Acronis True Image 2018 Instruction Manual

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Table of contents

1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................7

1.1 What is Acronis® True Image™? ................................................................................................ 7

1.2 New in this version .................................................................................................................... 7

1.2.1 Alternatives to the removed features ........................................................................................................... 8

1.3 System requirements and supported media ............................................................................. 9

1.3.1 Minimum system requirements .................................................................................................................... 9

1.3.2 Supported operating systems ........................................................................................................................ 9

1.3.3 Supported file systems .................................................................................................................................... 9

1.3.4 Supported Internet connection types ......................................................................................................... 10

1.3.5 Supported storage media ............................................................................................................................. 10

1.4 Installing Acronis True Image 2018 ..........................................................................................11

1.5 Activating Acronis True Image 2018 ........................................................................................12

1.6 Trial version information .........................................................................................................13

1.7 Upgrading Acronis True Image 2018 .......................................................................................14

1.8 Technical Support ....................................................................................................................15

2 Getting started .............................................................................................................. 16

2.1 User interface language ...........................................................................................................16

2.2 Protecting your system ............................................................................................................16

2.2.1 Step 1. Backing up your computer ............................................................................................................... 17

2.2.2 Step 2. Creating bootable rescue media ..................................................................................................... 18

2.3 Backing up all data on your PC ................................................................................................19

2.4 Backing up your files ................................................................................................................20

2.5 Cloning your hard drive ...........................................................................................................22

2.6 Recovering your computer ......................................................................................................23

2.7 Recovering your files and folders ............................................................................................25

2.8 Acronis account .......................................................................................................................25

2.9 Getting started with Acronis Cloud .........................................................................................26

2.9.1 How we ensure security of your data .......................................................................................................... 26

2.9.2 Subscription information .............................................................................................................................. 27

3 Basic concepts ............................................................................................................... 28

3.1 Basic concepts ..........................................................................................................................28

3.2 The difference between file backups and disk/partition images ............................................30

3.3 Full, incremental and differential backups ..............................................................................31

3.4 FAQ about backup, recovery and cloning ................................................................................33

3.5 Deciding where to store your backups ....................................................................................34

3.5.1 Preparing a new disk for backup .................................................................................................................. 35

3.5.2 FTP connection .............................................................................................................................................. 35

3.5.3 Authentication settings ................................................................................................................................. 36

3.6 Using Acronis Nonstop Backup ................................................................................................36

3.6.1 Acronis Nonstop Backup data storage ........................................................................................................ 37

3.6.2 Nonstop Backup - Frequently asked questions ........................................................................................... 38

3.7 Backup file naming ...................................................................................................................39

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3.8 Integration with Windows .......................................................................................................39

3.9 Wizards ....................................................................................................................................41

4 Backing up data ............................................................................................................. 42

4.1 Backing up disks and partitions ...............................................................................................42

4.2 Backing up files and folders .....................................................................................................44

4.2.1 Notarized backup .......................................................................................................................................... 45

4.3 Backing up mobile devices .......................................................................................................49

4.4 Backing up a Facebook account ...............................................................................................50

4.5 Backup options ........................................................................................................................50

4.5.1 Scheduling ...................................................................................................................................................... 52

4.5.2 Backup schemes ............................................................................................................................................ 54

4.5.3 Notifications for backup operation .............................................................................................................. 60

4.5.4 Excluding items from backup ....................................................................................................................... 61

4.5.5 Image creation mode .................................................................................................................................... 63

4.5.6 Backup protection ......................................................................................................................................... 63

4.5.7 Pre/Post commands for backup ................................................................................................................... 64

4.5.8 Backup splitting ............................................................................................................................................. 65

4.5.9 Backup validation option .............................................................................................................................. 65

4.5.10 Backup reserve copy ..................................................................................................................................... 66

4.5.11 Removable media settings ........................................................................................................................... 66

4.5.12 Error handling ................................................................................................................................................ 67

4.5.13 File-level security settings for backup .......................................................................................................... 68

4.5.14 Computer shutdown ..................................................................................................................................... 68

4.5.15 Acronis Cloud cleanup .................................................................................................................................. 69

4.5.16 Online backup protection ............................................................................................................................. 69

4.5.17 Performance of backup operation ............................................................................................................... 70

4.5.18 Selecting a data center for backup .............................................................................................................. 71

4.5.19 Laptop power settings .................................................................................................................................. 72

4.6 Operations with backups .........................................................................................................73

4.6.1 Backup operations menu .............................................................................................................................. 73

4.6.2 Backup activity and statistics ........................................................................................................................ 74

4.6.3 Sorting backups in the list ............................................................................................................................. 76

4.6.4 Validating backups ........................................................................................................................................ 76

4.6.5 Backup to various places .............................................................................................................................. 77

4.6.6 Adding an existing backup to the list ........................................................................................................... 77

4.6.7 Deleting backups and backup versions........................................................................................................ 78

4.6.8 Removing data from Acronis Cloud ............................................................................................................. 79

5 Recovering data ............................................................................................................. 80

5.1 Recovering disks and partitions ...............................................................................................80

5.1.1 Recovering your system after a crash .......................................................................................................... 80

5.1.2 Recovering partitions and disks ................................................................................................................... 88

5.1.3 About recovery of dynamic/GPT disks and volumes .................................................................................. 90

5.1.4 Arranging boot order in BIOS or UEFI BIOS ................................................................................................. 92

5.2 Recovering files and folders .....................................................................................................93

5.3 Searching backup content .......................................................................................................95

5.4 Recovery from Acronis Cloud ..................................................................................................96

5.4.1 Recovering data from online backups ......................................................................................................... 96

5.4.2 Recovering a file version ............................................................................................................................... 97

5.4.3 Disk recovery from Cloud ............................................................................................................................. 97

5.5 Recovering your Facebook account .......................................................................................101

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5.6 Recovery options ...................................................................................................................101

5.6.1 Disk recovery mode .................................................................................................................................... 102

5.6.2 Pre/Post commands for recovery .............................................................................................................. 102

5.6.3 Validation option ......................................................................................................................................... 103

5.6.4 Computer restart ......................................................................................................................................... 103

5.6.5 File recovery options ................................................................................................................................... 103

5.6.6 Overwrite file options ................................................................................................................................. 103

5.6.7 Performance of recovery operation .......................................................................................................... 104

5.6.8 Notifications for recovery operation ......................................................................................................... 105

6 Archiving data.............................................................................................................. 107

6.1 What is data archiving? .........................................................................................................107

6.2 What is excluded from archives? ...........................................................................................108

6.3 Cloud archiving vs. Online backup .........................................................................................108

6.4 Archiving your data ................................................................................................................109

6.4.1 Data archiving options ................................................................................................................................ 109

6.5 Accessing your archived files .................................................................................................110

7 Protecting family data .................................................................................................. 111

7.1 What is family data protection? ............................................................................................111

7.2 Adding a new device to Online Dashboard............................................................................111

7.3 Backing up data remotely ......................................................................................................112

7.4 Recovering data with Online Dashboard ...............................................................................113

8 Synchronizing data ....................................................................................................... 114

8.1 About the Sync feature ..........................................................................................................114

8.2 What you can and cannot synchronize ..................................................................................114

8.3 Sync icons ...............................................................................................................................115

8.4 Creating a sync .......................................................................................................................116

8.5 Versions of synchronized files ...............................................................................................116

8.5.1 Reverting to a previous file version ........................................................................................................... 117

8.6 How to clean up your space on Acronis Cloud ......................................................................117

8.7 How to recover a deleted file ................................................................................................118

8.8 Deleting a sync .......................................................................................................................119

9 Acronis Mobile ............................................................................................................ 120

9.1 Installing Acronis Mobile .......................................................................................................121

9.2 Backing up your mobile device to Acronis Cloud ..................................................................121

9.3 Backing up your mobile device to a computer ......................................................................122

9.4 Backing up your mobile device directly to an NAS ................................................................122

9.5 Recovering mobile data .........................................................................................................123

9.6 Recovering data to a new smartphone..................................................................................124

9.7 Mobile app settings ...............................................................................................................124

9.8 Local destination of mobile backups .....................................................................................125

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10 Disk cloning and migration ........................................................................................... 126

10.1 Disk cloning utility ..................................................................................................................126

10.1.1 Clone Disk wizard ........................................................................................................................................ 126

10.1.2 Manual partitioning .................................................................................................................................... 129

10.1.3 Excluding items from cloning ..................................................................................................................... 130

10.2 Migrating your system from an HDD to an SSD .....................................................................131

10.2.1 What to do if Acronis True Image 2018 does not recognize your SSD .................................................... 131

10.2.2 Migrating to SSD using the backup and recovery method....................................................................... 132

11 Tools ........................................................................................................................... 134

11.1 Creating bootable rescue media ............................................................................................135

11.1.1 Acronis Media Builder ................................................................................................................................. 135

11.1.2 Making sure that your rescue media can be used when needed ........................................................... 140

11.2 Acronis Startup Recovery Manager .......................................................................................145

11.3 Try&Decide ............................................................................................................................146

11.3.1 Using Try&Decide ........................................................................................................................................ 149

11.3.2 Try&Decide options and notifications ....................................................................................................... 150

11.3.3 Try&Decide: typical use cases .................................................................................................................... 150

11.4 Acronis Secure Zone ..............................................................................................................151

11.4.1 Creating and managing Acronis Secure Zone ........................................................................................... 152

11.4.2 Acronis Secure Zone location ..................................................................................................................... 153

11.4.3 Size of Acronis Secure Zone ........................................................................................................................ 154

11.4.4 Acronis Secure Zone protection ................................................................................................................. 154

11.4.5 Removing Acronis Secure Zone .................................................................................................................. 155

11.5 Adding a new hard disk ..........................................................................................................155

11.5.1 Selecting a hard disk .................................................................................................................................... 156

11.5.2 Selecting initialization method ................................................................................................................... 157

11.5.3 Creating new partitions .............................................................................................................................. 157

11.6 Security and Privacy Tools .....................................................................................................159

11.6.1 Acronis DriveCleanser ................................................................................................................................. 159

11.6.2 System Clean-up .......................................................................................................................................... 163

11.6.3 Hard Disk Wiping methods ......................................................................................................................... 169

11.6.4 Acronis Active Protection ........................................................................................................................... 170

11.7 Mounting an image ................................................................................................................174

11.8 Unmounting an image ...........................................................................................................175

11.9 Working with .vhd(x) files ......................................................................................................175

11.9.1 Converting Acronis backup ......................................................................................................................... 176

11.10 Importing and exporting backup settings ..............................................................................176

11.11 Acronis Universal Restore ......................................................................................................177

11.11.1 Creating Acronis Universal Boot media ..................................................................................................... 178

11.11.2 Using Acronis Universal Restore ................................................................................................................ 180

12 Troubleshooting .......................................................................................................... 182

12.1 Acronis System Report ...........................................................................................................182

12.2 Acronis Smart Error Reporting ...............................................................................................183

12.3 Sending feedback to Acronis .................................................................................................184

12.4 How to collect crash dumps ..................................................................................................185

12.5 Acronis Customer Experience Program .................................................................................185

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13 Glossary of Terms ........................................................................................................ 188

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1 Introduction

1.1 What is Acronis

True Image™?

Acronis True Image 2018 is an integrated software suite that ensures the security of all of the information on your PC. It can back up your documents, photos, email, and selected partitions, and even the entire disk drive, including operating system, applications, settings, and all of your data.

Backups allow you to recover your computer system should a disaster occur, such as losing data, accidentally deleting critical files or folders, or suffering a complete hard disk crash.

Online Backup allows you to store your files and disks on Acronis Cloud. Your data will be protected even if your computer is lost, stolen, or destroyed, and your data can be entirely recovered onto a new device, if needed.

Key features:

 Disk backup to a local storage and to Acronis Cloud (p. 42)  File backup to a local storage and to Acronis Cloud (p. 44)  Rescue bootable media (p. 135)  Hard disk cloning (p. 126)  Data archiving (p. 107)  Family data protection (p. 111)  File synchronization (p. 114)  Security and privacy tools (p. 134)

Getting started

Learn how to protect your computer with two simple steps: "Protecting your system (p. 16)".

1.2 New in this version

 Backup activity and statistics—For every backup, you can easily view how many times it was

started, if the operations were successful or not, size of the backed-up data, status of operations performed on the backup, and other details. This information is collected on the Activity tab, which allows you to track the full backup history starting from its creation.

For every backup, except nonstop and mobile ones, the Backup tab displays a graphical representation of the backup content by file types.

 Improved and simplified creation of WinPE-based media—When you want to create a WinPE

media, you first need to download and install AIK or ADK, packs of tools from Microsoft. The amount of data that you need to download is quite significant and can easily exceed 1 GB or even more. The new method optimizes this process and downloads only those files that are required for the WinPE media creation. As a result, you need to download only about 500 MB.

Moreover, instead of creating a WinPE media you can create WinRE media. This is much easier because Windows Recovery Environment is already included in Windows Vista and later versions of Windows, and you do not need to download additional components from the Internet. Similar to WinPE-based media, you can add your drivers for better compatibility with your hardware.

