Operation Manual
33 Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2012
7.4 How to back up
On the fourth step you should define the preferences of your new backup task.
7.4.1 Backup type
First of all, you should define the archive type for the new backup. Acronis vmProtect 7 can save your
backup data by using one of the two basic types of archives – Standard archive (Legacy mode) or
Always Incremental archive.
Select the Save each backup in separate files option for the Legacy archive (please, refer to "Multiple
files backup scheme (Legacy mode)" section (p. 8)). Or select the Save all backups in one file
(recommended) option. This means that the archive will have the new enhanced “Always
Incremental” format (please, refer to "Single file backup scheme (Always Incremental)" section (p. 9)).
In case of editing your existing backup task or selecting an existing archive for the backup location,
this setting is not shown.
7.4.2 Retention rules
Next, you should define the retention rules for backup management inside the archive. The
availability of the options depends on the schedule setup in the previous step (section “When to
Backup”) and on the selected archive format (section “Backup type” (p. 33)). For example, the
Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) cleanup scheme will not be available for the unscheduled backup task.
Create full backups every: <...> choice will not be available for the “Save all backups in one file”
option (as full backups don’t make sense for the Always Incremental archive format). What follows is
a description of each retention rule.
1. Not specified
If the retention rules are not specified, then no programmed backups management will be
performed, i.e. all the backups will be stored inside the archive indefinitely.