By Gene Barlow
User Group Relations
Copyrighted December 2006
By following our recommendations in the Perfect Backup Approach tutorial (www.ugr7.com), your hard drive is protected from a total hard drive crash to just a file or two becoming corrupted. However, the weakest link in this backup system is remembering to do your backups on a regular basis. The recently released Acronis True Image 10 Home edition has solved this problem with new features to let you quickly set your system to do automatic backups on a regular basis. Earlier releases of True Image could do some scheduling of backups, but a lot of function was missing that would permit you to do the complete job. Now, you can just set your backup system and forget it. Your backups will occur automatically without your worrying about them. This article will guide you through the steps of setting up automatic backups with True Image 10, so that you can do it on your system. We will show as our example the backup approach from the Perfect Backup Approach tutorial. This will help you get your system setup to do automatic backups that follow that approach. The Perfect Backup Approach recommends that you backup your main hard drives to an external hard drive attached to your computer. To keep your backup images organized, we recommend that you set up separate backup folders on your external hard drive for each partition and each hard drive on your computers that you are backing up. The Approach also recommends that you create a monthly full backup image of your entire main hard drive and then weekly incremental backup images of your entire main hard drive. So, that is what we will show you how to do automatically using True Image 10.
Setting up automatic backups is a simple two-step operation. The first step is to specify a backup location where you will store your backup images. The second step is to schedule a backup task to save the backups automatically into your backup location.
Creating Backup Locations: Acronis True Image 10 Home edition now has function to define an intelligent backup location on your external hard drive that will manage the backup space you have provided. You need to create this special Backup Location before you start to schedule automatic backups to that location. You will define a backup location for each folder you created on your external hard drive to hold your backup images. So, this is the first step in the two-step process of creating automatic backups of your computer system.
To create a backup location in True Image, bring up the main True Image screen and click on the “Create and Configure Backup Locations” option near the bottom of the main True Image screen under “Pick a Tool”. On the next screen you see, click on “Create Backup Location” to bring up the Create Backup Location wizard.
Here are the steps to follow with the Create Backup Location wizard:
Create Scheduled Task: The second step in the process of setting up automatic backups on your computer is to create a scheduled task for each of your backup folders that you defined as a backup location in the prior step. To schedule a backup task to automatically run on your computer, click on the Task option under Manage Tasks on your main True Image 10 screen. This will bring up the Scheduled Task screen.
Here you will see a list of all of the tasks that you have scheduled already. It also gives you a set of buttons to create, run, edit, or delete tasks. At this point, we want to create a new task to schedule it to run automatically, so click on the Create button near the top of the Scheduled Task screen. This brings up the Scheduled Task Wizard.
Here are the steps to follow with the Create Scheduled Task wizard:
Once this is done, you can sit back and True Image will manage your backups for you. You don’t need to worry about forgetting to do backups again.
I hope this information helps you take advantage of this exciting new feature in Acronis True Image 10 Home edition. Just setup your backup locations and tasks and forget them. That’s the perfect way not to forget to backup your system on a regular basis. If you have questions about this article or the use of your True Image software, please send a note to gene@ugr7.com and I will try to assist you.
User Group Relations
Copyrighted December 2006
By following our recommendations in the Perfect Backup Approach tutorial (www.ugr7.com), your hard drive is protected from a total hard drive crash to just a file or two becoming corrupted. However, the weakest link in this backup system is remembering to do your backups on a regular basis. The recently released Acronis True Image 10 Home edition has solved this problem with new features to let you quickly set your system to do automatic backups on a regular basis. Earlier releases of True Image could do some scheduling of backups, but a lot of function was missing that would permit you to do the complete job. Now, you can just set your backup system and forget it. Your backups will occur automatically without your worrying about them. This article will guide you through the steps of setting up automatic backups with True Image 10, so that you can do it on your system. We will show as our example the backup approach from the Perfect Backup Approach tutorial. This will help you get your system setup to do automatic backups that follow that approach. The Perfect Backup Approach recommends that you backup your main hard drives to an external hard drive attached to your computer. To keep your backup images organized, we recommend that you set up separate backup folders on your external hard drive for each partition and each hard drive on your computers that you are backing up. The Approach also recommends that you create a monthly full backup image of your entire main hard drive and then weekly incremental backup images of your entire main hard drive. So, that is what we will show you how to do automatically using True Image 10.