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 Acronis Active Protection dashboard—This is your new command center of anti-ransomware

protection with all the necessary settings, statistics, summary, and exhaustive information on the current processes.

 Acronis Active Protection 2.0—In this version:

 Detecting injections, that is attempts of ransomware to inject malicious code into healthy

processes.

 Using Machine Learning technology. This technology allows us to analyze big data, update

the process behavioral patterns on the basis of the analysis, and therefore temporarily improve quality of ransomware detection engine.

 Converting Acronis backups (.tib files) to virtual hard disks (.vhd or .vhdx files)—You can create

.vhd(x) files based on disk-level backups, and then mount these files as virtual drives or run them as virtual machines.

 Backup settings transfer—You can import and export the settings of your backups via a .zip file.

This comes in handy when you need to transfer backups from one computer to another, or to the same computer after upgrading to the next Acronis True Image 2018 version.

 User interface improvements—The following interface elements were added or improved:

 Three tabs for full control of every backup were added: Backup, Activity, and Recovery.  Backup comments were reworked.  Mobile backup and social network backup were moved to the backup source section. The

Dashboard tab was removed from the side pane.

1.2.1 Alternatives to the removed features

After a detailed review, it was decided to remove a number of outdated and redundant features from Acronis True Image. The following is the list of the features that were removed and alternative ways of performing the same functions and operations in your version of Acronis True Image 2018.

For more information, refer to the Knowledge Base article: https://kb.acronis.com/content/48662.

 Email backup. This feature becomes less and less popular, since most of our customers use

web-based email systems. Please use disk-level backup instead. Refer to Backing up disks and partitions (p. 42) for details.

 Local and mixed synchronization. We recommend that you use cloud-based sync, instead.

Acronis Cloud is much more reliable storage than a USB flash drive, an internal hard drive, or an external hard drive. One more important advantage — your data in Acronis Cloud is accessible anytime, anywhere. Refer to Sync creation (p. 116) for details.

 Backup version consolidation. You can control the number of your backup versions by specifying

it in the backup scheme. Refer to Backup schemes (p. 54) for details.

 Manual backup deletion. You can delete an entire backup, configure automatic cleanup rules, or

delete a specific backup version while working in the recovery environment (bootable media). Refer to Deleting backups and backup versions (p. 78) for details.

The following features have been removed, as they were originally designed for Windows XP.

 Acronis Extended Capacity Manager. In Windows Vista and later, hard drives of over 3 TB in size

are supported by the operating system.

 Trim SSD. In Windows 7 and later, trimming SSD is natively integrated in the operating system.

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1.3 System requirements and supported media

1.3.1 Minimum system requirements

Acronis True Image 2018 requires the following hardware:

 Processor Pentium 1 GHz  1 GB RAM  1.5 GB of free space on a hard disk  CD-RW/DVD-RW drive or USB flash drive for bootable media creation (about 600 MB of free

space is required)

 Screen resolution is 1024 x 768  Mouse or other pointing device (recommended)

Other requirements:

 An Internet connection is required for the product activation and all features that use Acronis

Cloud, including online backup, cloud archiving, and data synchronization. If your computer is not connected to the Internet, you can activate the product by using another computer that has an Internet connection. Refer to Activating Acronis True Image 2018 (p. 12) for details.

 You need to have administrator privileges to run Acronis True Image 2018.

1.3.2 Supported operating systems

Acronis True Image 2018 has been tested on the following operating systems:

 Windows 10 Creators Update  Windows 10  Windows 8.1 (all editions)  Windows 8 (all editions)  Windows 7 SP1 (all editions)  Windows XP SP3 (32-bit) *  Windows Home Server 2011

* Limited support. Some features may not work properly. For example, Online Dashboard and Archiving.

Acronis True Image 2018 also lets you create a bootable CD-R/DVD-R or USB drive that can back up and recover a disk/partition on a computer running any Intel- or AMD- based PC operating system, including Linux®. Note that the Intel-based Apple Macintosh is not supported.

Warning! Successful recovery is only guaranteed for the supported operating systems. Other operating systems can be backed up using a sector-by-sector approach, but they may become unbootable after recovery.

1.3.3 Supported file systems

 FAT16/32  NTFS  Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 *  ReiserFS *

Note: ReiserFS partitions and disks cannot be backed up to Acronis Cloud.

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 Linux SWAP *

* The Ext2/Ext3/Ext4, ReiserFS, and Linux SWAP file systems are supported only for disk or partition backup/recovery operations. You cannot use Acronis True Image 2018 for file-level operations with these file systems (file backup, recovery, search, as well as image mounting and file recovering from images). You also cannot perform backups to disks or partitions with these file systems.

If a file system is not supported or is corrupted, Acronis True Image 2018 can copy data using a sector-by-sector approach.

1.3.4 Supported Internet connection types

The table below shows which Internet connection types are supported by the product functions.

Internet connection type

Acronis Console in Windows

Acronis Bootable media

Any connection

established in

Windows

Proxy server

Ethernet

cable

Wi-Fi

Proxy server

Disk-level and file-level backup to Acronis Cloud

- - -

Disk-level recovery from Acronis Cloud

+ + -

File-level recovery from Acronis Cloud

- - -

Data synchronization

- - -

Product activation

- *

- - -

Product update

- **

- - -

* - You can activate the product by using an activation code. Refer to the Activation from another computer section in Activating Acronis True Image 2018 (p. 12) for details.

** - To update the product, download the newer product version from the Acronis website and install it over your current one.

1.3.5 Supported storage media

 Hard disk drives*  Solid State Drives (SSD)  Networked storage devices  FTP servers**  CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R (including double-layer DVD+R), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, BD-R, BD-RE  USB 1.1 / 2.0 / 3.0, eSATA, FireWire (IEEE-1394), SCSI, and PC card storage devices

* Limitations on operations with dynamic disks:

 Creation of Acronis Secure Zone on dynamic disks is not supported.  Recovery of a dynamic volume as a dynamic volume with manual resizing is not supported.  Try&Decide® cannot be used for protecting dynamic disks.

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 "Clone disk" operation is not supported for dynamic disks.

** An FTP server must allow passive mode file transfers. Acronis True Image 2018 splits a backup into files with a size of 2GB when backing up directly to an FTP server.

The firewall settings of the source computer should have Ports 20 and 21 opened for the TCP and UDP protocols to function. The Routing and Remote Access Windows service should be disabled.

1.4 Installing Acronis True Image 2018

Installing Acronis True Image 2018

To install Acronis True Image 2018:

1. Run the setup file. Before starting the setup process, Acronis True Image 2018 will check for a

newer build on the website. If there is one, the newer version will be offered for installation.

2. Click Install.

Acronis True Image 2018 will be installed on your system partition (usually C:).

3. When the installation is complete, click Start application.

4. Read and accept the terms of the license agreements for Acronis True Image 2018 and Bonjour.

Bonjour software will be installed on your computer for advanced support of NAS devices. You can uninstall the software at any time.

5. In the opened window, sign in to your Acronis account. The product will be automatically

activated. You can skip this step. In this case, enter your serial number, and then click Activate. Refer to Acronis account (p. 25) for details.

By installing the application, you agree to participate in the Acronis Customer Experience Program. You can change this setting at any time.

Recovering from an Acronis True Image 2018 error

If Acronis True Image 2018 ceased running or produced errors, its files might be corrupted. To repair this problem, you first have to recover the program. To do this, run Acronis True Image 2018 installer again. It will detect Acronis True Image 2018 on your computer and will ask you if you want to repair or remove it.

Removing Acronis True Image 2018

Select Start -> Settings -> Control panel -> Add or remove programs -> Acronis True Image 2018 -> Remove. Then follow the instructions on the screen. You may have to reboot your computer

afterwards to complete the task.

If you use Windows 10, click Start -> Settings -> System -> Apps & features -> Acronis True Image 2018 -> Uninstall.

If you use Windows 8, click the Settings icon, then select Control Panel -> Uninstall a program -> Acronis True Image 2018 -> Uninstall.

If you use Windows 7, click Start -> Control Panel -> Uninstall a program -> Acronis True Image 2018

-> Uninstall.

If you used the Acronis Secure Zone or Acronis Nonstop Backup (p. 36), select in the window that appears what to do with the zone and Nonstop Backup storages.

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Upgrading from old versions of Acronis True Image

If your current version of Acronis True Image is Acronis True Image 2016 or Acronis True Image 2017, the new version will simply update it; there is no need to remove the old version and reinstall the software. If your current version is older, we recommend that you remove the current version, first.

Please keep in mind that the backups created by the later program version may be incompatible with the previous program versions. Therefore, if you roll back Acronis True Image to an older version, you likely will have to re-create the backups using the older version. We strongly recommend that you create new bootable media after each product upgrade.

1.5 Activating Acronis True Image 2018

To use Acronis True Image 2018, you need to activate it via the Internet. Without activation the fully functional product works for 30 days. If you do not activate it during that period, all the program functions become unavailable except the recovery.

Activating Acronis True Image 2018

You can activate Acronis True Image 2018 either on your computer or from another computer, if your computer is not connected to the Internet.

Activation on a computer connected to the Internet

If your computer is connected to the Internet, the product will be activated automatically.

If the computer where you install Acronis True Image 2018 does not have Internet connection or if the program cannot connect to Acronis Activation Server, click Account on the sidebar, and then select one of the following actions:

 Try again - select this option to try to connect to the Acronis Activation Server again.  Activate offline - you can activate the program manually from another computer that is

connected to the Internet (see below).

Activation from another computer

If your computer is not connected to the Internet, you may activate Acronis True Image 2018 by using another computer which has connection to the Internet.

To activate the product from another computer:

1. On your computer, install and start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Account, and then click Activate offline.

3. In the Acronis True Image 2018 Activation window, perform 3 simple steps:

1. Save your installation code to a file by clicking the Save to file button, and specify a

removable media as the file location (for example, a USB flash drive). You may also simply write down this code on a piece of paper.

2. On another computer which has the Internet connection, go to

http://www.acronis.com/activation/. The instructions on the screen will help you to get your

activation code by using the installation code. Save the obtained activation code to a file on a removable media, or write it down on paper.

3. On your computer, click the Load from file button and specify a path to the file with the

activation code; or, simply type it into the box from the piece of paper.

4. Click Activate.

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Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/DHd1h5.

"Too many activations" issue

Possible reasons for the issue:

 You exceed the maximum number of computers with installed Acronis True Image 2018.

For example, you have one license or a serial number for one computer and you install Acronis True Image on a second computer.

Solutions:

 Enter a new serial number. If you do not have one, you can buy it in the Acronis built-in store

or at the Acronis website.

 Move the license to your new computer from another one on which the product is already

activated. To do this, select the computer from which you want to move the license. Note that Acronis True Image will be deactivated on that computer.

 You reinstall Windows or change hardware of your computer.

For example, you might upgrade motherboard or processor in your computer. Activation is lost, because Acronis True Image sees your computer as a new one.

Solution: To reactivate Acronis True Image on your computer, choose from the list the same computer by

its old name.

Managing your subscription licenses manually

If you use the subscription-based version of Acronis True Image 2018, you can manage the licenses manually at the Acronis website. You can do the following:

 Move licenses between your computers  Transfer licenses between your accounts  Remove a license from a computer  Resolve product activation conflicts, including the "Too many activations" issue  Buy new licenses

To manage licenses:

1. Go to https://account.acronis.com/, and then sign in with your Acronis account.

2. In the Products section, find Acronis True Image 2018, and then click Manage.

1.6 Trial version information

General limitations

The trial version of Acronis True Image 2018 works only during the trial period of 30 days. It has the following limitations:

 Disk cloning is disabled.  When booting from an Acronis bootable media, the only available operation is recovery.

Synchronization

Data synchronization is available without any limitations, but when the trial period expires:

 Your computer is excluded from all syncs. After activating the full version of Acronis True Image

2018 you will be able to connect to the syncs again.

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 All the versions of synced files will be permanently deleted from Acronis Cloud.

Acronis Cloud

You have 1000 GB of storage space on the cloud during the trial period. You can use this space to store your online backups, archives, and versions of synced files. After the trial period is over, Acronis Cloud works in recovery-only mode for 30 days. After this period, you won't be able to use the Acronis Cloud service and all your data on the Cloud will be deleted.

Purchasing the full version

You can buy the full version at the Acronis website or using in-app purchase functionality. See details in Upgrading Acronis True Image 2018.

1.7 Upgrading Acronis True Image 2018

Your backups created with a previous version of Acronis True Image are completely compatible with the newer product version. After you upgrade, all of your backups will automatically be added to your backup list.

We strongly recommend that you create new bootable media after each product upgrade.

Purchasing the full version while using the trial version

To purchase the full version of the product:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Account, and then click Buy full version. The built-in store opens.

3. Select the license that you want to buy, and then click Buy now.

4. Provide your payment information.

Updating Acronis True Image 2018

To update Acronis True Image:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Account.

