User Guide
Table Of Contents
- Chapter 1. Introduction
- Chapter 2. Acronis True Image Workstation installation and
- Chapter 3. General information and proprietary Acronis tech
- 3.1 The difference between file archives and disk/partition
- 3.2 Full, incremental and differential backups
- 3.3 Acronis Secure Zone
- 3.4 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager
- 3.5 Acronis Backup Server
- 3.6 Acronis Snap Restore
- 3.7 Acronis Universal Restore
- 3.8 Backing up to tape drive
- 3.9 Viewing disk and partition information
- Chapter 4. Using Acronis True Image Management Console
- Chapter 5. Using Acronis True Image Workstation (local vers
- Chapter 6. Creating backup archives
- 6.1 Backing up files and folders (file backup)
- 6.2 Backing up disks and partitions (image backup)
- 6.3 Setting backup options
- 6.3.1 Archive protection
- 6.3.2 Source files exclusion
- 6.3.3 Pre/post commands
- 6.3.4 Compression level
- 6.3.5 Backup performance
- 6.3.6 Fast incremental/differential backup
- 6.3.7 Archive splitting
- 6.3.8 File-level security settings
- 6.3.9 Media components
- 6.3.10 Additional settings
- 3.7.1 How to use
- 3.7.2 Using Acronis Universal Restore in virtual environmen
- 3.7.3 Hints on using Acronis Universal Restore
- 3.7.4 Benefits
- Chapter 7. Restoring the backup data
- 7.1 Restore under Windows or boot from CD?
- 7.2 Restoring files and folders from file archives
- 7.3 Restoring disks/partitions or files from images
- 7.3.1 Starting the Restore Data Wizard
- 7.3.2 Archive selection
- 7.3.3 Restoration type selection
- 7.3.4 Selecting a disk/partition to restore
- 7.3.5 Selecting a target disk/partition
- 7.3.6 Changing the restored partition type
- 7.3.7 Changing the restored partition file system
- 7.3.8 Changing the restored partition size and location
- 7.3.9 Assigning a letter to the restored partition
- 7.3.10 Restoring several partitions at once
- 7.3.11 Setting restore options
- 7.3.12 Using Acronis Universal Restore
- 7.3.13 Restoration summary and executing restoration
- 7.4 Setting restore options
- Chapter 8. Scheduling tasks
- Chapter 9. Managing Acronis Secure Zone
- Chapter 10. Creating bootable media
- Chapter 11. Other operations
- Chapter 12. Mounting an image as a virtual drive
- Chapter 13. Transferring the system to a new disk
- 13.1 General information
- 13.2 Security
- 13.3 Executing transfers
- 13.3.1 Selecting Clone mode
- 13.3.2 Selecting source disk
- 13.3.3 Selecting destination disk
- 13.3.4 Partitioned destination disk
- 13.3.5 Old and new disk partition layout
- 13.3.6 Old disk data
- 13.3.7 Destroying the old disk data
- 13.3.8 Selecting partition transfer method
- 13.3.9 Partitioning the old disk
- 13.3.10 Old and new disk partition layouts
- 13.3.11 Cloning summary
- 13.4 Cloning with manual partitioning
- Chapter 14. Adding a new hard disk
- Chapter 15. Command-line mode and scripting
Chapter 3. General information and
proprietary Acronis technologies
3.1 The difference between file archives and disk/partition images
A backup archive is a file or a group of files (also called in this Guide “backups”), that
contains a copy of selected files/folders data or a copy of all information stored on selected
disks/partitions.
When you back up files and folders, only the data, along with the folder tree, are
compressed and stored.
Backing up disks and partitions is performed in a different way: Acronis True Image
Workstation stores a sector-by-sector snapshot of the disk, which includes the operating
system, registry, drivers, software applications and data files, as well as system areas hidden
from the user. This procedure is called “creating a disk image,” and the resulting backup
archive is often called a disk/partition image.
Acronis True Image Workstation stores only those hard disk parts that contain data (for
supported file systems). Further, it does not back up swap file information (win386.swp
under Windows 98/Me and pagefile.sys under Windows NT/2000/XP) and hiberfil.sys (a file
that keeps RAM contents when the computer goes into hibernation). This reduces image size
and speeds up image creation and restoration.
A partition image includes all files and folders independent of their attributes (including
hidden and system files), boot record, FAT (file allocation table) and root.
A disk image includes images of all disk partitions as well as the zero track with master boot
record (MBR).
By default, files in all Acronis True Image Workstation archives have a “.tib” extension.
It is important to note, that you can restore files and folders not only from file archives, but
from disk/partition images, too. To do so, mount the image as a virtual disk (see
Chapter 12.
Mounting an image as a virtual drive
) or start the image restoration and select Restore
specified files or folders.
3.2 Full, incremental and differential backups
Acronis True Image Workstation can create full, incremental and differential backups.
A full backup contains all data at the moment of backup creation. It forms a base for
further incremental or differential backup or is used as a standalone archive. A full backup
has the shortest restore time as compared to incremental or differential ones.
An incremental backup file only contains data changed since the last full or incremental
backup creation. Therefore, it is smaller and takes less time to create. But as it doesn’t
contain all data, all the previous incremental backups and the initial full backup are required
for restoration.
Unlike incremental backup, when every backup procedure creates the next file in a “chain,” a
differential backup creates an independent file, containing all changes against the initial
full archive. Generally, a differential backup will be restored faster than an incremental one,
as it does not have to process through a long chain of previous backups.
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2006 15