I've been running Acronis True Image backup (considered one of the best commercial packages) for a number of years on an auto scheduled basis. The old set it and forget it approach. So long that at one time I found a weekly run was "on hold" due to inadequate disk space. So, dumb shit that I am, I deleted a number of weekly backups to make room. What I didn't remember/realize is that when you run an incremental scheme, if any increment gets corrupted or deleted you're basically screwed. Which is why for incremental back ups, it is a good plan to periodically do another full and tie new increments to that. Even had I not deleted some, I had so many (several years worth of weekly increments) that the program would have most likely choked trying to do the folder recovery I wanted. Ouch!

I went to recover an old downloaded program and folder that had gotten corrupted and found I couldn't as explained, due to the deleted increments, which lead to my doing a sanity check and having an "oh shit" senior moment.

Better is a differential scheme as described here which is why I've now done a new baseline full back up and scheduled weekly differentials. I have it set to do 5 weekly differentials and then repeat the cycle with a new full. Differential versus a chain of tens of increments is, for me, the way I should have gone originally. Incremental had always be the recommended scheme for home users in the bad old days when storage device capacity was at more of a premium. Doesn't make sense anymore as I've learned. And FWIW the freebie backup programs out there, while many are really quite good, all suppress differential abilities making that feature only available in paid versions. My Acronis True Image is a 2013 version that I bought. Newer iterations have added features I really don't need so I've had no reason to upgrade.

While the following descriptions of the differences alludes to a full on restoration, the same thing is true when only a file or folder needs to be recovered.

"Differential backups copy those files that have been changed since the last full backup took place. So if a full backup was done on Day 1, Day 2’s differential will copy all of the files that have changed since Day 1’s backup copied everything. Day 3’s differential backup will also copy all of the files that have changed since Day 1’s full copy was made.

The key advantage of differential backups comes when data needs to be restored. Because a full backup was taken and the differentials copied everything that subsequently changed, only the full backup and the latest differential need to be restored.

The main disadvantage is that the size of the differential copy increases each time a backup is taken until the next full version is made, which can begin to impinge on backup window duration.
Incremental backup

Incremental backups copy all of the files that have changed since the last backup was made. They do this whether the last backup was a full one or an incremental copy. So if a full backup was done on Day 1, Day 2’s incremental will back up all of the files that have changed since Day 1. Likewise, Day 3’s incremental backup will only copy those files that have changed since Day 2’s incremental took place.

The main advantage to incremental backups is that fewer files are copied in the period between full backups, which means you will get a shorter backup window. The main disadvantage is that when you want to carry out a complete restore, the most recent full backup and all of the subsequent incremental copies must be restored. This can make the restore process a lengthier one than when using a full backup plus the most recent differential copies only."

 
I've never been much of a fan of incremental backups, due to the restore issues. More frequent full backups, because disk space is now cheap. Thankfully no more fighting with tapes. I also periodically restore a single file from a full backup, to insure its integrity. Stuff can happen. Full backups can be straight to disk or images copied to disk. On macOS, at least, if you turn off "verify image", the image mounts instantly.
 
When I was still working and responsible for an enterprise, I made nightly full backups of the primary servers, which included the employees' "home" directory. They were encouraged (mandated, really) to keep anything they wanted safeguarded in their home directory. It was made plain we were not responsible for backing up individual workstations. Once a week the disk with the full backups went to offsite storage and a new disk was swapped in. Now retired, I only make weekly full backups (I do copy important updates immediately to the backup disk, though). Again, offsite storage once a month. I feel I can survive if something happens to a live disk during the week. I don't lose much. It's a trade-off, to be sure, but has worked for me for years. I use high quality disks for both live and backups, to minimize the chance of problems.
 

Here's one more lesson: multiple backups to multiple destinations.

I use Acronis, too.

I do differentials but I limit it to 3.
Maybe I'm overboard since I've only started backing stuff instead of copying document folders to USB drives over the years.

I have one USB drive with an encrypted folder to which I copy critical file folders weekly.

Then 2 USB drives also with encrypted folders to which I copy full set of documents and system backup every 1st and 15th of the month.

I also use the Acronis cloud when I do the bi-monthly backups.

I do all these backups manually instead of scheduling it.

henryaz, how do you periodically restore? Am I understanding you restore just one file from a backup set and not the whole backup set?

That's the one thing I haven't done yet is to restore a backup. I don't want to have to restore from a backup but I hope it all works if I do get to that point.

I tested Acronis pretty extensively a few years ago and decided it was pure crap. The creation of backups is trivial, it is the RESTORATION Of a backup that needs to be reliable.
Anyway, I ended up using Paragon Drive Backup, and also NTI Shadow for continuous realtime backups of any documents, photos, etc.

Make sure to try anything you plan to use through the full process.

I am a believer is making CLONES of a critical Hard Drive. Disk Drives are now cheap enough so that it's not to expensive to have 3 or 4 hard drives on a rotation of Clones. If you have a failure or get hit with some nasty bit of ransomware all you have to do is swap in your most recent clone and wait for the operating system to do the updates that were shoved down your throat in the period since that Clone was created.

BTW, Acronis will also do Clones and it can often take less time to make a clone than to do a full backup.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Here's one more lesson: multiple backups to multiple destinations.