If there is a new version available, you will see the appropriate message next to the current build number.

3. Click Download and install.

Before you start downloading, please make sure that your firewall won't block the download process.

4. When the new version is downloaded, click Install now.

To check for updates automatically, go to the Settings tab, and then select the Automatically check

for updates at startup check box.

Built-in store

Acronis True Image 2018 provides an in-app store. Using this store, you can:

 Buy the full version of Acronis True Image 2018.

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 Buy Acronis True Image subscription.  Buy more storage space on Acronis Cloud.

To access the in-app store, go to the Account tab, and then click Acronis Store. You will see the in-app store and all available purchase options.

Installing Acronis hotfixes

Acronis hotfix is a small update for Acronis products. It makes changes to one or more application files or registry keys but does not change an application version. A hotfix targets only a specific Acronis True Image 2018 build, and cannot be applied to any other build.

To install an Acronis hotfix, follow the steps described in Updating Acronis True Image 2018 above. A list of available hotfixes for the current build will be displayed in a table, where you can select those you want to install.

1.8 Technical Support

Maintenance and Support Program

If you need assistance with your Acronis product, please go to http://www.acronis.com/support/

Product Updates

You can download the latest updates for all your registered Acronis software products from our website at any time after logging into your Account (https://account.acronis.com/) and registering the product. See Registering Acronis Products at the Website (http://kb.acronis.com/content/4834) and Acronis Website User Guide (http://kb.acronis.com/content/8128).

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2 Getting started

In this section

User interface language ........................................................................... 16

Protecting your system ............................................................................ 16

Backing up all data on your PC ................................................................. 19

Backing up your files ................................................................................ 20

Cloning your hard drive ............................................................................ 22

Recovering your computer ...................................................................... 23

Recovering your files and folders ............................................................. 25

Acronis account ........................................................................................ 25

Getting started with Acronis Cloud .......................................................... 26

2.1 User interface language

Before you start, select a preferred language for the Acronis True Image 2018 user interface. By default, the language is set in accordance with your Windows display language.

To change the user interface language:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. In the Settings section, select a preferred language from the list.

2.2 Protecting your system

To protect your system:

1. Back up your computer (p. 17).

2. Create bootable media (p. 18).

It is recommended to test the rescue media as described in Making sure that your rescue media can be used when needed (p. 140).

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2.2.1 Step 1. Backing up your computer

When should I back up my computer?

Create a new backup version after every significant event in your system.

Examples of these events include:

 You bought a new computer.  You reinstalled Windows on your computer.  You configured all system settings (for example, time, date, language) and installed all necessary

programs on your new computer.

 Important system update.

To ensure you save a healthy state of a disk, it is a good idea to scan it for viruses before backing it up. Please use antivirus software for this purpose. Note this operation often takes a significant amount of time.

How do I create a backup of my computer?

You have two options to protect your system:

 Entire PC backup (recommended)

Acronis True Image backs up all your internal hard drives in disk mode. The backup contains the operating system, installed programs, system settings, and all your personal data including your photos, music, and documents. Refer to Backing up all data on your PC (p. 19) for details.

 System disk backup

You can choose to back up your system partition or the entire system drive. Refer to Backing up disks and partitions (p. 42) for details.

We do not recommend using nonstop backup as a primary way to protect your system, because the main purpose of this technology is protection of frequently changed files. For the safety of your system, use any other schedule. See examples in Examples of custom schemes (p. 58). Refer to Using Acronis Nonstop Backup (p. 36) for more details about the Nonstop Backup feature.

To back up your computer:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

If this is your first backup, you will see the backup configuration screen. If you already have some backups in the backup list, then first click Add backup, and then click Create new backup.

3. Click the Backup source icon, and then select Entire PC.

If you want to back up your system disk only, then click Disks and partitions, and then select your system partition (usually C:) and the System Reserved partition (if any).

4. Click the Backup destination icon, and then select a storage place for the backup (see

recommendation below).

5. Click Back up now.

Result: A new backup box appears in the backup list. To create a new version of the backup in future, select the backup box from the list, and then click Back up now.

Where do I store my disk backups?

 Good: Your ordinary internal hard disk.  Better: Acronis Secure Zone (p. 151). This is a special secure partition on your local hard drive for

storing backups.

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 The best: Acronis Cloud (p. 26) or an external hard disk.

Refer to Deciding where to store your backups (p. 34) for details.

How many backup versions do I need?

In most cases, you need 2-3 backup versions of your entire PC contents or your system disk, with a maximum of 4-6 (see above for information about when to create backups). You can control the number of backup versions by using automatic cleanup rules. Refer to Custom schemes (p. 56) for details.

Remember, the first backup version (the full backup version) is the most important. It is the biggest one, because it contains all data stored on the disk. Further backup versions (the incremental and differential backup versions) may be organized in different schemes. These versions contain only

data changes. That’s why they are dependent on the full backup version and why the full backup

version is so important.

By default, a disk backup is created by using the incremental scheme. This scheme is optimal, in most cases.

For advanced users: it is a good idea to create 2-3 full backup versions and store them on different storage devices. This method is much more reliable.

2.2.2 Step 2. Creating bootable rescue media

What is bootable media?

Bootable media is a product, such as a CD-R/RW or a USB flash drive, from which you can run Acronis True Image when Windows cannot start. You can make a media bootable by using Acronis Media Builder.

How do I create bootable media?

1. Insert a CD-R/RW or plug in a USB flash drive.

2. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

3. On the sidebar, click Tools, and then click Rescue Media Builder.

4. On the first step, select Acronis bootable rescue media.

5. Select the device to use to create the bootable media.

6. Click Proceed.

How do I use bootable media?

Use bootable media to recover your computer when Windows cannot start.

1. Connect the bootable media to your computer (insert the CD or plug in the USB drive).

2. Arrange the boot order in BIOS so that your rescue media device (CD or USB drive) is the first

device to be booted. Refer to Arranging boot order in BIOS (p. 92) for details.

3. Boot your computer from the rescue media and select Acronis True Image 2018.

Result: Once Acronis True Image is loaded, you can use it to recover your computer.

Refer to Acronis Media Builder (p. 135) for details.

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2.3 Backing up all data on your PC

What is an Entire PC backup?

An Entire PC backup is the easiest way to back up the full contents of your computer. We recommend that you choose this option when you are not sure which data that you need to protect. If you want to back up your system partition only, refer to Backing up disks and partitions (p. 42) for details.

When you select Entire PC as a backup type, Acronis True Image backs up all your internal hard drives in disk mode. The backup contains the operating system, installed programs, system settings, and all your personal data including your photos, music, and documents.

The recovery from an Entire PC backup is also simplified. You only need to choose the date to which you want to revert your data. Acronis True Image recovers all data from the backup to the original location. Note that you cannot select specific disks or partitions to recover and you cannot change the default destination. If you need to avoid these limitations, we recommend that you back up your data with an ordinary disk-level backup method. Refer to Backing up disks and partitions (p. 42) for details.

You can also recover specific files and folders from an Entire PC backup. Refer to Backing up files and folders (p. 44) for details.

If an Entire PC backup contains dynamic disks, you recover your data in partition mode. This means that you can select partitions to recover and change recovery destination. Refer to About recovery of dynamic/GPT disks and volumes (p. 90) for details.

How do I create an Entire PC backup?

To back up the entire contents of your computer:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. Click the plus sign at the bottom of the backup list.

4. Click the Backup source icon, and then select Entire PC.

5. Click the Backup destination icon, and then select a destination for the backup.

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We recommend that you back up your computer to Acronis Cloud or to local or network storage. Refer to Deciding where to store your backups (p. 34) for details.

6. [optional step] Click Options to set the options for the backup, including Schedule (p. 52),

Scheme (p. 54), and Password protection (p. 63). For more information see Backup options (p.

50).

7. Click Back up now.

When you back up your data to Acronis Cloud, the first backup may take a considerable amount of time to complete. Further backup processes will likely be much faster, because only changes to files will be transferred over the Internet.

Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/KjW5sM.

2.4 Backing up your files

To protect files such as documents, photos, music files, and video files, there is no need to back up the entire partition containing the files. You can back up specific files and folders and save them to the following storage types:

 Local or network storage

This option is fast and easy. Use it to protect rarely changed files.

 Acronis Cloud

This option is reliable. Use it to protect critical files and files that you want to share between devices or people.

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To use Acronis Cloud, you must have an Acronis account and a subscription to the Acronis Cloud service. Refer to Subscription information (p. 27) for details.

To back up files and folders:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. Click the Backup source icon, and then select Files and folders.

4. In the opened window, select the check boxes next to the files and folders that you want to back

up, and then click OK.

5. Click the Backup destination icon, and then select a destination for backup:

 Acronis Cloud—Sign in to your Acronis account, and then click OK.  Your external drive—When an external drive is plugged into your computer, you can select it

from the list.

 NAS—Select an NAS from the list of found NAS devices. If you have only one NAS, Acronis

True Image 2018 will suggest using it as a backup destination by default.

 Browse—Select a destination from the folder tree.

6. Click Back up now.

Refer to Backing up files and folders (p. 44) for details.

Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/i4J1AN.

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2.5 Cloning your hard drive

Why do I need it?

When you see that the free space on your hard drive is not enough for your data, you might want to buy a new, larger hard drive and transfer all your data to the new drive. The usual copy operation does not make your new hard drive identical to the old one. For example, if you open File Explorer and copy all files and folders to the new hard drive, Windows will not start from the new hard drive. The Clone disk utility allows you to duplicate all your data and make Windows bootable on your new hard drive.

Before you start

We recommend that you install the target (new) drive where you plan to use it and the source drive in another location, for example, in an external USB enclosure. This is especially important for laptops.

Warning! Your old and new hard drives must work in the same controller mode (for example, IDE or AHCI). Otherwise, your computer will not start from the new hard drive.

Using the Clone disk utility

To clone a disk:

1. On the sidebar, click Tools, and then click Clone disk.

2. On the Clone Mode step, we recommend that you choose the Automatic transfer mode. In this

case, the partitions will be proportionally resized to fit your new hard drive. The Manual mode provides more flexibility. Refer to Clone Disk wizard (p. 126) for more details about the manual mode.

If the program finds two disks, one partitioned and another unpartitioned, it will automatically recognize the partitioned disk as the source disk and the unpartitioned disk as the destination disk. In this case, the next steps will be bypassed and you will be taken to the cloning Summary screen.

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3. On the Source Disk step, select the disk that you want to clone.

4. On the Destination Disk step, select the destination disk for the cloned data.

If any disk is unpartitioned, the program will automatically recognize it as the destination and bypass this step.

5. On the Finish step, ensure that the configured settings suit your needs, and then click Proceed.

By default, Acronis True Image 2018 shuts down the computer after the clone process finishes. This enables you to change the position of master/subordinate jumpers and remove one of the hard drives.

Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/bjWRLL.

2.6 Recovering your computer

Please be aware that recovery of a system disk is an important operation. Before you start, we recommend that you read the detailed descriptions in the following Help topics:

 Trying to determine the crash cause (p. 80)  Preparing for recovery (p. 81)  Recovering your system to the same disk (p. 81)

Let’s consider two different cases:

1. Windows works incorrectly, but you can start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. Windows cannot start (for example, you turn on your computer and see something unusual on

your screen).

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Case 1. How to recover computer if Windows works incorrectly?

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. From the backup list, select the backup that contains your system disk. The backup can be

located on local, network storage, or Acronis Cloud.

4. Depending on the backup type, click Recover PC or Recover disks.

5. In the opened window, select the backup version (the data state from a specific date and time).

6. Select the system partition and the System Reserved partition (if any) to be recovered.

7. Click Recover now.

To complete the operation, Acronis True Image 2018 must restart your system.

Case 2. How to recover computer if Windows cannot start?

1. Connect Acronis bootable media to your computer, and then run the special standalone version

of Acronis True Image 2018. Refer to Step 2 Creating bootable rescue media (p. 18) and Arranging boot order in BIOS (p. 92)

for details.

2. On the Welcome screen, select My disks below Recover.

3. Select the system disk backup to be used for recovery. Right-click the backup and choose

Recover. When the backup is not displayed, click Browse and manually specify the path to the backup. In

the same window, you can connect to Acronis Cloud and select an online backup. Refer to Recovering your system from Acronis Cloud (p. 98) for details.

4. At the Recovery method step, select Recover whole disks and partitions.

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5. Select the system partition (usually C) on the What to recover screen. Note that you may

distinguish the system partition by the Pri, Act flags. Select the System Reserved partition (if any), as well.

6. You may leave all settings of the partitions without changes and click Finish.

7. Check the summary of operations, and then click Proceed.

8. When the operation finishes, exit the standalone version of Acronis True Image 2018, remove

the rescue media (if any), and boot from the recovered system partition. After making sure that you have recovered Windows to the state you need, restore the original boot order.

2.7 Recovering your files and folders

You can recover files and folders both from file-level and disk-level backups.

To recover files and folders:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. From the backup list, select the backup which contains the files or folders that you want to

recover. The backup can be located on local, network storage, or Acronis Cloud. When you recover data

from Acronis Cloud, you first need to sign in to your Acronis account.

