select the online backup and click Next. 8. On the Recovery method step, select Recover whole disks and partitions. 9. On the What to recover step, select the system partition (usually C) and the System Reserved partition (if any). You can also recognize these partitions by the Pri, Act flags. 10. On the "Settings of partition C" (or the letter of the system partition, if it is different) step, change the settings, if necessary.
12. When recovery is complete, exit the standalone version of Acronis True Image 2021, remove the bootable media. Boot from the recovered system partition. After you check that you have recovered Windows to the state you need, restore the original boot order (p. 100). 5.5 Recovering Office 365 data Acronis True Image 2021 allows you to protect your personal Office 365 account from losing your e-mail messages, files and folders, profile information, and other data.
5.6 Recovery options You can configure options for the disk/partition and file recovery processes. After you installed the application, all options are set to the initial values. You can change them for your current recovery operation only or for all further recovery operations as well. Select the Save the settings as default check box to apply the modified settings to all further recovery operations by default.
The Abort the operation if the user command fails (enabled by default) parameter will abort the operation if any errors occur in command execution. You can test the command you entered by clicking the Test command button. 5.6.3 Validation option Location: Recovery options > Advanced > Validation Validate backup before recovery—Enable this option to check the backup integrity before recovery.
Select the Hidden files and folders check box to turn off overwriting of all hidden files and folders. This option is available for file-level backups to local destinations and network shares. Select the System files and folders check box to turn off overwriting of all system files and folders. This option is available for file-level backups to local destinations and network shares. Select the More recent files and folders check box to turn off overwriting of new files and folders.
Free disk space threshold You may want to be notified when the free space on the recovery storage becomes less than the specified threshold value. If after starting a backup Acronis True Image 2021 finds out that the free space in the selected backup location is already less than the specified value, the program will not begin the actual recovery process and will immediately inform you by displaying an appropriate message.
3. Click the Send test message button again. Additional notification settings: To send a notification concerning process completion, select the Send notification upon operation's successful completion check box. To send a notification concerning process failure, select the Send notification upon operation failure check box. To send a notification with operation messages, select the Send notification when user interaction is required check box.
6 Archiving data In this section What is data archiving? ................................................................................................... 115 What is excluded from archives? .................................................................................... 116 Cloud archiving vs. Online backup .................................................................................. 116 Archiving your data .........................................................................................
For the files that have been changed and uploaded to Acronis Cloud several times, Acronis True Image 2021 keeps all the modifications in different file versions. You can choose a previous file version and download it to your device. 6.2 What is excluded from archives? To reduce archive size and eliminate a possibility to corrupt your system, by default Acronis True Image 2021 excludes the following data from archives: pagefile.sys swapfile.
6.4 Archiving your data Data archiving helps you free up your storage space by moving your old or rarely used files to Acronis Cloud or local storage. Refer to What is data archiving (p. 115) for details. To archive your data: 1. Start Acronis True Image 2021, and then go to the Archive section. 2. [Optional step] To learn basics of the data archiving feature, view the Getting Started slides. 3. Do one of the following: To analyze files in your default Windows user folder, usually located at C:\Users\
Encryption To protect the archived data from unauthorized access, you can encrypt the archive with industry-standard AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) cryptographic algorithm with a 256-bit long key. Note: You cannot set or change the archive encryption option for a pre-existing archive. To encrypt an archive: 1. When configuring the first archiving process, click Options. 2. Select the Encrypt archive by using the AES-256 algorithm check box. 3.
7 Protecting family data In this section What is family data protection? ..................................................................................... 119 Adding a new device to Online Dashboard ..................................................................... 119 Backing up data remotely ............................................................................................... 120 Recovering data with Online Dashboard ........................................................................
2. 3. 4. 5. Sign in with your Acronis account. On the Resources tab, click Add. Download and install Acronis True Image. Start Acronis True Image and sign in to the same Acronis account. 7.3 Backing up data remotely With the web-based Online Dashboard, you can configure and run a backup on any computer (PC or Mac) that shares the same Acronis account. Before backing up, ensure that you have access to a computer: 1. Open Online Dashboard at: https://cloud.acronis.com. 2.
2. Click the gear icon, and then click Backup. 3. Click Add backup plan. To create a backup with the predefined settings, click Apply. The entire machine will be backed up to Acronis Cloud. To create a backup with custom settings, click Create new, change the settings, and then click Apply. 4. To start backup, click Run now. 7.
[backup_name]—name of backup The default subject is [computer_name] - [operation_status] - [backup_name]. After saving the settings, you will receive information from Acronis servers about all backups on all of your family devices running Windows and Mac OS.
8 Antivirus and antimalware protection Acronis True Image 2021 provides two types of antivirus and antimalware protection. Active Protection runs constantly in the background to protect your machines in real time while you work as usual. Antivirus scans run on-demand to perform in-depth search for malicious software throughout the whole system. Note You can turn the protection on or off in the True Image UI only. You cannot stop the process manually through Task Manager or any other external tool.
Note By pausing the protection, you deactivate Active Protection (Real-time protection, Antiransomware protection, and Web filtering). Scheduled on-demand scans will not start. On the Activity tab of the dashboard, you can view a log of the changes that you applied to your protection status and settings. In this section Active protection............................................................................................................. 124 Antivirus scans .........................................
Cloud backups If Acronis True Image 2021 finds a good temporary copy, the file is restored from that copy. If temporary file copies are not suitable for restore, Acronis True Image 2021 searches for backup copies locally and in the cloud, compares the creation dates of the copies found in both locations, and restores your file from the latest available non-corrupt copy. Note Acronis True Image 2021 does not support file recovery from password-protected backups.
Web filtering Malware is often distributed by malicious or infected sites and uses the so called "Drive-by download" method of infection. Web filtering helps to protect you from potentially harmful websites and untrusted web resources by blocking the access when you try to open them. To determine which websites are potentially harmful, Web filtering uses the Protection updates database. The Web filtering database also includes information about websites that contain fake news, scam, and phishing URLs.
Protect network shares and NAS – Acronis True Image 2021 will monitor and protect the network shares and NAS devices you have access to. You can also specify a recovery location for files affected by a ransomware attack. Protect your computer from illicit cryptomining – Select this check box to defend your computer from cryptomining malware. 3. Click OK. To configure Real-time Protection: 1. Switch on the Real-time Protection toggle to enable Real-time Protection.
8.2 Antivirus scans Antivirus scan is one of the components of Acronis True Image 2021 Antivirus and antimalware protection. It protects your computer by checking for malware on demand – manually or at predefined intervals that you can configure. You can select between two types of scans. Full scan checks the entire machine for viruses.
Full–This option is set by default. Acronis True Image 2021 will check the entire PC. Quick– Acronis True Image 2021 will check only the specific folders that are considered the most likely storages of threats. To schedule antivirus scans: Select one of the check boxes to configure the time when the scanning process shall start. Daily—the scan will be run every day at a specified time. Set the time. Weekly—the scan will be run on a specified day of week. Set the day of week and time.
8.4 Managing files in Quarantine Based on your settings, Active protection and Antivirus scans can move blocked files to quarantine. Quarantine is a special storage that is used to isolate infected and suspected files from your computer and data. When you place an application file in quarantine, the risk of potential harmful actions from the blocked application is minimized. By default, files are kept for 30 days in quarantine and then deleted from your PC.
8.6 Protection for Zoom, Cisco Webex, and Microsoft Teams Zoom, Cisco Webex Meetings, and Microsoft Teams are widely used for web conferencing and communication. The anti-ransomware feature of Acronis True Image 2021 protects these collaboration applications by default as follows. Protecting application processes from code injections Preventing suspicious operations by application processes 8.
