User manual
Table Of Contents
- 1 Introducing Acronis Backup
- 2 Getting started
- 3 Understanding Acronis Backup
- 3.1 Owners
- 3.2 Credentials used in backup plans and tasks
- 3.3 User privileges on a managed machine
- 3.4 List of Acronis services
- 3.5 Full, incremental and differential backups
- 3.6 What does a disk or volume backup store?
- 3.7 Backup and recovery of dynamic volumes (Windows)
- 3.8 Support for Advanced Format (4K-sector) hard disks
- 3.9 Support for UEFI-based machines
- 3.10 Support for Windows 8
- 3.11 Compatibility with encryption software
- 3.12 Support for SNMP
- 4 Backup
- 4.1 Back up now
- 4.2 Creating a backup plan
- 4.2.1 Selecting data to back up
- 4.2.2 Access credentials for source
- 4.2.3 Source files exclusion
- 4.2.4 Backup location selection
- 4.2.5 Access credentials for archive location
- 4.2.6 Backup schemes
- 4.2.7 Archive validation
- 4.2.8 Backup plan's credentials
- 4.2.9 Label (Preserving machine properties in a backup)
- 4.2.10 Sequence of operations in a backup plan
- 4.2.11 Why is the program asking for the password?
- 4.3 Simplified naming of backup files
- 4.3.1 The [DATE] variable
- 4.3.2 Backup splitting and simplified file naming
- 4.3.3 Usage examples
- 4.3.3.1 Example 1. Daily backup replacing the old one
- 4.3.3.2 Example 2. Daily full backups with a date stamp
- 4.3.3.3 Example 3. Hourly backups within a day
- 4.3.3.4 Example 4. Daily full backups with daily drive swaps
- 4.3.3.5 Example 5. Daily backups with weekly drive swaps
- 4.3.3.6 Example 6. Backups within working hours
- 4.4 Scheduling
- 4.5 Replication and retention of backups
- 4.6 How to disable backup cataloging
- 4.7 Default backup options
- 4.7.1 Additional settings
- 4.7.2 Archive protection
- 4.7.3 Backup cataloging
- 4.7.4 Backup performance
- 4.7.5 Backup splitting
- 4.7.6 Compression level
- 4.7.7 Disaster recovery plan (DRP)
- 4.7.8 E-mail notifications
- 4.7.9 Error handling
- 4.7.10 Event tracing
- 4.7.11 Fast incremental/differential backup
- 4.7.12 File-level backup snapshot
- 4.7.13 File-level security
- 4.7.14 Media components
- 4.7.15 Mount points
- 4.7.16 Multi-volume snapshot
- 4.7.17 Pre/Post commands
- 4.7.18 Pre/Post data capture commands
- 4.7.19 Replication/cleanup inactivity time
- 4.7.20 Sector-by-sector backup
- 4.7.21 Task failure handling
- 4.7.22 Task start conditions
- 4.7.23 Volume Shadow Copy Service
- 5 Recovery
- 5.1 Creating a recovery task
- 5.2 Acronis Universal Restore
- 5.3 Recovering BIOS-based systems to UEFI-based and vice versa
- 5.4 Acronis Active Restore
- 5.5 Bootability troubleshooting
- 5.6 Reverting a Windows system to its factory settings
- 5.7 Default recovery options
- 6 Conversion to a virtual machine
- 7 Storing the backed up data
- 8 Operations with archives and backups
- 9 Bootable media
- 10 Disk management
- 10.1 Supported file systems
- 10.2 Basic precautions
- 10.3 Running Acronis Disk Director Lite
- 10.4 Choosing the operating system for disk management
- 10.5 "Disk management" view
- 10.6 Disk operations
- 10.7 Volume operations
- 10.8 Pending operations
- 11 Administering a managed machine
- 11.1 Backup plans and tasks
- 11.2 Log
- 11.3 Alerts
- 11.4 Changing a license
- 11.5 Collecting system information
- 11.6 Adjusting machine options
- 12 Cloud backup
- 12.1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup
- 12.1.1 What is Acronis Cloud Backup?
- 12.1.2 What data can I back up and recover?
- 12.1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the cloud storage?
- 12.1.4 How do I secure my data?
- 12.1.5 Supported operating systems and virtualization products
- 12.1.6 Backup and recovery FAQ
- 12.1.6.1 What backup methods are available?
- 12.1.6.2 What recovery methods are available?
- 12.1.6.3 Is the cloud storage available under Acronis bootable media?
- 12.1.6.4 Can I use Acronis Universal Restore when recovering a system from the cloud storage?
- 12.1.6.5 What if a network connection is lost during cloud backup or recovery?
- 12.1.6.6 What happens if I run out of space?
- 12.1.6.7 What is the cleanup task for?
- 12.1.6.8 How do I make a recovered machine recognize its subscription?
- 12.1.7 Initial Seeding FAQ
- 12.1.7.1 What is Initial Seeding?
- 12.1.7.2 Why would I want to use Initial Seeding?
- 12.1.7.3 Is Initial Seeding a paid service?
- 12.1.7.4 What types of hard drive can I use for Initial Seeding?
- 12.1.7.5 Can I send more than one backup under a single Initial Seeding license?
- 12.1.7.6 Can I send backups taken from a number of machines on a single hard drive?
- 12.1.7.7 How to buy an Initial Seeding license?
- 12.1.7.8 How do I perform initial seeding?