4. On the right panel, click Recover files.

5. Select the backup version (the data state from a specific date and time).

6. Select the files and folders that you want to recover, and then click Next.

7. Select a destination on your computer for the recovered files/folders. You can recover data to its

original location or choose a new one, if necessary. To choose a new location, click the Browse button.

8. To start the recovery process, click the Recover now button.

2.8 Acronis account

An Acronis account is required when you:

 Register an Acronis product.  Back up to Acronis Cloud.  Synchronize your data.  Archive your data.

How to create an Acronis account

If you do not have an Acronis account yet, perform the following steps:

1. On the sidebar, click Account, and then click Sign in or create an account.

2. Click Create account.

3. In the opened registration form, provide your email address, a password for your new account

and confirm the password by retyping it once more in the appropriate field.

To keep your personal data secure, choose a strong password for your online backups, guard it from getting into the wrong hands, and change it from time to time.

4. Click Create account.

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5. An email message will be sent to the address you specified. Open this message and confirm your

wish to create an account.

How to sign in

To sign in to your Acronis account:

1. On the sidebar, click Account, and then click Sign in or create an account.

2. Enter your registration email address and password, and then click Sign in.

How to sign out

To sign out of your Acronis account:

1. On the sidebar, click Account.

2. Click your email address, and then choose Sign out.

2.9 Getting started with Acronis Cloud

Acronis Cloud might be unavailable in your region. For more information, click here:

http://kb.acronis.com/content/4541

Remote storage

On the one hand, Acronis Cloud is a secure remote storage which you can use to store:

 Backups of your files and folders  Backups of your partitions and disks  Versions of your synchronized files and folders

Because files are stored on a remote storage, they are protected even if your computer is stolen or your house burns down. In the case of a disaster or data corruption, you can recover your files and even the entire contents of your computer.

With one account, you can save data from several computers and all your mobile devices running iOS and Android operating systems. Refer to Acronis Mobile (p. 120) for details.

To start using Acronis Cloud, you need a subscription to the service. Refer to Subscription information (p. 27) for details.

Web application

On the other hand, Acronis Cloud is a web application that allows you to recover and manage the data you store on Acronis Cloud. To work with the application, you can use any computer connected to the Internet.

To access the application, go to https://www.acronis.com/my/online-backup/webrestore/, and then log in to your Acronis account.

2.9.1 How we ensure security of your data

When you use Acronis Cloud as storage for your backups, archives, or synced data, you want to be sure that your personal files won't get into the wrong hands. You may be especially concerned about your mobile device, because all of your data will be transferred through the Internet.

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Let us assure you that your data will be safe. First of all, we use encrypted protocols (SSL, TLS) to transfer all data through both the Internet and LAN. To access the data, sign in to your account by providing the email address and password for that account.

Furthermore, we store your data on our servers in encrypted form. Only you have access to your encrypted data.

2.9.2 Subscription information

The Acronis True Image 2018 features that use Acronis Cloud (such as online backup, cloud archiving, and data synchronization) require a subscription to Acronis Cloud Storage. To subscribe, start Acronis True Image 2018, go to the Account tab, and then choose if you want to start a trial subscription or buy a full one.

Please note that Acronis Cloud is subject to our Fair Usage Policy. See more details at:

https://kb.acronis.com/ati2018/fairusage.

Trial version

When you activate the trial version of the product, a 1000 GB storage and 30-day free subscription to Acronis Cloud is assigned to your account automatically. See details in Trial version information (p.

13).

Full version

You can purchase the full Acronis Cloud subscription in the Account section of your version of Acronis True Image or at the Acronis website. See details in Upgrading Acronis True Image 2018.

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3 Basic concepts

In this section

Basic concepts .......................................................................................... 28

The difference between file backups and disk/partition images ............ 29

Full, incremental and differential backups .............................................. 31

FAQ about backup, recovery and cloning ................................................ 33

Deciding where to store your backups .................................................... 34

Using Acronis Nonstop Backup ................................................................ 36

Backup file naming ................................................................................... 39

Integration with Windows ....................................................................... 39

Wizards..................................................................................................... 40

3.1 Basic concepts

This section provides general information about basic concepts which could be useful for understanding how the program works.

Backup and recovery

Backup refers to the making copies of data so that these additional copies may be used to recover

the original after a data loss event.

Backups are useful primarily for two purposes:

 To recover an operating system when it is corrupted or cannot start (called disaster recovery).

Refer to Protecting your system (p. 16) for more details about protecting your computer from a disaster.

 To recover specific files and folders after they have been accidentally deleted or corrupted.

Acronis True Image 2018 does both by creating disk (or partition) images and file-level backups respectively.

Recovery methods:

 Full recovery can be performed to the original location or to a new one.

When the original location is selected, the data in the location is completely overwritten with the data from the backup. In case of a new location, the data is just copied to the new location from the backup.

 Incremental recovery is performed only to the original location and only from a cloud backup.

Before the recovery starts, the files in the original location are compared with the files in the backup by file attributes, such as file size and date of last modification. Those files that do not match are marked for recovery, the remaining files will be skipped during recovery. In that way, as opposed to the full recovery, Acronis True Image recovers only changed files. This method significantly reduces the recovery time and saves Internet traffic while recovering from Acronis Cloud.

Backup versions

Backup versions are the file or files created during each backup operation. The number of versions created is equal to the number of times the backup is executed. So, a version represents a point in time to which the system or data can be restored.

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Backup versions represent full, incremental and differential backups - see Full, incremental and differential backups (p. 31).

The backup versions are similar to file versions. The file versions concept is familiar to those who use a Windows feature called "Previous versions of files". This feature allows you to restore a file as it existed on a particular date and time. A backup version allows you to recover your data in a similar way.

Disk cloning

This operation copies the entire contents of one disk drive to another disk drive. This may be necessary, for example, when you want to clone your operating system, applications, and data to a new larger capacity disk. You can do it two ways:

 Use the Clone disk utility.  Back up your old disk drive, and then recover it to the new one.

Backup file format

Acronis True Image usually saves backup data in the proprietary tib format using compression. The data from .tib file backups can be recovered only through Acronis True Image, in Windows or in the recovery environment.

Acronis Nonstop Backup uses a special hidden storage for data and metadata. The backed up data is compressed and split into files of about 1 GB. These files also have a proprietary format and the data they contain can be recovered only with the help of Acronis True Image.

Backup validation

The backup validation feature allows you to confirm that your data can be recovered. The program adds checksum values to the data blocks being backed up. During backup validation, Acronis True Image opens the backup file, recalculates the checksum values and compares those values with the stored ones. If all compared values match, the backup file is not corrupted.

Scheduling

For your backups to be really helpful, they must be as "up-to-date" as possible. Schedule your backups to run automatically and on a regular basis.

Deleting backups

When you want to delete backups and backup versions you no longer need, please do it by using the tools provided by Acronis True Image 2018. Refer to Deleting backups and backup versions (p. 78) for details.

Acronis True Image 2018 stores information on the backups in a metadata information database. Therefore, deleting unneeded backup files in File Explorer will not delete information about these backups from the database. This will result in errors when the program tries to perform operations on the backups that no longer exist.

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3.2 The difference between file backups and

disk/partition images

When you back up files and folders, only the files and folder tree are compressed and stored.

Disk/partition backups are different from file and folder backups. Acronis True Image 2018 stores an exact snapshot of the disk or partition. This procedure is called "creating a disk image" or "creating a disk backup" and the resulting backup is often called "a disk/partition image" or "a disk/partition backup".

What does a disk/partition backup contain?

A disk/partition backup contains all the data stored on the disk or partition:

1. Zero track of the hard disk with the master boot record (MBR) (applicable to MBR disk backups

only).

2. One or more partitions, including:

1. Boot code.

2. File system meta data, including service files, file allocation table (FAT), and partition boot

record.

3. File system data, including operating system (system files, registry, drivers), user data and

software applications.

3. System Reserved partition, if any.

4. EFI system partition, if any (applicable to GPT disk backups only).

What is excluded from disk backups?

To reduce image size and speed up image creation, by default Acronis True Image 2018 only stores the hard disk sectors that contain data.

Acronis True Image 2018 excludes the following files from a disk backup:

 pagefile.sys  hiberfil.sys (a file that keeps RAM contents when the computer goes into hibernation)

You can change this default method by turning on the sector-by-sector mode. In this case, Acronis True Image 2018 copies all hard disk sectors, and not only those that contain data.

Additionally, when you back up your system partition or disk to Acronis Cloud, Acronis True Image excludes the following data:

 The Temp folders, usually located in:

 C:\Windows\Temp\

 C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Temp  The System Volume Information folder (usually located in C:\System Volume Information\)  The Recycle Bin  Web browser temporary data:

 Temporary Internet files

 Cookies

 History

 Cache

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 .tib files  .tmp files  .~ files

3.3 Full, incremental and differential backups

Acronis True Image 2018 offers three backup methods: full, incremental, and differential.

Full method

The result of a full method backup operation (also known as full backup version) contains all of the data at the moment of the backup creation.

Example: Every day, you write one page of your document and back it up using the full method. Acronis True Image saves the entire document every time you run backup.

1.tib, 2.tib, 3.tib, 4.tib—files of full backup versions.

Additional information

A full backup version forms a base for further incremental or differential backups. It can also be used as a standalone backup. A standalone full backup might be an optimal solution if you often roll back the system to its initial state or if you do not like to manage multiple backup versions.

Recovery: In the example above, to recover the entire work from the 4.tib file, you need to have only one backup version—4.tib.

Incremental method

The result of an incremental method backup operation (also known as incremental backup version) contains only those files which have been changed since the LAST BACKUP.

Example: Every day, you write one page of your document and back it up using the incremental method. Acronis True Image saves the new page every time you run backup.

Note: The first backup version you create always uses full method.

 1.tib—file of full backup version.

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 2.tib, 3.tib, 4.tib—files of incremental backup versions.

Additional information

Incremental method is the most useful when you need frequent backup versions and the ability to roll back to a specific point in time. As a rule, incremental backup versions are considerably smaller than full or differential versions. On the other hand, incremental versions require more work for the program to provide recovery.

Recovery: In the example above, to recover the entire work from the 4.tib file, you need to have all the backup versions—1.tib, 2.tib, 3.tib, and 4.tib. Therefore, if you lose an incremental backup version or it becomes corrupted, all later incremental versions are unusable.

Differential method

The result of a differential method backup operation (also known as differential backup version) contains only those files which have been changed since the LAST FULL BACKUP.

Example: Every day, you write one page of your document and back it up using the differential method. Acronis True Image saves the entire document except the first page stored in the full backup version.

Note: The first backup version you create always uses full method.

 1.tib—file of full backup version.  2.tib, 3.tib, 4.tib—files of differential backup versions.

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Additional information

Differential method is an intermediate between the first two approaches. It takes less time and space than "Full", but more than "Incremental". To recover data from a differential backup version, Acronis True Image needs only the differential version and the last full version. Therefore, recovery from a differential version is simpler and more reliable than recovery from an incremental one.

Recovery: In the example above, to recover the entire work from the 4.tib file, you need to have two backup versions—1.tib and 4.tib.

To choose a desired backup method, you usually need to configure a custom backup scheme. For more information see Custom schemes (p. 56).

An incremental or differential backup created after a disk is defragmented might be considerably larger than usual. This is because the defragmentation program changes file locations on the disk and the backups reflect these changes. Therefore, it is recommended that you re-create a full backup after disk defragmentation.

Changed Block Tracker (CBT)

The CBT technology accelerates the backup process when creating local incremental or differential disk-level backup versions. Changes to the disk content are continuously tracked at the block level. When a backup starts, the changes can be immediately saved to the backup.

3.4 FAQ about backup, recovery and cloning

 I have a 150GB system partition, but the occupied space on that partition is only 80GB. What

will Acronis True Image 2018 include in a backup? - By default, Acronis True Image 2018 copies

only the hard disk sectors that contain data, so it will include only 80GB in a backup. You can also

choose the sector-by-sector mode. Note than such a backup mode is required only in special

cases. For more information, see Image creation mode (p. 63). While creating a sector-by-sector

backup, the program copies both used and unused hard disk sectors and the backup file will

usually be significantly larger.

 Will my system disk backup include drivers, documents, pictures, etc.? - Yes, such a backup will

contain the drivers, as well as the contents of the My documents folder and its subfolders, if you

kept the default location of the My documents folder. If you have just a single hard disk in your

PC, such a backup will contain all of the operating system, applications and data.

 I have an old hard disk drive which is almost full in my notebook. I purchased a new bigger

HDD. How can I transfer Windows, programs and data to the new disk? - You can either clone

the old hard disk on the new one or back up the old hard disk and then recover the backup to a

new one. The optimum method usually depends on your old hard disk partitions layout.

