Acronis Acronis True Image Home 2010 TIHPB2ENS Manuale Utente
Codici prodotto
TIHPB2ENS
Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2000-2009
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6. Creating backup archives
6.1. Preparing for your first backup
First of all you should decide where to store your backups. Acronis True Image Home supports quite a
lot of storage devices. For more information see Supported storage media (p. 14). Since hard disk
drives are now quite inexpensive, in most cases purchasing an external hard drive for storing your
backups will be an optimal solution. In addition to enhancing the security of your data – you can keep
it off-site (for example, at home if you back up your office computer and vice versa), many models are
hot-pluggable, so you can attach and detach the drive as required. You can choose various interfaces
– USB 2.0, FireWire, eSATA depending on the configuration of your computer ports and the required
data transfer rate. In many cases the best choice will be an external USB 2.0 hard drive, though it has
a pitfall – such drive may slow down if it works together with slower USB 1.1 devices. If you have a
Gigabit Ethernet home network and a dedicated file server or NAS, for example, Buffalo TeraStation
1.0 TB NAS Gigabit Ethernet Home Server, you can store backups on the file server or NAS practically
like onto an internal drive. Blank optical discs such as DVD-R, DVD+R are very cheap, so they will be
the lowest cost solution for backing up your data, though the slowest one, especially when backing
up directly to DVDs. Furthermore, if your backup consists of several DVDs, data recovery from such
backup will require a lot of disc swapping.
lot of storage devices. For more information see Supported storage media (p. 14). Since hard disk
drives are now quite inexpensive, in most cases purchasing an external hard drive for storing your
backups will be an optimal solution. In addition to enhancing the security of your data – you can keep
it off-site (for example, at home if you back up your office computer and vice versa), many models are
hot-pluggable, so you can attach and detach the drive as required. You can choose various interfaces
– USB 2.0, FireWire, eSATA depending on the configuration of your computer ports and the required
data transfer rate. In many cases the best choice will be an external USB 2.0 hard drive, though it has
a pitfall – such drive may slow down if it works together with slower USB 1.1 devices. If you have a
Gigabit Ethernet home network and a dedicated file server or NAS, for example, Buffalo TeraStation
1.0 TB NAS Gigabit Ethernet Home Server, you can store backups on the file server or NAS practically
like onto an internal drive. Blank optical discs such as DVD-R, DVD+R are very cheap, so they will be
the lowest cost solution for backing up your data, though the slowest one, especially when backing
up directly to DVDs. Furthermore, if your backup consists of several DVDs, data recovery from such
backup will require a lot of disc swapping.
Due to the necessity of swapping discs, it is strongly recommended to avoid backing up to DVDs if the number of
discs is more than three.
discs is more than three.
If you decide to use an external hard drive, NAS, etc., you will need to check whether Acronis True
Image Home detects the selected backup storage.
Image Home detects the selected backup storage.
Some external hard drives are sold preformatted FAT32. If so, it is better to convert the external hard
drive for backups from FAT32 into NTFS, because of the 4GB file size limit of the FAT32 system. Due
to this limitation, large backup files will automatically split into 4GB chunks, thus increasing the
chance that something will go wrong during data recovery.
drive for backups from FAT32 into NTFS, because of the 4GB file size limit of the FAT32 system. Due
to this limitation, large backup files will automatically split into 4GB chunks, thus increasing the
chance that something will go wrong during data recovery.
If you plan to use an external USB hard drive with your desktop PC, connecting the drive to a rear
connector using a short cable will usually provide the most reliable operation, reducing the chance of
data transfer errors during backup/recovery.
connector using a short cable will usually provide the most reliable operation, reducing the chance of
data transfer errors during backup/recovery.
6.2. Deciding what data to back up
As operating systems and application software become ever larger (for example, Windows Vista x64
requires 15GB of free space on a hard disk), usually it will take you several hours to reinstall your
operating system and application software from original CDs or DVDs on a new hard disk.
Furthermore, the practice of buying application software by downloading from the Internet is
becoming more and more popular. If you lose your registration information, for example, the
activation key and/or registration number, which are usually sent by software vendors by e-mail, you
may have problems with restoring your right to use the application. So making a backup of your
entire system disk (making a disk image) will save you a lot of valuable time in case of a disaster, as
well as safeguard you against other possible problems.
requires 15GB of free space on a hard disk), usually it will take you several hours to reinstall your
operating system and application software from original CDs or DVDs on a new hard disk.
Furthermore, the practice of buying application software by downloading from the Internet is
becoming more and more popular. If you lose your registration information, for example, the
activation key and/or registration number, which are usually sent by software vendors by e-mail, you
may have problems with restoring your right to use the application. So making a backup of your
entire system disk (making a disk image) will save you a lot of valuable time in case of a disaster, as
well as safeguard you against other possible problems.
Backing up the entire system disk takes more disk space, but enables you to recover the system in
minutes in case of a system crash or hardware failure. Moreover, the imaging procedure is much
faster than copying files and could speed up the backup process significantly when it comes to
minutes in case of a system crash or hardware failure. Moreover, the imaging procedure is much
faster than copying files and could speed up the backup process significantly when it comes to