9 Synchronizing data In this section About the Sync feature ................................................................................................... 132 What you can and cannot synchronize ........................................................................... 132 Sync icons ........................................................................................................................ 133 Creating a sync ................................................................................
Files (your photos, music, videos, documents, etc.), except those listed below Only the native FAT32 and NTFS file attributes are synchronized. If the synced folders belong to different file systems, the program synchronizes only the attributes supported by the both file systems. Other folders inside the sync folder (that is, sync subfolders) and their content You cannot synchronize the following data: Disks and partitions Windows libraries (Documents, Music, etc.
Icon Description Sync with Acronis Cloud. Sync between computers synced through a local area network. 9.4 Creating a sync Before you begin a new sync creation, please make sure that the following conditions are met: You have an Acronis account. Acronis True Image Home 2012 or later version is installed on every computer. Every computer has connection to the Internet. If you plan to include Acronis Cloud in your sync, you must have a subscription to Acronis Cloud Storage.
9.5.1 Reverting to a previous file version If you store sync history on the Acronis Cloud, you can revert the current version of a synchronized file to its previous version. This is useful when you want to undo some undesirable sync operation. To revert to a previous file version: 1. In the Sync section, find the sync box with the needed file. Then click the Acronis Cloud link. 2. After the list of sync items opens in your Web browser, select the file which you want to revert to a previous version.
4. Clicking Advanced cleanup allows you to select more cleanup rules. You can apply the cleanup rules for: individual syncs and online backups all syncs and online backups you have on Acronis Cloud 5. Choose the desired rules and click Clean up now. One more way to clean up is to delete a sync or online backup that you no longer need. In this case, all version history for the sync or online backup is deleted from Acronis Cloud. 9.
5. Select the Show deleted check box and then select the deleted file you want to recover. 6. Click the Recover button to recover the deleted file to its folder. 9.8 Deleting a sync To delete a sync: 1. On the sidebar, click Sync. 2. If you are not signed in, enter your Acronis account credentials. 3. From the sync list, select the sync that you want to delete, click the arrow icon, and then click Delete. This operation will only break the link between synchronized folders.
10 Disk cloning and migration This operation copies the entire contents of one disk drive to another disk drive. This may be necessary, for example, when you want to clone your operating system, applications, and data to a new, larger capacity disk. You can do it two ways: Use the Clone disk utility (p. 138). Back up your old disk drive, and then recover it to the new one (p. 92). In this section Disk cloning utility ....................................................................................
3. On the Clone Mode step, choose a transfer mode. Automatic—Recommended in most cases. Manual—Manual mode will provide more data transfer flexibility. Manual mode can be useful if you need to change the disk partition layout. If the program finds two disks, one partitioned and another unpartitioned, it will automatically recognize the partitioned disk as the source disk and the unpartitioned disk as the destination disk.
9. On the Finish step, ensure that the configured settings suit your needs, and then click Proceed. If the cloning operation is stopped for some reason, you will have to configure and start the procedure again. You will not lose your data, because Acronis True Image does not alter the original disk and data stored on it during cloning. By default, Acronis True Image 2021 shuts down the computer after the clone process finishes.
10.1.2 Manual partitioning The manual transfer method enables you to resize partitions on the new disk. By default, the program resizes them proportionally. To edit a partition: 1. Select the partition, and then click Edit. This will open the Partition Settings window. 2.
Partition type (available only for MBR disks) Partition letter and label Refer to Partition settings (p. 170) for details. 3. Click Accept. Be careful! Clicking any previous wizard step on the sidebar in this window will reset all size and location changes that you've selected, so you will have to specify them again. 10.1.
??name.ext - all files with a .ext extension, having six letters in their names (starting with any two symbols (??) and ending with name), will be excluded. You can enter path to a folder: C:\my pictures - my pictures folder on the C: disk will be excluded. You can edit and remove exclusion criteria using the corresponding buttons on the right pane. 10.