 I want to migrate my old system hard disk to an SSD. Can this be done with Acronis True Image

2018? - Yes, Acronis True Image 2018 provides such a function. For procedure details, see

Migrating your system from an HDD to an SSD (p. 131)

 What is the best way to migrate the system to a new disk: cloning or backup and recovery? -

The backup and recovery method provides more flexibility. In any case, we strongly recommend

to make a backup of your old hard disk even if you decide to use cloning. It could be your data

saver if something goes wrong with your original hard disk during cloning. For example, there

were cases when users chose the wrong disk as the target and thus wiped their system disk. In

addition, you can make more than one backup to create redundancy and increase security.

 What should I back up: a partition or the whole disk? - In most cases, it is better to back up the

whole disk. However, there may be some cases when a partition backup is advisable. For

example, your notebook has a single hard disk with two partitions: system (disk letter C) and the

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data (disk letter D). The system partition stores your working documents in the My documents

folder with subfolders. The data partition stores your videos, pictures, and music files. Such files

are already compressed and backing them up using Acronis True Image 2018 would not give you

significant reduction of the backup file size. However, we recommend creating at least one whole

disk backup if your backup storage has enough space.

 Could you tell me how to clone: in Windows or after booting from the rescue media? Even

when you start cloning in Windows, the computer will reboot into the Linux environment the

same as when booting from the rescue media. Because of this, it is better to clone under rescue

media. For example, there may be a case when your hard disk drives are detected in Windows

and not detected in Linux. If this is the case, the cloning operation will fail after reboot. When

booting from the rescue media, you can make sure that Acronis True Image 2018 detects both

the source and target disks before starting the cloning operation.

 Can I clone or back up and recover a dual boot machine? Yes, this is possible when both

operating systems are Windows. If your systems are installed in separate partitions of the same

physical hard disk drive, cloning or recovery usually proceeds without any problems. If the

systems are on different physical hard disk drives, there may be some problems with bootability

after recovery.

 Does Acronis True Image 2018 support RAID? - Acronis True Image 2018 supports hardware

RAID arrays of all popular types. Support of software RAID configurations on dynamic disks is also

provided. Acronis Bootable Rescue Media supports most of the popular hardware RAID

controllers. If the standard Acronis rescue media does not "see" the RAID as a single volume, the

media does not have the appropriate drivers. In this case you can try to create WinPE-based

rescue media. This media may provide the necessary drivers.

3.5 Deciding where to store your backups

Acronis True Image 2018 supports quite a few of storage devices. For more information, refer to Supported storage media.

The table below shows possible backup destinations for your data.

HDD (internal or external)

SSD

USB flash drive

Acronis Cloud

File server, NAS or NDAS

Network share

SMB/ NFS share

FTP serve r

DVD

Memor y card

MBR partitions or entire disks (HDD, SSD)

+ + + + + + + + +

GPT/dynamic volumes or disks

+ + + + + + + + +

Files and folders

+ + + + + + + + +

Though backing up to your local hard drive is the simplest option, we recommend that you store your backups off-site because it enhances the security of your data.

Recommended storage media:

1. Acronis Cloud

2. External drive

If you plan to use an external USB hard drive with your desktop PC, we recommend that you

connect the drive to a rear connector by using a short cable.

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3. Home file server, NAS, or NDAS

Please check whether Acronis True Image 2018 detects the selected backup storage, both in

Windows and when booted from the rescue media.

To gain access to an NDAS-enabled storage device, in many cases you will need to specify the

NDAS device ID (20 characters) and the write key (five characters). The write key allows you to

use an NDAS-enabled device in write mode (for example, for saving your backups). Usually the

device ID and write key are printed on a sticker attached to the bottom of the NDAS device or on

the inside of its enclosure. If there is no sticker, you need to contact your NDAS device vendor to

obtain that information.

4. Network share

See also: Authentication settings (p. 36).

5. FTP server

3.5.1 Preparing a new disk for backup

A new internal or external hard drive may not be recognized by Acronis True Image 2018. If this is the case, use the operating system tools to change the disk status to Online and then to initialize the disk.

To change a disk status to Online:

1. Open Disk Management. To do this, go to Control Panel -> System and Security ->

Administrative Tool, start Computer Management, and then click Disk Management.

2. Find the disk marked as Offline. Right-click the disk and then click Online.

3. The disk status will be changed to Online. After that, you will be able to initialize the disk.

To initialize a disk:

1. Open Disk Management. To do this, go to Control Panel -> System and Security ->

Administrative Tool, start Computer Management, and then click Disk Management.

2. Find the disk marked as Not Initialized. Right-click the disk and then click Initialize Disk.

3. Select a partition table for the disk - MBR or GPT, and then click OK.

4. [optional step] To create a volume on the disk, right-click the disk, click New Simple Volume, and

then follow the wizard's steps to configure the new volume. To create one more volume, repeat

this operation.

3.5.2 FTP connection

Acronis True Image 2018 allows you to store your backups on FTP servers.

To create a new FTP connection, when selecting a backup storage click FTP connection, and in the opened window provide:

 Path to the FTP server, for example: my.server.com

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 Port  User name  Password

To check your settings, click the Test connection button. The computer will try to connect to the specified FTP server. If the test connection has been established, click the Connect button to add the FTP connection.

The created FTP connection will appear in the folder tree. Select the connection and browse for the backup storage that you want to use.

Please, be aware that the mere opening of an FTP server's root folder does not bring you to your home directory.

Acronis True Image 2018 splits a backup into files with a size of 2GB when backing up directly to an FTP server. If you back up to a hard disk with the aim of transferring the backup to an FTP later, split the backup into files of 2GB each by setting the desired file size in the backup options. Otherwise, the recovery will not be possible.

An FTP server must allow passive mode file transfers.

The firewall settings of the source computer should have Ports 20 and 21 opened for the TCP and UDP protocols to function. The Routing and Remote Access Windows service should be disabled.

3.5.3 Authentication settings

If you are connecting to a networked computer, in most cases you will need to provide the necessary credentials for accessing the network share. For example, this is possible when you select a backup storage. The Authentication Settings window appears automatically when you select a networked computer name.

If necessary, specify the user name and password, and then click Test connection. When the test is successfully passed, click Connect.

Troubleshooting

When you create a network share that you plan to use as a backup storage, please ensure that at least one of the following conditions is met:

 Windows account has a password on the computer where the shared folder is located.  Password-protected sharing is turned off in Windows.

You can find this setting at Control Panel —> Network and Internet —> Network and Sharing

Center —> Advanced sharing settings —> Turn off password protected sharing.

Otherwise, you will not be able to connect to the shared folder.

3.6 Using Acronis Nonstop Backup

Acronis Nonstop Backup provides easy protection of your disks and files. It allows you to recover entire disks, individual files and their different versions.

The main purpose of Acronis Nonstop Backup is continuous protection of your data (files, folders, contacts, etc.), though you can use it to protect partitions as well. If you choose to protect an entire partition, you will be able to recover the partition as a whole using the image recovery procedure.

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We do not recommend using nonstop backup as a primary way to protect your system. For the safety of your system, use any other schedule. Refer to Examples of custom schemes (p. 58) for examples and details.

Nonstop Backup limitations

 You can create only one nonstop backup.  Acronis Cloud cannot be used as a destination for a disk-level nonstop backup.  Windows libraries (Documents, Music, etc.) can be protected with a disk-level nonstop backup

only.

 You cannot protect data stored on external hard drives.  Nonstop Backup and Try&Decide cannot work simultaneously.

How it works

Once you start Acronis Nonstop Backup, the program will perform an initial full backup of the data selected for protection. Acronis Nonstop Backup will then continually monitor the protected files (including open ones). Once a modification is detected, the changed data is backed up. The shortest interval between the incremental backup operations is five minutes. This allows you to recover your system to an exact point in time.

Acronis Nonstop Backup checks file changes on the disk, not in the memory. If, for instance, you are working in Word and do not use the "Save" operation for a long time, your current changes in the Word document will not be backed up.

You may think that at these backup rates the storage will fill in no time. Do not worry as Acronis True Image 2018 will back up only so called "deltas". This means that only differences between old and new versions will be backed up and not whole changed files. For example, if you use Microsoft Outlook or Windows Mail, your pst file may be very large. Furthermore, it changes with each received or sent E-mail message. Backing up the entire pst file after each change would be an unacceptable waste of your storage space, so Acronis True Image 2018 backs up only its changed parts in addition to the initially backed up file.

Retention rules

Acronis Nonstop Backup keeps all backups for the last 24 hours. The older backups will be consolidated in such a way that Nonstop Backup will keep daily backups for the last 30 days and weekly backups until all Nonstop Backup data destination space is used.

The consolidation will be performed every day between midnight and 01:00 AM. The first consolidation will take place after the Nonstop Backup has been working for at least 24 hours. For example, you have turned on the Nonstop Backup at 10:00 AM on July 12. In this case the first consolidation will be performed between 00:00 and 01:00 AM on July 14. Then the program will consolidate the data every day at the same time. If your computer is turned off between 00:00 and 01:00 AM, the consolidation will start when you turn the computer on. If you turn off Nonstop Backup for some time, the consolidation will start after you turn it on again.

3.6.1 Acronis Nonstop Backup data storage

Acronis Nonstop Backup data storage can be created on local hard disk drives (both internal and external) or Acronis Cloud.

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In many cases an external hard disk will be the best choice for Nonstop Backup data storage. You can use an external disk with any of the following interfaces: USB (including USB 3.0), eSATA, FireWire, and SCSI.

You can also use an NAS as the storage, but with one limitation - it must be accessible with the SMB protocol. It does not matter whether an NAS share you want to use for the storage is mapped as a local disk or not. If the share requires login, you will need to provide the correct user name and password. For more information see Authentication settings (p. 36). Acronis True Image 2018 remembers the credentials and the subsequent connections to the share do not require login.

When an external hard disk or NAS is unavailable, the Nonstop Backup destination can be an internal disk, including a dynamic one. Please note that you cannot use a partition to be protected as a Nonstop Backup storage. If your computer has a single hard disk drive with a single partition, but you want to use Acronis Nonstop Backup anyway, you can create Acronis Secure Zone and use it as the Nonstop Backup data storage.

Before creating Acronis Nonstop Backup data storage, Acronis True Image 2018 checks whether the selected destination has enough free space. It multiplies the volume of data to be protected by 1.2 and compares the calculated value with the available space. If the free space on the destination satisfies this minimum storage size criterion, the destination can be used for storing Nonstop Backup data.

3.6.2 Nonstop Backup - Frequently asked questions

Why does Acronis Nonstop Backup pause on its own? - This is the designed behavior of Acronis Nonstop Backup. When the system load rises to a critical level, Acronis Nonstop Backup receives the overload alarm from Windows and pauses itself. This is done to aid Windows relieve the load caused by other applications. The overload can be caused by running resource-intensive applications (for example, performing a deep system scan with your antivirus software).

In such a case Nonstop Backup automatically pauses and you cannot restart it. After pausing, Acronis Nonstop Backup gives the system one hour to relieve the load and then attempts to restart.

The automatic restart count for Acronis Nonstop Backup is 6. This means that after the first automatic restart Acronis Nonstop Backup will attempt to restart five more times with intervals of exactly one hour between attempts.

After the sixth unsuccessful attempt, Acronis Nonstop Backup will wait for the next calendar day. On the next day the automatic restart count will automatically reset. When not interfered with, Acronis Nonstop Backup performs six restart attempts per day.

The restart attempt count can be reset by doing any of the following:

 Restarting Acronis Nonstop Backup service;  Rebooting the computer.

Restarting Acronis Nonstop Backup service will only reset the restart count to 0. If the system is still overloaded, Acronis Nonstop Backup will pause again. An Acronis Support Knowledge Base article at

http://kb.acronis.com/content/14708 describes the procedure for restarting the Acronis Nonstop

Backup service.

Rebooting the computer will reset the load and the restart count. If the system overloads again, Acronis Nonstop Backup will pause.

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Why does Acronis Nonstop Backup sometimes cause a high CPU load? - This is the expected behavior of Acronis Nonstop Backup. This may happen on restart of a paused Acronis Nonstop Backup if a considerable amount of protected data has been modified during the pause.

For example, if you manually pause the Acronis Nonstop Backup that you use for protecting your system partition and then install a new application. When you restart Acronis Nonstop Backup, it loads the CPU for some time. However, the process (afcdpsrv.exe) then goes back to normal.

This happens because Acronis Nonstop Backup needs to check the backed up data against the data that have been modified during the pause to ensure protection continuity. If there was a considerable amount of data modified, the process may load CPU for some time. After the check is done and all the modified data is backed up, Acronis Nonstop Backup goes back to normal.

Can I have Acronis Nonstop Backup storage on an FAT32 partition of a local hard disk? - Yes, FAT32 and NTFS partitions can be used as the storage.

Can I set up Acronis Nonstop Backup storage on a network share or NAS? - Yes, Acronis Nonstop Backup supports network shares, mapped drives, NAS and other network attached devices with one limitation - they must use the SMB protocol.