- 12.1.7.9 How to package a hard drive for shipment?
- 12.1.7.10 How do I track an Initial Seeding order status?
- 12.1.8 Large Scale Recovery FAQ
- 12.1.8.1 What is Large Scale Recovery?
- 12.1.8.2 Why would I use Large Scale Recovery?
- 12.1.8.3 Do I need to perform initial seeding to be able to use Large Scale Recovery?
- 12.1.8.4 Is Large Scale Recovery a paid service?
- 12.1.8.5 Can I perform large scale recovery on a different machine?
- 12.1.8.6 Can I obtain backups taken from a number of machines on a single hard drive?
- 12.1.8.7 How to buy a Large Scale Recovery license?
- 12.1.8.8 How do I track a Large Scale Recovery order status?
- 12.1.8.9 How to perform large scale recovery?
- 12.1.9 Subscription lifecycle FAQ
- 12.1.9.1 How do I access my account management webpage?
- 12.1.9.2 Where do I find the subscriptions that I purchased?
- 12.1.9.3 When does my subscription begin?
- 12.1.9.4 What happens when my subscription expires?
- 12.1.9.5 How do I renew a subscription?
- 12.1.9.6 What is the “Group” column for?
- 12.1.9.7 Can I revoke a subscription from a machine?
- 12.1.9.8 Can I cancel my subscription?
- 12.2 Where do I start?
- 12.3 Choosing a subscription
- 12.4 Activating cloud backup subscriptions
- 12.5 Configuring proxy settings
- 12.6 Retrieving files from the cloud storage by using a web browser
- 12.7 Limitations of the cloud storage
- 12.8 Terminology reference
- 12.1 Introduction to Acronis Cloud Backup
- 13 Glossary
- Acronis Active Restore
- Acronis Plug-in for WinPE
- Acronis Secure Zone
- Acronis Startup Recovery Manager (ASRM)
- Acronis Universal Restore
- Activity
- Agent (Acronis Backup Agent)
- Archive
- Backup
- Backup archive (Archive)
- Backup operation
- Backup options
- Backup plan (Plan)
- Backup scheme
- Bootable agent
- Bootable media
- Built-in group
- Cataloging
- Centralized backup plan
- Centralized management
- Centralized task
- Centralized vault
- Cleanup
- Console (Acronis Backup Management Console)
- Consolidation
- Data catalog
- Deduplicating vault
- Deduplication
- Differential backup
- Direct management
- Disaster recovery plan (DRP)
- Disk backup (Image)
- Disk group
- Dynamic disk
- Dynamic group
- Dynamic volume
- Encrypted archive
- Encrypted vault
- Export
- Full backup
- GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son)
- Image
- Incremental backup
- Indexing
- Local backup plan
- Local task
- Logical volume
- Machine
- Managed machine
- Managed vault
- Management server (Acronis Backup Management Server)
- Media builder
- Personal vault
- Plan
- Recovery point
- Registered machine
- Registration
- Replenishable pool
- Replication
- Retention rules
- Single-pass backup
- Static group
- Storage node (Acronis Backup Storage Node)
- Task
- Tower of Hanoi
- Unmanaged vault
- Validation
- Vault
- Virtual machine
- WinPE (Windows Preinstallation Environment)
222 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2014
registration section. The registered license appears on the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab on your
account management webpage.
A license purchased from the Acronis online store appears on the Initial Seeding / Recovery tab
immediately after the payment is processed.
12.1.7.8 How do I perform initial seeding?
1. Ensure that you have activated an Acronis Cloud Backup subscription on the machine where you
will do initial seeding (skip this step if you have a volume subscription).
2. If you are currently using a trial subscription, make sure that you also have a paid subscription
available and assigned to this machine. Do not use the Initial Seeding service if you do not have a
paid subscription.
3. Decide on the media (p. 221) that you will send.
4. Attach the media to the machine you are going to back up. Alternatively, you can back up to a
local or network folder and then copy/move the backup to the media.
5. Start Acronis Backup, click Create backup plan and create a backup plan on this machine:
Under What to back up, select disks, volumes or files/folders you want to back up.
Under Where to back up, specify Cloud Storage.
In Backup scheme, select Initial seeding. Specify the said media as the backup destination.
[Optional, but strongly recommended] Enable backup encryption in Backup options >
Archive protection.
The backup starts immediately after you click the final OK.
6. [Optional] If you want to add backups from another machine, attach the media to that machine
and perform the same steps. You need a separate Initial Seeding license for each machine that
you want to back up.
7. Package (p. 222) the media along with a prepaid return shipping label and send it to Acronis by
physical mail. The address is available on your account management webpage > Initial Seeding /
Recovery tab > Orders in process > Initial Seeding orders > Datacenter address.
8. On the same webpage, mark the order as "shipped" and track (p. 225) the order status.
9. Once you observe that the backup has been uploaded to the cloud storage, you can edit the
backup plan to do incremental backups:
In Backup scheme, select the desired backup scheme and specify its settings.
Click Save.
When started manually or on a schedule, your backup plan will add incremental backups to the
initial backup stored in the cloud storage.
12.1.7.9 How to package a hard drive for shipment?
It is very important that your hard drive be packaged carefully. Careful packaging will protect your
drive from any damage during shipment.
Hard drive types
Acronis accepts hard disk drives of the following interface types: IDE, ATA, SATA, USB connected
drives.
SCSI drives are not accepted.