At the command line prompt type: diskpart list disk The screen will show the disks connected to your computer. Find out the disk number for your SSD. Use its size as the reference. select disk N Here N is the disk number of your SSD. clean This operation removes all information from the SSD and overwrites the MBR with the default one. exit exit Start Acronis True Image 2021 and check whether it detects the SSD.
We recommend that you migrate your system to an empty SSD that does not contain partitions (the disk space is unallocated). Note that if your SSD is new and has never been used before, it does not contain partitions. To migrate your system to an SSD: 1. Start Acronis True Image 2021. 2. Create Acronis bootable media, if you do not have it yet. To do this, in the Tools section, click Create bootable media and follow the instructions on the screen. 3.
11 Tools Acronis Tools and utilities include protection tools, mounting tools, clone disk utility, security and privacy utilities, and disk management utilities. Protection tools Acronis Universal Restore media (p. 185) If you recover your image on a computer with a dissimilar hardware configuration, the program may not be able to find some of device drivers in the default folders, especially when the target hardware has a specific mass storage controller.
Image mounting Mount image (p. 182) With this tool, you can explore a previously created image. You will be able to assign temporary drive letters to the partition images and easily access these images as ordinary, logical drives. Unmount image (p. 183) With this tool, you can unmount the temporary logical drives you have created to explore an image. 11.1 Acronis Media Builder Acronis Media Builder allows you to make a USB flash drive, external drive, or a blank CD/DVD bootable.
For WinPE 10.0—at least 512 MB RAM If Acronis Media Builder does not recognize your USB flash drive, you can try using the procedure described in the Acronis Knowledge Base article at https://kb.acronis.com/content/1526. When booting from the bootable media, you cannot perform backups to disks or partitions with Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, ReiserFS, and Linux SWAP file systems.
USB flash drive If your drive has an unsupported file system, Acronis True Image will suggest formatting it to FAT file system. Warning! Formatting permanently erases all data on a disk. ISO image file You will need to specify the .iso file name and the destination folder. When the .iso file is created, you can burn it onto a CD or DVD. For example, in Windows 7 and later, you can do this by using a built-in burning tool. In File Explorer, double-click the created ISO image file, and then click Burn.
Disables USB 2.0 support. USB 1.1 devices still work with this option. This option allows using some USB drives in USB 1.1 mode, if they do not work in USB 2.0 mode. quiet This parameter is enabled by default and the startup messages are not displayed. Deleting it will result in the startup messages being displayed as the Linux kernel is loaded and the command shell being offered prior to running the Acronis program. nodma Disables DMA for all IDE disk drives.
To create a custom Windows PE image, proceed as follows: 1. If you don't have the .wim file with the Acronis plug-in, start Rescue Media Builder and create it by choosing WIM file as a destination for the WinPE-based media. Refer to Creating Acronis bootable media (p. 148) for details. 2. Depending on your version of Windows AIK or Windows ADK, do one of the following: In the Start menu, click Microsoft Windows AIK, right-click Windows PE Tools Command Prompt, and then select Run as administrator.
For WinPE 3.0, type: copy c:\AcronisBootablePEMedia.wim c:\winpe_x64\ISO\sources\boot.wim For WinPE 4.0, WinPE 5.0 or WinPE 10.0, type: copy "c:\AcronisBootablePEMedia.wim" c:\winpe_x64\media\sources\boot.wim 4. Use the Oscdimg tool. To create an .iso file, type: oscdimg -n –bc:\winpe_x64\etfsboot.com c:\winpe_x64\ISO c:\winpe_x64\winpe_x64.iso Alternatively, to make the media bootable on both BIOS and UEFI computers, type: oscdimg -m -o -u2 -udfver102 -bootdata:2#p0,e,bc:\winpe_x64\fwfiles\etfsboot.