3.7 Backup file naming

A backup file name has the following attributes:

 Backup name  Backup method (full, inc, diff: full, incremental, differential)  Number of backup chain (p. 189) (in the form of b#)  Number of backup (p. 189)version (p. 189)(in the form of s#)  Number of volume (in the form of v#)

For example this attribute changes when you split a backup into several files. Refer to Backup

splitting (p. 65) for details.

Thus a backup name may look the following way:

1. my_documents_full_b1_s1_v1.tib

2. my_documents_full_b2_s1_v1.tib

3. my_documents_inc_b2_s2_v1.tib

4. my_documents_inc_b2_s3_v1.tib If you are creating a new backup, and there is already a file with the same name, the program does

not delete the old file, but adds to the new file the "-number" suffix, for example, my_documents_inc_b2_s2_v1-2.tib.

3.8 Integration with Windows

During installation Acronis True Image 2018 provides closer integration with Windows. Such merging allows you to get the most out of your computer.

Acronis True Image 2018 integrates the following components:

 Acronis items on the Windows Start menu  Acronis True Image 2018 button on the taskbar  Shortcut menu commands

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Windows Start menu

The Start menu displays Acronis commands, tools and utilities. They give you access to Acronis True Image functionality, without having to start the application.

Acronis True Image 2018 button on the taskbar

The Acronis True Image 2018 button on the Windows taskbar shows the progress and result of Acronis True Image 2018 operations.

Taskbar notification area icons

During most of the operations, special indicator icons appear in the Windows taskbar notification area. This icon doesn't depend on the main program window being open.

 To view a tooltip indicating the operation's progress or state, point to the icon.  To view status, change priority or cancel a current operation, right-click the icon, and then click

the corresponding command.

Shortcut menu commands

To access shortcut menu commands, open File Explorer, right-click selected items, point to Acronis True Image, and then select a command.

 To create a new file-level backup, select New file backup.  To create a new disk-level backup, select New disk backup.  To mount a disk-level backup (.tib file), select Mount.  To validate a backup (.tib file), select Validate.

File-level recovery in File Explorer

To recover files and folders:

1. In File Explorer, double-click the backup file (.tib file) that contains the data to recover.

2. Copy or drag the files and folders to any location on your computer, as if they were stored on an

ordinary disk.

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3.9 Wizards

When you use the available Acronis True Image 2018 tools and utilities, the program will in many cases employ wizards to guide you through the operations.

For example, see the screen shot below.

A wizard window usually consists of the following areas:

1. This is the list of steps to complete the operation. A green checkmark appears next to a complete

step. The green arrow indicates the current step. When complete all the steps, the program

displays the Summary screen in the Finish step. Check the summary and click Proceed to start

the operation.

2. This toolbar contains buttons to manage objects you select in area 3.

For example:

 Details - displays the window that provides detailed information about the selected

backup.

 Properties - displays the selected item properties window.

 Create new partition - displays the window where you can configure a new partition

settings.

 Columns - allows you to choose which table columns to display and in which order.

3. This is the main area where you select items and change settings.

4. This area displays additional information about the item you select in area 3.

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4 Backing up data

In this section

Backing up disks and partitions ................................................................ 42

Backing up files and folders ..................................................................... 44

Backing up mobile devices ....................................................................... 49

Backing up a Facebook account ............................................................... 49

Backup options ......................................................................................... 50

Operations with backups ......................................................................... 72

4.1 Backing up disks and partitions

As opposed to file backups, disk and partition backups contain all the data stored on the disk or partition. This backup type is usually used to create an exact copy of a system partition of the whole system disk. Such backup allows you to recover your computer when Windows works incorrectly or cannot start.

To back up partitions or disks:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. Click Add backup.

4. [Optional] To rename the backup, click the arrow next to the backup name, click Rename, and

then enter a new name.

5. Click the Backup source area, and then select Disks and partitions.

6. In the opened window, select the check boxes next to the partitions and disks that you want to

back up, and then click OK.

To view hidden partitions, click Full partition list.

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To back up dynamic disks you can use only the partition mode.

7. Click the Backup destination area, and then select a destination for backup:

 Acronis Cloud—Sign in to your Acronis account, and then click OK.

If you do not have an Acronis account, click Create account, type your email address, password, and then click the Create account button. Refer to Acronis account (p. 25) for details.

 Your external drive—When an external drive is plugged into your computer, you can select it

from the list.

 NAS—Select an NAS from the list of found NAS devices. If you have only one NAS, Acronis

True Image 2018 will suggest using it as a backup destination by default.

 Browse—Select a destination from the folder tree.

If possible, avoid storing your system partition backups on dynamic disks, because the system partition is

recovered in the Linux environment. Linux and Windows work with dynamic disks differently. This may

result in problems during recovery.

8. [optional step] Click Options to set the options for the backup, including Schedule (p. 52),

Scheme (p. 54), and Password protection (p. 63). For more information see Backup options (p.

50).

9. [optional step] Click the Add a comment icon, and then type a comment to the backup version.

Backup comments will help you to find the necessary version later, when recovering your data.

10. Perform one of the following:

 To run the backup immediately, click Back up now.

 To run the backup later or on a schedule, click the arrow to the right of the Back up now

button, and then click Later.

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Once an online backup is started, you are free to close Acronis True Image 2018. The backup process will continue in background mode. If you suspend the backup, turn off your computer, or disconnect it from the Internet, the backup will resume when you click Back up now or when the Internet connection is restored. A backup interruption does not cause your data to be uploaded twice.

4.2 Backing up files and folders

To protect files such as documents, photos, music files, video files, there is no need to back up the entire partition containing the files. You can back up specific files and folders.

To back up files and folders:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. Click Add backup.

4. [Optional] To rename the backup, click the arrow next to the backup name, click Rename, and

then enter a new name.

5. Click the Backup source area, and then select Files and folders.

6. In the opened window, select the check boxes next to the files and folders that you want to back

up, and then click OK.

7. Click the Backup destination area, and then select a destination for backup:

 Acronis Cloud—Sign in to your Acronis account, and then click OK.

If you do not have an Acronis account, click Create account, type your email address, password, and then click the Create account button. Refer to Acronis account (p. 25) for details.

 Your external drive—When an external drive is plugged into your computer, you can select it

from the list.

 NAS—Select an NAS from the list of found NAS devices. If you have only one NAS, Acronis

True Image 2018 will suggest using it as a backup destination by default.

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 Browse—Select a destination from the folder tree.

8. [optional step] Click Options to set the options for the backup, including Schedule (p. 52),

Scheme (p. 54), and Password protection (p. 63). For more information see Backup options (p.

50).

9. [optional step] Click the Add a comment icon, and then type a comment to the backup version.

Backup comments will help you to find the necessary version later, when recovering your data.

10. Perform one of the following:

 To run the backup immediately, click Back up now.

 To run the backup later or on a schedule, click the down arrow to the right of the Back up

now button, and then click Later.

Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/i4J1AN.

4.2.1 Notarized backup

By using Blockchain technology, Acronis True Image 2018 can protect your files from unauthorized modification. This gives you a guarantee that you can recover your data from the same file that was backed up. We recommend that you use this type of backup to protect your legal document files or any other files that require proved authenticity. Refer to Using Blockchain technology (p. 47) for details.

To create a notarized backup of your files and folders:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. Click Add backup.

4. [Optional] To rename the backup, click the arrow next to the backup name, click Rename, and

then enter a new name.

5. Click the Backup source area, and then select Notarized backup.

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6. In the opened window, select the check boxes next to the files and folders that you want to back

up, and then click OK.

7. Click the Backup destination area, and then select a destination for backup:

 Acronis Cloud—Sign in to your Acronis account, and then click OK.

If you do not have an Acronis account, click Create account, type your email address, password, and then click the Create account button. Refer to Acronis account (p. 25) for details.

 Your external drive—When an external drive is plugged into your computer, you can select it

from the list.

 NAS—Select an NAS from the list of found NAS devices. If you have only one NAS, Acronis

True Image 2018 will suggest using it as a backup destination by default.

 Browse—Select a destination from the folder tree.

8. [optional step] Click Options to set the options for the backup, including Schedule (p. 52),

Scheme (p. 54), and Password protection (p. 63). For more information see Backup options (p.

50).

To exclude files with a digital signature from the backup, select the Do not notarize digitally

signed files check box on the Exclusions tab. Refer to Excluding items from backup (p. 61) for

details.

9. [optional step] Click the Add a comment icon, and then type a comment to the backup version.

Backup comments will help you to find the necessary version later, when recovering your data.

10. Perform one of the following:

 To run the backup immediately, click Back up now.

 To run the backup later or on a schedule, click the down arrow to the right of the Back up

now button, and then click Later.

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Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/WjUoPZ.

4.2.1.1 Using Blockchain technology

Acronis True Image 2018 uses the Blockchain technology to provide top-level security for your backed-up files. This technology gives you the guarantee that your files have not been modified by fraudulent software, and when it is time to recover, you recover data from exactly the same file that was backed up.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is a database that contains information about transactions and their sequence. In general, a transaction represents an event, such as a financial operation or an operation with different kinds of assets. The transactions are united in blocks, which are written to the database one by one and form a block chain. Every transaction and every block has its own unique identification number. What is very important is that every block stores information about all previous blocks of the chain. Once written to the database, the information about a transaction cannot be changed in any way or by anyone, and the transaction sequence cannot be modified either. Any attempt to change any piece of information in the database can be easily identified by any user of the database, because there would be no information about the false transaction or false block in all subsequent blocks. This technology guarantees that data stored in the database is valid, belongs to a specific person, and has not been modified by anyone. See more information about Blockchain at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain_(database).

How Acronis True Image 2018 uses the Blockchain technology

To protect your files from unauthorized modification, Acronis True Image 2018 uses the Acronis Notary technology. This is a universal solution for timestamping and fingerprinting any data objects and streams. Since it is impractical to store large amount of data in a Blockchain database, Acronis True Image 2018 sends only file hash codes to the Acronis Notary service.

A hash code is a unique number of fixed size that is produced by a hash function. The code mathematically defines an arbitrary set of data, for example, a backup file. Any change of the backup file leads to a change of its hash code. Therefore, to check if the file was changed, you only need to compare the hash codes generated in the initial and current states of the file. If the codes match, this is a guarantee that the file has not been modified by anyone.

When Acronis Notary receives hash codes of your files, it calculates a new single hash code and sends it to the Ethereum Blockchain-based database. See more information about Ethereum at

https://www.ethereum.org/.

Once the hash code is in the database, the files that were used to calculate this hash code are notarized by Acronis Notary. You can easily verify the file authenticity at any time by using the procedure described in Verifying file authenticity (p. 47). Every notarized file has a notarization certificate, which is documentary proof that the file is protected with the Blockchain technology. A certificate contains general information about the file and technical details that allow you to manually verify the file authenticity. Refer to Manual verification of a file's authenticity (p. 48) for details.

4.2.1.2 Verifying file authenticity

By using Blockchain technology, Acronis True Image 2018 can protect your backed-up files from unauthorized modification. This gives you a guarantee that you can recover data from exactly the same file that was backed up.

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To verify a file's authenticity:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. From the backup list, select the notarized backup which contains the file that you want to verify.

4. On the right panel, click Recover files.

5. Browse to the required file, click the Menu icon ( ), and then click one of the following:

 View certificate—The certificate containing the detailed information about the file

security will be opened in the web browser.

 Verify—Acronis True Image 2018 will check the file authenticity.

If a notarized backup is stored on Acronis Cloud, you can also verify a backed-up file's authenticity in the Acronis Cloud web application.

To verify a file's authenticity on Acronis Cloud:

1. Go to https://www.acronis.com/my/online-backup/webrestore/, and then log in to your Acronis

account.

2. On the Files tab, browse to the required file, point to the file name, and then click the View

certificate icon or the Verify icon. See the commands description above.

4.2.1.3 Manual verification of a file's authenticity

The easiest way to verify a file's authenticity is to use the Verify command in Acronis True Image 2018 or in the Acronis Cloud web application. Refer to Verifying file authenticity (p. 47) for details. In addition to this easy method, you can perform the verification procedure yourself, step by step.

To verify a file's authenticity manually:

Step 1. Calculate MD5 hash of the file

1. Start Windows PowerShell.

2. For example, to calculate the md5 hash for the picture.png file located in C:\Users\picture.png,

type:

$($(CertUtil -hashfile "C:\Users\picture.png" MD5)[1] -replace " ","")

Example of an md5 hash: eea16ade1edf2750a46bb6bffb2e45a2

3. Check that the calculated md5 hash is equal to an eTag in the DATA field in your notarization

certificate. Refer to Verifying file authenticity (p. 47) for details about obtaining a file certificate.

Step 2. Check that a ROOT is stored in the blockchain

1. Open a blockchain explorer, for example https://etherscan.io/.

2. Enter the TRANSACTION ID from the certificate into the search field.

3. Check that the Data field in the Event Logs tab is equal to the ROOT value in your certificate.

Step 3. Check that the hash is included in the tree

1. Download the command line utility from the GitHub repository:

https://github.com/acronis/notary-verifyhash/releases.

