User guide

218 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2012.
12.1.3 How long will my backups be kept in the online storage?
Your backups remain in the online storage until you delete them or until the subscription expires.
Recovering data from the online storage is possible for 30 days following the subscription expiration
date.
For effective use of the storage space, you have the option to set up the "Delete backups older than"
retention rule.
Example
You might want to use the following backup strategy for a file server.
Back up the critical files twice a day on a schedule. Set the retention rule "Delete backups older
than" 7 days. This means that after every backup the software will check for backups older than 7
days and delete them automatically.
Run backup of the server's system volume manually as required. For example, after the operating
system updates. Manually delete the backups that you do not need.
12.1.4 How to secure my data?
Backups can be encrypted using the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cryptographic algorithm
and the password you set. This guarantees that your data is not accessed by anyone else.
12.1.5 Backup and recovery FAQ
This section answers questions related to backup and recovery processes.
12.1.5.1 What backup methods are available?
Full and incremental backup methods are available through several backup schemes. Regardless of
the backup scheme, the first task run produces a full backup; subsequent task runs produce
incremental backups. The following backup schemes are available:
 Manual start (postponed start). You can run the task again manually.
 Simple (start on schedule). With this backup scheme, you can set up a retention rule to
automatically delete old backups.
 GFS (Grandfather-Father-Son) (start on schedule). You specify which of the daily backups to
consider as weekly backups and monthly backups. You can set up separate retention rules for
daily, weekly, and monthly backups.
 Tower of Hanoi (start on schedule). You set up the number of levels. This is the number of
backups stored at a time. The excessive backups will be deleted in a manner that leaves more
recovery points for recent dates and fewer recovery points for older dates.
 An additional backup scheme that is available only for online storage is Initial seeding. With this
scheme, the backup starts immediately to a local destination and using the full backup method.
To use this scheme, you need a license for the Initial Seeding (p. 49) service.
12.1.5.2 What recovery methods are available?
There are two methods to recover your data from Acronis Online Backup Storage: