Operation Manual

 Back up your old disk drive, and then recover it to the new one.

Backup file format

Acronis True Image usually saves backup data in the proprietary tib format using compression. The

data from .tib file backups can be recovered only through Acronis True Image, in Windows or in the

recovery environment.

Acronis Nonstop Backup uses a special hidden storage for data and metadata. The backed up data is

compressed and split into files of about 1 GB. These files also have a proprietary format and the data

they contain can be recovered only with the help of Acronis True Image.

Backup validation

The backup validation feature allows you to confirm that your data can be recovered. The program

adds checksum values to the data blocks being backed up. During backup validation, Acronis True

Image opens the backup file, recalculates the checksum values and compares those values with the

stored ones. If all compared values match, the backup file is not corrupted. Refer to Validating

backups (p. 61) for details.

Scheduling

For your backups to be really helpful, they must be as "up-to-date" as possible. Schedule your

backups to run automatically and on a regular basis. Refer to Scheduling (p. 42) for details.

Deleting backups

When you want to delete backups and backup versions you no longer need, please do it by using the

tools provided by Acronis True Image 2016. We recommend that you configure automatic cleanup

rules when customizing the backup scheme.

Acronis True Image 2016 stores information on the backups in a metadata information database.

Therefore, deleting unneeded backup files in Windows Explorer will not delete information about

these backups from the database. This will result in errors when the program tries to perform

operations on the backups that no longer exist.

Refer to Deleting backups and backup versions (p. 63) for details.

3.2 The difference between file backups and

disk/partition images

When you back up files and folders, only the files and folder tree are compressed and stored.

Disk/partition backups are different from file and folder backups. Acronis True Image 2016 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. Zero track of the hard disk with the master boot record (MBR) (applicable to MBR disk backups

only).

2. One or more partitions, including:

1. Boot code.