2. Follow the instructions at: https://github.com/acronis/notary-verifyhash.

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4.3 Backing up mobile devices

If you have an iOS or Android smartphone or tablet, you can use Acronis True Image 2018 to protect your mobile data such as photos, video files, contacts, and calendars. Refer to Acronis True Image for mobile devices (p. 120) for details.

Before you start a backup, choose where you want to store the backup: Acronis Cloud or local storage on your computer. You can change the destination later, but you cannot back up to both destinations simultaneously. To back up the data to Acronis Cloud, use the Acronis True Image mobile app. Refer to Backing up your mobile device to Acronis Cloud (p. 121) for details.

To back up mobile data to local storage on your computer:

1. Make sure that:

 Acronis True Image 2017, or later version, is installed on your computer.

 The Acronis True Image mobile app is installed on your mobile device.

 Your mobile device and your computer are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

2. On your computer:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup, and then click Add backup.

3. Click the Backup source area, and then select Mobile device.

A QR code will be displayed. Please do not close this window.

3. On your mobile device:

1. Start Acronis True Image.

2. Select PC as a backup destination.

3. Tap Scan QR code, point your camera at the QR code on the computer screen, and then wait

until the mobile device is connected to the computer.

4. Select the data categories that you want to back up.

5. [optional step] Turn on the Encrypt backup setting to encrypt the backup and protect it with

a password. If you do not want the app to ask you for the password when you access the backup on your mobile device, turn on the Remember password setting. You can turn it off later in Settings (p. 124).

6. Tap Back up now.

7. Allow Acronis Mobile to access to your personal data.

When the backup is started, you can track the progress in any application - on the computer or mobile device, but the errors and warning messages are displayed in the mobile app only.

If you want data changes (for example, new photographs) to be backed up automatically, make sure the Continuous backup setting is turned on. If this setting is turned off, the new data is backed up only when you tap Back up. Refer to Mobile app settings (p. 124) for details.

You can close both Acronis True Image 2018 on your computer and the Acronis True Image mobile app. The backup will continue in the background mode.

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4.4 Backing up a Facebook account

Acronis True Image 2018 allows you to protect your entire Facebook account from losing your photos, posts, profile information, and other data and activities. The copy of your account is uploaded to secure Acronis Cloud and is accessible from any device. After uploading the data, you can browse it and recover a specific item or the entire account.

Data that you can back up:

 Profile

Basic information, including name, email, birth date, gender, website.

 Timeline

Your posts and posts of other people on your wall.

 Photos and videos

Your albums, as well as photos and videos you are tagged in.

 Events

Description of events that you are invited to visit.

 Liked pages

Links to the pages that you liked, with page names and pictures.

To back up your Facebook account to Acronis Cloud:

1. Open Online Dashboard by doing one of the following:

 Follow the link: https://cloud.acronis.com.

 On the sidebar of Acronis True Image 2018, click Backup, click Add backup, click the Backup

source area, and then select Social network.

2. Sign in to your Acronis account.

3. On the sidebar, click Resources, click Add, and then choose Facebook.

4. Click Back up Facebook.

5. Log in to your Facebook account.

6. Click OK to allow Acronis True Image 2018 to access information from your Facebook account.

The information will only be used for backup purposes.

7. Configure the backup by selecting the items that you want to back up and setting a schedule for

the backup. You can also encrypt the backup and protect it with a password (available in Acronis

True Image 2018 and later). When done, click Apply.

8. To start the backup, click Run now.

Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/jwUiA9.

4.5 Backup options

When you create a backup, you can change additional options and fine-tune the backup process. To open the options window, select a source and destination for a backup, and then click Options.

Note that options of each backup type (disk-level backup, file-level backup, online backup, nonstop backup) are fully independent and you should configure them separately.

After you have installed the application, all options are set to the initial values. You can change them for your current backup operation only or for all backups that will be created in future. Select the

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Save the settings as default check box to apply the modified settings to all further backup operations by default.

If you want to reset all the modified options to the values that were set after the product installation initially, click the Reset to initial settings button. Note that this will reset the settings for the current backup only. To reset the settings for all further backups, click Reset to initial settings, select the Save the settings as default check box, and then click OK.

Additionally, watch the English-language video instructions at https://goo.gl/bKZyaG.

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In this section

Scheduling ................................................................................................ 52

Backup schemes ....................................................................................... 54

Notifications for backup operation .......................................................... 59

Excluding items from backup ................................................................... 61

Image creation mode ............................................................................... 63

Backup protection .................................................................................... 63

Pre/Post commands for backup ............................................................... 64

Backup splitting ........................................................................................ 65

Backup validation option ......................................................................... 65

Backup reserve copy ................................................................................ 66

Removable media settings ....................................................................... 66

Error handling .......................................................................................... 67

File-level security settings for backup ...................................................... 68

Computer shutdown ................................................................................ 68

Acronis Cloud cleanup .............................................................................. 69

Online backup protection ........................................................................ 69

Performance of backup operation ........................................................... 70

Selecting a data center for backup .......................................................... 71

Laptop power settings ............................................................................. 72

4.5.1 Scheduling

Location: Options > Schedule

The Schedule tab allows you to specify the backup and validation schedule settings.

You can choose and set up one of the following backup or validation frequencies:

 Nonstop (p. 36)—The backup will run every five minutes.

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 Daily (p. 53)—The operation will be executed once a day or more frequently.  Weekly (p. 53)—The operation will be executed once a week or several times a week on the

selected days.

 Monthly (p. 54)—The operation will be executed once a month or several times a month on the

selected dates.

 Upon event (p. 54)—The operation will be executed upon an event.  Do not schedule—The scheduler will be turned off for the current operation. In this case the

backup or validation will run only when you click Back up now or Validate respectively in the

main window.

Advanced settings

Clicking Advanced settings allows you to specify the following additional settings for backup and validation:

 To postpone a scheduled operation until the next time the computer is not in use (a screen saver

is displayed or computer is locked), select the Run the backup only when the computer is idle

check box. If you schedule validation, the check box will change to Run the validation only when

the computer is idle.

 If you want to wake up the sleeping/hibernating computer to perform the scheduled operation,

select the Wake up the sleeping/hibernating computer check box.

 When a backup takes a long time, it may be interrupted if the computer goes into sleep or

hibernation mode. To eliminate this situation, select the Prevent the computer from going to

sleep/hibernate check box.

 If the computer is switched off when the scheduled time comes, the operation won't be

performed. You can force the missed operation to run at the next system startup. To do so,

select the Run missed operations at the system startup with delay (in minutes) check box.

Additionally, you can set a time delay to start backup after the system startup. For example, to

start backup 20 minutes after system startup, type 20 in the appropriate box.

 If you schedule a backup to a USB flash drive or validation of a backup that is located on a USB

flash drive, one more check box appears: Run when the current device is attached. Selecting the

check box will let you perform a missed operation when the USB flash drive is attached if it was

disconnected at the scheduled time.

4.5.1.1 Daily execution parameters

You can set up the following parameters for daily operation execution:

 Start time or periodicity

 The operation starts once or twice a day at the specified time. Enter hours and minutes

manually, or set the desired start time using the up and down buttons.

 If you select Every, choose daily operation periodicity from the dropdown list (for example,

every 2 hours).

Description of the Advanced settings see in Scheduling (p. 52).

4.5.1.2 Weekly execution parameters

You can set up the following parameters for weekly operation execution:

 Week days

Select the days on which to execute the operation by clicking on their names.

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 Start time

Set the operation's start time. Enter hours and minutes manually, or set the desired start time

using the up and down buttons.

Description of the Advanced settings see in Scheduling (p. 52).

4.5.1.3 Monthly execution parameters

You can set up the following parameters for monthly operation execution:

 Periodicity or dates

 If you select Every, choose a numeral and the day of the week from the dropdown lists

(example: First Monday - the operation will be performed on the first Monday of every month)

 If you select On, choose the date(s) for operation execution (example: you may want the

operation to be run on the 10th, 20th, and last day of the month)

 Start time

Set the operation's start time. Enter hours and minutes manually, or set the desired start time

using the up and down buttons.

Description of the Advanced settings see in Scheduling (p. 52).

4.5.1.4 Upon event execution parameters

You can set up the following parameters for the Upon event operation execution:

 Event

 User logon – the operation will be executed each time the current user logs on to the OS.

 User logoff – the operation will be executed each time the current user logs off the OS.

 System startup – the operation will be executed at every OS startup.

 System shutdown or restart – the operation will be executed at every computer shutdown

or reboot.

 Additional condition

 If you want to run an operation only at the first occurrence of the event on the current day,

select the Once a day only check box.

Description of the Advanced settings see in Scheduling (p. 52).

4.5.2 Backup schemes

Location: Options > Backup scheme

Backup schemes along with the scheduler help you to set up your backup strategy. The schemes allow you to optimize backup storage space usage, improve data storage reliability, and automatically delete the obsolete backup versions.

For online backups, the backup scheme is preset and cannot be changed. After the initial full backup, only

incremental versions are created.

The backup scheme defines the following parameters:

 Backup methods (p. 31) that will be used to create backup versions (full, differential or

incremental)

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 Sequence of the backup versions created using different methods  Version cleanup rules

Acronis True Image 2018 allows you to choose from the following backup schemes:

 Single version (p. 55) - select this scheme if you want to use the smallest backup storage.  Version chain (p. 56) - this may be the optimal scheme in many cases.  Incremental - select to create a full version after every five incremental versions. This is the

default scheme.

 Differential - select to create only differential backups after an initial full backup.  Custom (p. 56) - select to set up a backup scheme manually.

You can easily change the backup scheme for a pre-existing backup. This will not affect the integrity of the backup chains, so you will be able to recover your data from any previous backup version.

You cannot change the backup scheme when backing up to optical media such as a DVD/BD. In this case, Acronis True Image 2018 by default uses a custom scheme with only full backups. This is because the program cannot consolidate backups stored on optical media.

4.5.2.1 Single version scheme

This backup scheme is the same for both disk backup and file backup types (except scheduler settings).

The program creates a full backup version and overwrites it every time according to the specified schedule or when you run the backup manually. In this process, the old version is deleted only after a new version is created.

Backup scheduler setting for disk backup: monthly.

Backup scheduler setting for file backup: daily.

Result: you have a single up-to-date full backup version.

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Required storage space: minimal.

4.5.2.2 Version chain scheme

This backup scheme differs for disk backup and file backup types.

Disk backup version chain

At first the program creates the 1st full backup version. The version will be kept until you delete it manually. After that, according to the specified schedule (or when you run backup manually) the program creates: 1 full and 5 differential backup versions, then again 1 full and 5 differential backup versions and so on. The versions will be stored for 6 months. After the period the program analyzes if the oldest backup versions (except the 1st full version) may be deleted. It depends on the minimum number of versions (eight) and version chains consistency. The program deletes the oldest versions one by one after creating new versions with the same backup method (for example, the oldest differential version will be deleted after creation of the newest differential version). First of all the oldest differential versions will be deleted, then - the oldest full version.

Backup scheduler setting: monthly.

Result: you have monthly backup versions for the last 6 months plus the initial full backup version that may be kept for a longer period.

Required storage space: depends on the number of versions and their sizes.

File backup version chain

According to the specified schedule (or when you run backup manually) the program creates: 1 full and 6 incremental backup versions, then again 1 full and 6 incremental versions and so on. The versions will be stored for 1 month. After the period the program analyzes if the oldest backup versions may be deleted. It depends on the version chain consistency. To keep the consistency, the program deletes the oldest versions by chains "1 full + 6 incremental backup versions" after creating a new analogous version chain.

Backup scheduler setting: daily.

Result: you have backup versions for every day of the last month.

Required storage space: depends on the number of versions and their sizes.

4.5.2.3 Custom schemes

With Acronis True Image 2018 you also can create your own backup schemes. Schemes can be based on the pre-defined backup schemes. You can make changes in a selected pre-defined scheme to suit your needs and then save the changed scheme as a new one.

You cannot overwrite existing pre-defined backup schemes.

In addition, you can create custom schemes from scratch based on full, differential or incremental backup versions.

So first of all select one of the backup methods in the appropriate box.

 Full (p. 31)

Select this method if you want to create only full backup versions.

 Differential (p. 31)

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Select this method if you want to create backup chains containing only full and differential

backup versions.

You can configure the scheme by using one of the following options:

 Create only differential versions after the initial full version - select this item to create only

one backup version chain. Automatic cleanup is not available for this option.

 Create a full version after every [n] differential versions - select this item to create several

backup version chains. This is a more reliable but more space-consuming backup scheme.

 Incremental (p. 31)

Select this method if you want to create backup chains containing only full and incremental

backup versions.

You can configure the scheme by using one of the following options:

 Create only incremental versions after the initial full version - select this item to create only

one backup version chain. Automatic cleanup is not available for this option.

 Create a full version after every [n] incremental versions - select this item to create several

backup version chains. This is a more reliable but more space-consuming backup scheme.

Automatic cleanup rules

To delete obsolete backup versions automatically, you can set one of the following cleanup rules:

 Delete versions older than [defined period] (available for full method only) - Select this option to

limit the age of backup versions. All versions that are older than the specified period will be

automatically deleted.