Setting up automatic backups is a simple two-step operation. The first step is to specify a backup location where you will store your backup images. The second step is to schedule a backup task to save the backups automatically into your backup location.
Creating Backup Locations: Acronis True Image 10 Home edition now has function to define an intelligent backup location on your external hard drive that will manage the backup space you have provided. You need to create this special Backup Location before you start to schedule automatic backups to that location. You will define a backup location for each folder you created on your external hard drive to hold your backup images. So, this is the first step in the two-step process of creating automatic backups of your computer system.
To create a backup location in True Image, bring up the main True Image screen and click on the “Create and Configure Backup Locations” option near the bottom of the main True Image screen under “Pick a Tool”. On the next screen you see, click on “Create Backup Location” to bring up the Create Backup Location wizard.
Here are the steps to follow with the Create Backup Location wizard:
- The first screen of the wizard gives you a brief overview of the purpose of this wizard. Read it and click on Next to continue.
- On the next Backup Location Properties screen, you need to find and click on one of the backup folders you have created on your external hard drive for one of your partitions and then click on Next to continue.
- The next screen in the wizard is the Backup Rules screen. Here you will define how True Image will manage the space in this backup location. You can define the maximum size properties and the maximum length of time property on this screen.
- The first option to specify is the Location Size Quota. Here you tell True Image the maximum size that you want this folder to be. Until you have some experience in creating backup images, this will be hard to determine. I would set this number to be the size of your external hard drive minus 20GB. That should be a good starting value. Later, you can use the Edit Backup Location wizard to change this value.
- The next option to pick is the Maximum Number of Backups. This is also a hard number to estimate when you are first beginning your backups. I would set it to 30-40 backups initially. Again, you can adjust this later with the Edit Backup Location wizard.
- Finally, you need to pick the Storage Period Limit. This is how long you want to keep your backup image files. This number is in days, so you can start with 90 days to keep your backup image files. That is the minimum number of days you should keep your backup images. Personally, I would prefer a full year (365 days) to keep your image files. Again, you can change this amount using the Edit Backup Location wizard once you know more about how many images you can hold on your external hard drive.
- The final screen in this wizard is to check to make sure you have entered in the right folder for your backup location and the right limits to work with. Carefully read this list and if everything is correct, click on Proceed to complete the function of Creating a Backup Location. In a few seconds, you will get a message saying that the creation of the backup location is completed. That’s all there is to creating a backup location for one of your folders. Now repeat this operation for any other folders you have on your external hard drive.
Create Scheduled Task: The second step in the process of setting up automatic backups on your computer is to create a scheduled task for each of your backup folders that you defined as a backup location in the prior step. To schedule a backup task to automatically run on your computer, click on the Task option under Manage Tasks on your main True Image 10 screen. This will bring up the Scheduled Task screen.
Here you will see a list of all of the tasks that you have scheduled already. It also gives you a set of buttons to create, run, edit, or delete tasks. At this point, we want to create a new task to schedule it to run automatically, so click on the Create button near the top of the Scheduled Task screen. This brings up the Scheduled Task Wizard.
Here are the steps to follow with the Create Scheduled Task wizard:
- Read the overview of this wizard and click on Next to continue.
- On the Select Backup Type windows, click on the My Computer item to place a green dot in the circle next to it. This will do a backup of your hard drive partitions as recommended in the Perfect Backup Approach. Click on Next to continue.
- On the Partitions Selection screen, click on the partition that you want to backup to this location. Make sure it is the only box checked. I recommend that you backup each partition separately and to its own location folder. Doing each partition separately will give you more flexibility in how you do your backups. When you have selected the partition to backup, click on Next to continue.
- The next screen is the Backup Archive Location screen where you indicate what folder (Location) to save your backup image in. This can be a bit tricky, since you will find the folder you want in two places on the list – one under Backup Locations and the other under My Computer. It is very important that you select the Backup Location listing for this step. Click on the plus next to the Backup Locations item and then click on the Location folder under this heading that you want to save your backup images in. If you do not see the folder you want, you will have to go back to the earlier step and again create a backup location. Otherwise, highlight the appropriate Location and click on Next to continue.