Yep. I rotate three drives at home. Two are always stored in two different safes.

quote:

Originally posted by BenderRodriguez:
Scooter123, can you recommend cloning software that allows multiple drives (and some bootable) to be cloned to an external HD?

Until scotter123 arrives, I'll offer this. I use Acronis to clone/image the drives on all my machines. My desktop has three storage drives in it as noted below....

C:\ 250gb SSD Boot drive. Windows and all application software is stored here.
D:\ 2tb HDD storage drive. All my current work and personal files stored here.
E:\ 6tb HDD storage drive. Used to backup both C:\ and D:\. 'Full' Backups runs weekly on C:\ and D:\.

G:\ 6tb HDD 'external' storage drive. Backup location for all files on E:\. Backups runs weekly after C:\ and D:\ drive backups are completed.

Acronis manages all this for me without much fuss. With this setup I have two backups for all my files on my desktop ranging back a year, which is adequate for my purposes. HDD's are soo cheap today that I've decided to only do 'Full' backups, which are quicker and easier to restore should the need arise.

quote:

Originally posted by BenderRodriguez:
Thank you bigdeal. I didn't mean to direct it only to Scooter123. Anyone who has experience with cloning software and is willing to share their knowledge and experience with me is very appreciated!

The next question I have is about encrypted drives. Does Acronis clone every bit/partition to create an exact duplicate image?

Can't speak to the backup issues with encrypted drives as none of mine are. Maybe someone else can address that issue.

As an aside, Newegg has a deal on Acronis right now where you can acquire it for free. This is the same way I got my copy. Acronis True Image 2018 - 3 Device Just make sure to use the Promo Code: EMCEPPX34 when ordering.

Also look at Macrium Reflect; I used to use Acronis.

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:
Newegg has a deal on Acronis right now where you can acquire it for free. This is the same way I got my copy. Just make sure to use the Promo Code: EMCEPPX34 when ordering.

It will show 69.99 with the coupon taking 19.99 off for $50 due. Then there is a mail in $50 rebate to give the no cost overall.

quote:

Originally posted by Crom:
I tested Acronis pretty extensively a few years ago and decided it was pure crap. The creation of backups is trivial, it is the RESTORATION Of a backup that needs to be reliable.

Trivial, yes, but my Acronis would fail at doing even that. And not give any warning. I own it but no longer use it.

My advice to any leaning toward the 'zero cost after rebate' deal mentioned above: do not assume you will be notified if the backup fails to complete.

quote:

Originally posted by joel9507:

quote:

Originally posted by Crom:
I tested Acronis pretty extensively a few years ago and decided it was pure crap. The creation of backups is trivial, it is the RESTORATION Of a backup that needs to be reliable.

Trivial, yes, but my Acronis would fail at doing even that. And not give any warning. I own it but no longer use it.

My advice to any leaning toward the 'zero cost after rebate' deal mentioned above: do not assume you will be notified if the backup fails to complete.

That is all very interesting. I've been running Acronis for a few years now and never had it fail me. It did throw off a couple failure notifications a couple years ago, but that was when I had far less HDD space and eventually ran out of space for a couple backups. I cured that with larger HDD's and a change to my backup configuration.

quote:

Originally posted by BenderRodriguez:
Scooter123, can you recommend cloning software that allows multiple drives (and some bootable) to be cloned to an external HD?

I have a few computers with Office 2010 installed on them and Microsoft is playing games with me saying that my software isn't activated (when it was) and that product support has discontinued and won't let me reactivate. I was able to call the Microsoft activation line despite them saying product support has discontinued and reactivated them that way but now they're saying I've used all my seat licenses. Before they start asking me to reactivate again with no more seat licenses, I'd like to image the hard drives with Office activated so if any issues come up I'll clone a drive that has it already activated to that computer's digital fingerprint.

Cloning has one limitation that can effect on how well it will function. That is the Clone will have Hardware Drivers that tie it to a specific Motherboard. So, if you dont have to replace a motherboard you can swap in a clone with nothing more needed than getting the software updated to the current level. However If you do have to replace a motherboard you may end up in a situation where your clone won't start with the new motherboard.

While I haven't had to do it I suspect that the solution to this particular problem would be to boot into Safe Mode with the minimum drover set AND with Internet connection functional. Then you could download and install the the drivers needed for hte new motherboard to work with the clone.

Note, Clones are EXACT bit for bit copies of the Source Drive, so whatever is installed on the Source will also be installed on the Clone.

Re: “So, [redacted] that I am, I deleted a number of weekly backups to make room. What I didn't remember/realize is that when you run an incremental scheme, if any increment gets corrupted or deleted you're basically screwed.”

Puzzled by that. My backup software, Time Machine, routinely deletes incremental backups itself, causing no problem:

“Time Machine keeps:
* Local snapshots as space permits
* Hourly backups for the past 24 hours
* Daily backups for the past month
* Weekly backups for all previous months
The oldest backups are deleted when your disk becomes full.”

Note that “the oldest backup” was originally (or has become) a true full backup.

A comprehensive indexing system makes each incremental backup appear to be a full backup. Maybe that indexing system makes the difference.

Doug,
Don't know what to tell you other than when things choked when I tried to recover a folder, I did research that indicated my having deleted increments was the cause.
Your software seems to have a failsafe built in to prevent such issues.
As said I converted to full and limited differential backups now which also eliminates the missing file problem.