If you do not have a spare mouse or keyboard, contact Acronis Support. They will build a custom bootable CD that will have drivers for the models of your mouse and keyboard. Please be aware that finding the appropriate drivers and making the custom bootable CD may take some time. Furthermore, this may be impossible for some models. 4. When the program starts, we recommend that you try recovering some files from your backup.
2. Select a backup at the Archive location step, and then click Next. 3. When recovering files with the bootable 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. 4. After the Destination window opens, check that all of your drives are shown under My Computer. If you store your backups on the network, verify that you can access the network.
If the Computers Near Me icon is not available under My Computer, there may be problems either with your network card or with the card driver provided with Acronis True Image 2021. 5. Select the destination for the files, and then click Next. 6. Select several files for recovery by selecting their check boxes and then click Next. 7. Click Proceed on the Summary window to start recovery. 8. After the recovery finishes, exit the standalone Acronis True Image 2021.
11.2.1 Selecting video mode when booting from the bootable media When booting from the bootable media the optimal video mode is selected automatically depending on the specifications of your video card and monitor. However, sometimes the program can select the wrong video mode, which is unsuitable for your hardware. In such case you can select a suitable video mode as follows: 1. Start booting from the bootable media.
After you find the optimal video mode for your hardware, you can create a new bootable media that will automatically select that video mode. To do this, start Acronis Media Builder, select the required media components, and type the mode number with the "0x" prefix (0x338 in our instance) in the command line at the "Bootable media startup parameters" step, then create the media as usual. 11.
Additional information Disk letters in standalone Acronis True Image 2021 might sometimes differ from the way Windows identifies drives. For example, the D: disk identified in the standalone Acronis True Image 2021 might correspond to the E: disk in Windows. The disk labels and information on partition sizes, file systems, drive capacities, their manufacturers, and model numbers can help in correctly identifying the disks and partitions.
Please remember that if you download e-mail from a POP mail server, create new files or edit existing documents while in the Try mode, and then decide to discard your changes, those files, document changes, and mail will no longer exist. In this case, save the new files and edited documents, for example, to a USB flash drive and unplug it before discarding the changes.
Every "soft" reboot of your computer while in the Try mode results in adding up to 500 MB of Try&Decide's housekeeping data into the storage selected for storing virtual changes. Limitations in using Try&Decide If you use Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10, please, be aware that in the Try mode the program may use free disk space quite intensively, even when your computer is idle. This is due to housekeeping activities such as indexing that run in the background.
3. Set up the Try&Decide options, if necessary. Refer to Try&Decide options and notifications (p. 161) for details. 4. To start the Try mode, click the Try&Decide icon. The program starts tracking all changes made to the OS and files and temporarily stores all the changes on the selected disk. 5. Perform all the changes you wanted to try.
1. Click the partition letter next to the setting name. The Partition Selection window opens. 2. Select the partitions that you want to protect, and then click OK. By default, Try&Decide protects the system partition (Disk C), though you may choose to protect any other partitions in your system. Storage for virtual changes To change this setting: 1. Click the partition letter next to the setting name. The Storage for Virtual Changes window opens. 2.
while trying to recover deleted files, making things worse than before trying to recover them. So you can proceed as follows: Turn on the Try mode. But now you can just discard the changes made in the Try mode and make one more attempt to recover the files after turning on the Try mode again. Such attempts may be repeated until you are sure that you have done your best in trying to recover the files. Launch the file undelete utility.
To prevent the zone overflow, we recommended that you select the When not enough space in ASZ, delete the oldest backup check box in the scheduled backup options. Refer to Error handling (p. 71) for details. You can use the Acronis Secure Zone as the storage for virtual system changes in the Try mode. The Try&Decide data will be automatically cleaned up after you stop a Try&Decide session. Acronis True Image does not delete nonstop backup versions in the Acronis Secure Zone automatically.
3. Click Next. Increasing or decreasing the size of the Acronis Secure Zone To increase/decrease the size of the Acronis Secure Zone: 1. Select the partitions from which space will be used to increase the size of the Acronis Secure Zone, or that will receive free space after the size of the Acronis Secure Zone is reduced. You can also select partitions with unallocated space. 2. Click Next. 11.5.
Drag the slider to the appropriate position or type an exact value. The minimum size is about 50 MB, depending on the geometry of the hard disk. The maximum size is equal to the disk’s unallocated space plus the total free space on all partitions selected at the previous step. When creating/enlarging the Acronis Secure Zone, the program will first use the unallocated space. If the unallocated space is not enough to achieve the desired size, the selected partitions will be decreased in size.
5. Click Next to continue. Acronis True Image 2021 repair or update will not affect the password. However, if the program is removed and then installed again while keeping the Acronis Secure Zone on the disk, the password to the Acronis Secure Zone will be reset. 11.5.5 Removing Acronis Secure Zone Acronis Secure Zone deletion will automatically destroy all backups stored in the zone. Select the partitions to which you want to add the space freed up from Acronis Secure Zone.
11.6.1 Selecting a hard disk Select the disk that you have added to the computer. If you have added several disks, select one of them and click Next to continue. You can add the other disks later by restarting the Add New Disk Wizard. If there are any partitions on the new disk, Acronis True Image 2021 will warn you that these partitions will be deleted.
11.6.2 Selecting initialization method Acronis True Image 2021 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.
3. Click Accept. 11.6.3.1 Partition settings Size To resize the partition, perform one of the following: Point to the partition border. When the pointer becomes a double-headed arrow, drag the pointer to enlarge or reduce the partition size. Type the desired partition size in the Partition Size field. To relocate the partition, perform one of the following: Drag the partition to a new position. Type the desired size in either the Free space before or Free space after field.
Ext4 is a new Linux file system. It has improvements in comparison to ext3. It is fully backward compatible with ext2 and ext 3. However, ext3 has only partial forward compatibility with ext4. ReiserFS is a journaling file system for Linux. Generally it is more reliable and faster than Ext2. Choose it for your Linux data partition. Linux Swap is a swap partition for Linux. Choose it if you want to add more swap space using Linux. Partition letter Select a letter to be assigned to the partition.
1. Click the Start button —> Acronis (product folder) —> True Image —> Tools and Utilities —> DriveCleanser. The Acronis DriveCleanser wizard opens. 2. On the Source selection step, select the disks and partitions that you want to wipe. Refer to Source selection (p. 172) for details. 3. On the Algorithm selection step, select an algorithm that you want to use for the data destruction. Refer to Algorithm selection (p. 172) for details. 4. [optional step] You can create your own algorithm.
[For advanced users only] To create a custom algorithm, select Custom. Then continue creating on the Algorithm definition step. Afterwards, you will be able to save the created algorithm to a file with *.alg extension. To use a previously saved custom algorithm, select Load from file and select the file containing your algorithm. Creating custom algorithm Algorithm definition The Algorithm definition step shows you a template of the future algorithm.
1. Click Add. The Wiping Pass Adjustment window opens. 2. Choose an option: Write pattern Enter a hexadecimal value, for example, a value of this kind: 0x00, 0xAA, or 0xCD, etc. These values are 1 byte long, but they may be up to 512 bytes long. Except for such values, you may enter a random hexadecimal value of any length (up to 512 bytes). If the binary value is represented by the 10001010 (0x8A) sequence, then the complementary binary value will be represented by the 01110101 (0x75) sequence.
11.7.1.3 Post-wiping actions In the Post-wiping actions window, you can select actions to be performed on the partitions selected for data destruction. Acronis DriveCleanser offers you three options: No action — just destroy data using the algorithm selected below Delete partition — destroy data and delete partition Format — destroy data and format partition (default). 11.7.