- On the Backup Policy screen, you will tell True Image the type and frequency of backup images that you want to create. The Create Full Backups option only creates full backup image. The Create Incremental Backup option creates a full backup image and then incremental backup images. The Create Differential Backup option creates a full backup image and then differential backup images. The Perfect Backup Approach recommends doing incremental backup image, so click on that option to select it. If that is all you do, then True Image will create one full backup image and forever afterwards create incremental backup images. All of these images must be used together to restore your hard drive. If any of the incremental images becomes corrupt, you will not be able to restore that image or any that follow it. So, doing many incremental images can be a bit risky. That is why I recommend that you restart with a new full backup image after doing a limited number of incremental backup images. I recommend creating no more than 10-12 incremental image before you do a new full backup image to be safe. So, you need to check the box next to Create a New Full Backup After X Incremental Images. Then in the number field, select four (4) incremental backups. That will give you four weekly backups each month as recommended in the Perfect Backup Approach. Click on Next to continue.
- On the Archive Protection screen you can select a password that your backup images in this location will be protected with. You will need to remember this password in order to retrieve individual files from these images or to restore the entire image to a hard drive. If you have concerns about the safety of your backup images on your external hard drive, then give a password at this point in time. Just don’t forget the password or you will not be able to use the backup later. Since I keep my external hard drive pretty secure, I seldom give my images a password, but that is your choice. Click on Next to continue.
- On the Choose Backup Options screen, you can select to use the default backup options that you setup earlier if you follow the Perfect Backup Approach. If you want to do some special option for this particular backup, then select to set the options manually and you will be given the chance to set an option for this backup that is different than your default options. I will assume that you will use the default options, so select that item and then click on Next to continue.
- The Archive Comment screen lets you attach a descriptive comment about this backup image to the backup. I seldom use this option, so I just leave this box blank. When you have entered any comments you wish to make, click on Next to continue.
- On the Start Parameters screen, you should select when you want this automatic backup to occur. In the Perfect Backup Approach, it is recommended that you do weekly backups (full backup monthly and then weekly incremental backups), so select Weekly and click on Next to continue.
- On the Weekly Parameters screen, you tell True Image when to do your backups and what day to do them on.
- First, select the time that you want to do backups. I usually do my backups in the middle of the night when I probably will not be using my computer. I have other things scheduled in the middle of the night, such as virus scans, etc., so I try to space out my scheduled activities so that they all don’t occur at the same time. Select a time to do your backups and make sure you indicate AM or PM with the time. I would also check the box below to handle your backups if the computer is turned off at the time you selected.
- Next, pick the day of the week that you want to do your backups. Whatever day is convenient for you is fine. Just remember to leave the computer on that night, if you do your backups in the middle of the night, like I do.
- On the User Information screen, you can indicate which user on your computer should be the owner of this task. If you only have one user on your computer, then the choice is easy. If you have more than one, then that user should be indicated. You can password protect this user if you want to. I only have a couple of trusted users on my computer, so I don’t password protect this option, leaving the passwords blank. Click on Next to continue.
- When you reach the final screen of the Schedule Task wizard, read down the various options that you have selected to make sure they are correct. If you see one that needs to be corrected, click on the Back button to go back to the screen where that option was entered and correct it. If everything looks correct, click on the Finish button to post this automatic task to your list of scheduled True Image tasks. That’s all there is to setting up an automatic scheduled backup task on your system. Now, setup a similar task for each of the backup locations you have on your external hard drive. That will complete the process of setting up your backups to run automatically.
Click on Next to continue.
Once this is done, you can sit back and True Image will manage your backups for you. You don’t need to worry about forgetting to do backups again.
I hope this information helps you take advantage of this exciting new feature in Acronis True Image 10 Home edition. Just setup your backup locations and tasks and forget them. That’s the perfect way not to forget to backup your system on a regular basis. If you have questions about this article or the use of your True Image software, please send a note to gene@ugr7.com and I will try to assist you.