Please, be aware that Windows stores passwords until the session ends, so cleaning the list of network user credentials will not take effect until you end the current Windows session by logging out or by rebooting the computer. To start the System Clean-up wizard, click the Start button —> Acronis (product folder) —> True Image —> Tools and Utilities —> System Clean-up. After you start the wizard, it will search for any traces of user actions stored by Windows.
System components: Recycle Bin Temporary files Hard disk free space Find Computer list Find File list Recently Used Documents list Windows Run List Opened/saved files history User Credentials Windows Prefetch Directory 11.7.2.2 Default clean-up options The default clean-up options are available by clicking the Click to change this setting… link on the Data Destruction Method option page.
Data destruction method System Clean-up utilizes a number of the most popular data destruction methods. Here, you need to select the desired data destruction method. Use common method - if you leave this parameter selected, the program will use the default method (the initial setting is Fast method). If you need another destruction method to be set as a default, click on the corresponding link.
Upon entering the Files setting value, you can browse the files matching the search strings. To do this, click Show Files. You will see a window with the names of the found files. These files will be cleaned. Drive free space Here you can manually specify physical and/or logical drives to clean up free space on. By default, System Clean-up cleans up free space on all available drives.
"Commands" setting Here you can select the commands to remove during Windows Run List clean-up. This template can contain any command names or their parts separated by semicolons, e.g.: *help; cmd; reg* This will result in removing commands with names corresponding to or containing any of the names or parts of names you entered. Network places filter Here you can enter (separated by semicolons) any hostnames or IP addresses of network places, servers, FTP servers, network shares, etc.
If required, you can dig deeper by expanding a component and selecting/unselecting its contents. Having specified the components for clean-up, click the Clean-up button to continue. Windows 7 and later operating systems do not store information on file and computer searches. Furthermore, information on opened/saved files is stored in the registry differently, so the wizard shows this information in a different way. 11.7.2.
No. Algorithm (writing method) Passes Record th th sector for 6 to 4 security level systems. Randomly selected symbols (numbers) to each byte rd st of each sector for 3 to 1 security level systems. 6. Peter Gutmann's method 35 Peter Gutmann's method is very sophisticated. It's based on his theory of hard disk information wiping (see Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory). 7.
3. [optional step] On the Drive letter step, 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. 4. Click Proceed. 5. After the image is connected, the program will run File Explorer, showing its contents. 11.
To convert an Acronis disk image (.tib file) to a Windows backup (.vhd(x) file): 1. Start Acronis True Image 2021. 2. Go to the Backup section. 3. In the backup list, click the down arrow icon next to the backup that you want to convert, and then click Convert to VHD. If the backup is password-protected, Acronis True Image 2021 will ask for it. Note that the resulting .vhd(x) file will lose password protection. 4. Select the backup version that you want to convert.
1. Start Acronis True Image 2021. 2. On the sidebar, click Settings > Backup settings transfer, click Save settings to file, and then browse for the destination to save the script files with the settings. To import the backup settings: 1. Start Acronis True Image 2021 on another computer. 2. On the sidebar, click Settings > Backup settings transfer, click Import settings from file, and then show the path to the script files with the settings.
11.12.1 Creating Acronis Universal Boot media Acronis Universal Boot media is used to make your computer bootable after recovery to dissimilar hardware. Refer to Acronis Universal Restore (p. 185) for details. To create Acronis Universal Boot media: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Start Acronis True Image 2021. In the Tools section, click Acronis Universal Restore. Click Download to obtain Acronis Universal Boot Media Builder. Run the downloaded file and install the media builder.
9. Select the Acronis components to place on the media. You can select 32-bit and/or 64-bit components. The 32-bit components can work on 64-bit hardware. However, you need 64-bit components to boot a 64-bit computer that uses Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). To use the media on different types of hardware, select both types of components. When booting a machine from the resulting media, you will be able to select 32-bit or 64-bit components on the boot menu.
11.12.2 Using Acronis Universal Restore Preparation Prepare drivers Before applying Universal Restore to a Windows operating system, make sure that you have the drivers for the new HDD controller and the chipset. These drivers are critical to start the operating system. Use the CD or DVD supplied by the hardware vendor or download the drivers from the vendor’s website. The driver files should have the *.inf, *.sys or *.oem extensions. If you download the drivers in the *.exe, *.cab or *.
12 Troubleshooting In this section Resolving the most frequent issues ................................................................................ 189 Acronis System Report .................................................................................................... 190 Acronis Smart Error Reporting ........................................................................................ 191 Sending feedback to Acronis ...............................................................................
3. The backup opens, but the files and folders are not displayed. How to resolve Error "Plug in external drive" A typical scenario: 1. You have a backup configured to be saved on a USB drive. You plug in the USB drive to your computer, and then start the backup. 2. The backup does not start, pauses or fails. The following error appears: "Plug in external drive .
After the report is generated: To save the generated system report, click Save and in the opened window specify a location for the created file. To exit to the main program window without saving the report, click Cancel. You can place the tool on your bootable media as a separate component to generate a system report when your computer cannot boot. After you boot from the media, you can generate the report without running Acronis True Image 2021.
When you have an Internet connection To view the Acronis Knowledge Base article suggesting a solution(s) for correcting the error, click the Knowledge Base button. 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. When you do not have an Internet connection 1.
1. On the sidebar, click Help, and then click Send feedback. The feedback form opens. 2. 3. 4. 5. Choose a feedback reason from the list. Type your message. Provide your name and email. [Optional step] You can also attach a file and Acronis system report. Refer to Acronis System Report (p. 190) for details. We recommend that you attach the system report when you faced a serious error, for example, when Acronis True Image 2021 stopped responding. 6. Click Send. 12.
2. A Windows dump file. For information on how to collect such a dump see the Acronis Support KB article at https://kb.acronis.com/content/17639. If Acronis True Image 2021 hangs: 1. A description of the exact sequence of steps performed before you encountered the issue. 2. A userdump of the process. See the Acronis Support KB article at https://kb.acronis.com/content/6265. 3. The Procmon log. See the Acronis Support KB article at https://kb.acronis.com/content/2295.
Copyright Statement Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2003-2020. All rights reserved. "Acronis", "Acronis Compute with Confidence", "Acronis Recovery Manager", "Acronis Secure Zone", "Acronis True Image", "Acronis Try&Decide", 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. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.
13 Glossary of Terms A Acronis Active Protection A technology that protects data from ransomware, malicious software that blocks access to some files or an entire system and demands a ransom for unblocking. Based on a heuristic approach, this technology monitors processes on a computer in real-time mode and informs the user about attempts to encrypt data on the computer. In case files are encrypted, they can be recovered from the temporary copies or backups.
completion, the files are deleted from their original locations and accessible in read-only mode on a virtual Acronis Drive. B Backup Bootable media A physical media (CD, DVD, USB drive, or other media supported by a machine BIOS as a boot device) that contains standalone version of Acronis True Image 2021. Bootable media is most often used to: 1. The same as Backup operation (p. 197). 2. A set of backup versions created and managed by using backup settings.
Disk backup (Image) A backup (p. 197) that contains a sector-based copy of a disk or a partition in packaged form. Normally, only sectors that contain data are copied. Acronis True Image 2021 provides an option to take a raw image, that is, copy all the disk sectors, which enables imaging of unsupported file systems. M Mobile backup A backup (p. 197) that contains files from a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet. The backup can be stored in Acronis Cloud or local storage on a computer.
O V Online backup Validation Online backup - a backup that is created using Acronis Online Backup. Online backups are stored in a special storage named Acronis Cloud, accessible over the Internet. The main advantage of an online backup is that all backups are stored on the remote location. It gives a guarantee that all backed up data will be safe independently of a user local storages. To begin to use Acronis Cloud a user should subscribe to the service.