 Delete version chains older than [defined period] (available for incremental and differential

methods only) - Select this option to limit the age of backup version chains. The oldest version

chain will be deleted only when the most recent backup version of this chain is older than the

specified period.

 Store no more than [n] recent versions (available for full method only) - Select this option to

limit the maximum number of backup versions. When the number of versions exceeds the

specified value, the oldest backup version will be automatically deleted.

 Store no more than [n] recent version chains (available for incremental and differential methods

only) - Select this option to limit the maximum number of backup version chains. When the

number of version chains exceeds the specified value, the oldest backup version chain will be

automatically deleted.

 Keep size of the backup no more than [defined size] - Select this option to limit maximum size of

the backup. After creating a new backup version, the program checks whether the total backup

size exceeds the specified value. If it's true, the oldest backup version will be deleted.

The first backup version option

Often the first version of any backup is one of the most valuable versions. This is true because it stores the initial data state (for example, your system partition with recently installed Windows) or some other stable data state (for example, data after a successful virus check).

Do not delete the first version of the backup - Select this check box to keep the initial data state. The program will create two initial full backup versions. The first version will be excluded from the automatic cleanup, and will be stored until you delete it manually.

If you select incremental or differential method, the first backup chain will start from the second full backup version. And only the third version of the backup will be incremental or differential one.

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Note that when the check box is selected, the Store no more than [n] recent versions check box will change to Store no more than 1+[n] recent versions.

Managing custom backup schemes

If you change anything in an existing backup scheme, you can save the changed scheme as a new one. In this case you need to specify a new name for that backup scheme.

 You can overwrite existing custom schemes.  You cannot overwrite existing pre-defined backup schemes.  In a scheme name, you can use any symbols allowed by OS for naming files. The maximum length

of a backup scheme name is 255 symbols.

 You can create not more than 16 custom backup schemes.

After creating a custom backup scheme, you can use it as any other existing backup scheme while configuring a backup.

You can also use a custom backup scheme without saving it. In this case, it will be available only for the backup where it was created and you will be unable to use it for other backups.

If you do not need a custom backup scheme anymore, you can delete it. To delete the scheme, select it in the backup schemes list, click Delete, and then click Delete scheme in the confirmation window.

The pre-defined backup schemes cannot be deleted.

Examples of custom schemes

1. Entire PC backup “Two full versions”

Case: You want to protect all data on your computer with two full versions and you want to update the backup once a month. Let’s see how you can do it by using a custom backup scheme.

1. Start configuring an entire PC backup. Refer to Backing up all data on your PC (p. 19) for details.

2. Make sure Entire PC is selected as the backup source.

3. Click Options, open the Schedule tab, click Monthly, and then specify a day of the month (for

example, the 20-th). This will result in a backup version being created on a monthly basis, on the

day you specify. Then, specify a start time for the backup operation.

4. Open the Backup scheme tab, and then choose Custom scheme instead of Incremental scheme.

5. In the Backup method box, select Full from the drop-down list.

6. To limit the number of versions, click Store no more than [n] recent versions, and type or select

"2", and click OK.

In this case, the program will create a new full version every month, on the 20-th day. After

creating the third version, the oldest version will be automatically deleted.

7. Check that all settings are correct and click Back up now. If you want your first backup to be run

only at the time you specified in the Scheduler, click the down arrow to the right of the Back up

now button and select Later in the drop-down list.

2. File backup “Daily incremental version + weekly full version”

Case: You have files and/or folders you work with every day. You need to save your daily work results and want to be able to recover data state to any date for the last three weeks. Let’s see how you can do this using a custom backup scheme.

1. Start configuring a file backup. Refer to Backing up files and folders for details.

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2. Click Options, open the Schedule tab, click Daily, and then specify a start time for the backup

operation. For example, if you finish your everyday work at 8 PM, specify this time or a little later

(8.05 PM) as the start time.

3. Open the Backup scheme tab, and then choose Custom scheme instead of Incremental scheme.

4. In the Backup method box, select Incremental from the drop-down list.

5. Click Create a full version after every [n] incremental versions, and type or select "6".

In that case, the program will first create the initial full backup version (no matter how you set up

a backup process, the first backup version will always be the full one), and then six incremental

versions day by day. Then, it will create one full version and six incremental versions again and so

on. So every new full version will be created in exactly a week's time.

6. To limit the storage time for the versions, click Turn on automatic cleanup.

7. Click Delete version chains older than [n] days, type or select "21", and click OK.

8. Check that all settings are correct and click Back up now. If you want your first backup to run

only at the time you specified in the Scheduler, click the down arrow to the right of the Back up

now button and select Later in the drop-down list.

3. Disk backup “Full version every 2 months + differential version twice a month”

Case: You need to back up your system partition twice a month and create a new full backup version every two months. In addition, you want to use no more than 100 GB of disk space to store the backup versions. Let’s see how you can do it using a custom backup scheme.

1. Start configuring a disk backup. Refer to Backing up disks and partitions (p. 42).

2. Select your system partition (usually C:) as the backup source.

3. Click Options, open the Schedule tab, click Monthly, and then specify, for example, the 1st and

15th days of the month. This will result in a backup version in about every two weeks. Then,

specify a start time for the backup operation.

4. Open the Backup scheme tab, and then choose Custom scheme instead of Incremental scheme.

5. In the Backup method box, select Differential from the drop-down list.

6. Click Create a full version after every [n] differential versions, and type or select "3".

In that case the program will first create the initial full backup version (no matter how you set up

a backup process, the first backup version will always be the full one), and then three differential

versions, each one in about two weeks. Then again a full version and three differential versions

and so on. So every new full version will be created in two months.

7. To limit storage space for the versions, click Turn on automatic cleanup.

8. Click Keep size of the backup no more than [defined size], type or select "100" "GB", and click

OK.

When the total backup size exceeds 100 GB, Acronis True Image 2018 will clean up the existing backup

versions to make the remaining versions satisfy the size limit. The program will delete the oldest backup

chain consisting of a full backup version and three differential backup versions.

9. Check that all settings are correct and click Back up now. If you want your first backup to be run

only at the time you specified in the Scheduler, click the down arrow to the right of the Back up

now button and select Later in the drop-down list.

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4.5.3 Notifications for backup operation

Location: Options > Notifications

Sometimes a backup or recovery procedure can last an hour or longer. Acronis True Image 2018 can notify you when it is finished via email. The program can also duplicate messages issued during the operation or send you the full operation log after operation completion.

By default, all notifications are disabled.

Free disk space threshold

You may want to be notified when the free space on the backup storage becomes less than the specified threshold value. If after starting a backup Acronis True Image 2018 finds out that the free space in the selected backup location is already less than the specified value, the program will not begin the actual backup process and will immediately inform you by displaying an appropriate message. The message offers you three choices - to ignore it and proceed with the backup, to browse for another location for the backup or to cancel the backup.

If the free space becomes less than the specified value while the backup is being run, the program will display the same message and you will have to make the same decisions.

To set the free disk space threshold:

 Select the Show notification message on insufficient free disk space check box  In the Size box, type or select a threshold value and select a unit of measure

Acronis True Image 2018 can monitor free space on the following storage devices:

 Local hard drives  USB cards and drives  Network shares (SMB/NFS)

The message will not be displayed if the Do not show messages and dialogs while processing (silent mode) check box is selected in the Error handling settings.

This option cannot be enabled for FTP servers and CD/DVD drives.

Email notification

You can specify an email account that will be used to send you email notifications.

To configure the email notifications:

1. Select the Send e-mail notifications about the operation state check box.

2. Configure email settings:

 Enter the email address in the To field. You can enter several email addresses in a

semicolon-delimited format.

 Enter the outgoing mail server (SMTP) in the Outgoing mail server (SMTP) field.

 Set the port of the outgoing mail server. By default the port is set to 25.

 If required, select the SMTP authentication check box, and then enter the user name and

password in the corresponding fields.

3. To check whether your settings are correct, click the Send test message button.

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If the test message sending fails, then perform the following:

1. Click Show extended settings.

2. Configure additional email settings:

 Enter the e-mail sender address in the From field. If you are not sure what address to specify,

then type any address you like in a standard format, for example aaa@bbb.com.

 Change the message subject in the Subject field, if necessary.

To simplify monitoring a backup status, you can add the most important information to the subject of the email messages. You can type the following text labels:

 %BACKUP_NAME%—the backup name  %COMPUTER_NAME%—name of the computer where the backup was started  %OPERATION_STATUS%—result of the backup or other operation

For example, you can type: Status of backup %BACKUP_NAME%: %OPERATION_STATUS% (%COMPUTER_NAME%)

 Select the Log on to incoming mail server check box.

 Enter the incoming mail server (POP3) in the POP3 server field.

 Set the port of the incoming mail server. By default, the port is set to 110.

3. Click the Send test message button again.

Additional notification settings:

 To send a notification concerning process completion, select the Send notification upon

operation's successful completion check box.

 To send a notification concerning process failure, select the Send notification upon operation

failure check box.

 To send a notification with operation messages, select the Send notification when user

interaction is required check box.

 To send a notification with full log of operations, select the Add full log to the notification check

box.

4.5.4 Excluding items from backup

Location: Options > Exclusions

If you want to exclude unnecessary files from a backup, specify the appropriate file types on the Exclusions tab of the backup options. You can specify exclusions for disk backups, file backups or online backups.

When you select a specific file for backup, it cannot be excluded by the exclusion settings. The settings are applicable only to files located on a partition, disk, or inside a folder selected for backup.

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How to use the default exclusion settings

After you have installed the application, all the exclusion settings are set to the initial values. You can change them for your current backup operation only or for all backups that will be created in future. Select the Save as default check box to apply the modified settings to all further backup operations by default. If you want to reset all the modified settings to the values that they were originally set to when the product was installed, click the Reset to initial settings button.

What you can exclude and how

You have the following options to exclude files from backups:

 Do not notarize digitally signed files (available for notarized backups only)—The main purpose of

a notarized backup is protection of your personal files. Therefore, there is no need to back up

system files, application files, and other files that have a digital signature. To exclude these files,

select the corresponding check box.

 Exclude hidden files—Select this check box to exclude hidden files and folders from a file-level

backup.

 Exclude system files—Select this check box to exclude system files and folders from a file-level

backup.

You can exclude files meeting the criteria you specify. To do this, select the Exclude files matching the following criteria check box, click the plus sign, and then enter the exclusion criterion.

We do not recommend excluding hidden and system files from the backups of your system partition.

How to add an exclusion criterion:

 You can enter explicit file names for exclusion from the backup:

 file.ext - all such files will be excluded from the backup.

 C:\file.ext - the file.ext file on the C: disk will be excluded.  You can use wildcard characters (* and ?):

 *.ext - all files with a .ext extension will be excluded.

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 ??name.ext - all files with a .ext extension, having six letters in their names (starting with any

two symbols (??) and ending with name), will be excluded.

 To exclude a folder from a disk-level backup, click the plus sign, click the ellipsis button, go to the

directory tree and select the folder you want to exclude, and then click OK.

To delete a criterion added by mistake, select the criterion, and then click the minus sign.

4.5.4.1 Excluding online data

Before you start a backup, you can reduce the backup size by excluding data that does not need to be backed up. Acronis True Image 2018 now allows you to exclude your local data that is uploaded or synchronized with third-party Cloud services, such as Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive. This data is already reliably protected and can be easily downloaded to your computer. Therefore you can exclude it to reduce the backup size and to speed up the backup process.

To exclude an online data source from a backup:

1. Before you start the backup process, click Exclude items from backup.

2. Clear the check boxes next to the items that you want to exclude, and then click OK.

4.5.5 Image creation mode

Location: Options > Advanced > Image creation mode

You can use these parameters to create an exact copy of your whole partitions or hard disks, and not only the sectors that contain data. For example, this can be useful when you want to back up a partition or disk containing an operating system that is not supported by Acronis True Image. Please note that this mode increases processing time and usually results in a larger image file.

 To create a sector-by-sector image, select the Back up sector-by-sector check box.  To include all unallocated disk space into the backup, select the Back up unallocated space check

box.

This check box is available only when the Back up sector-by-sector check box is selected.

4.5.6 Backup protection

Location: Options > Advanced > Backup protection

A backup file can be password-protected. By default, there is no password protection for backups.

You cannot set or change the backup protection option for a pre-existing backup.

To protect a backup:

1. Enter the password for the backup into the corresponding field. We recommend that you use a

password longer than seven symbols and containing both letters (in upper and lower cases

preferably) and numbers to make it more difficult to guess.

A password cannot be retrieved. Please memorize the password that you specify for a backup protection.

2. To confirm the previously entered password, retype it into the corresponding field.

3. [optional step] To increase the security of your confidential data, you can encrypt the backup

with strong industry-standard AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) cryptographic algorithm. AES

is available with three key lengths – 128, 192 and 256 bits to balance performance and

protection as desired.

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The 128-bit encryption key is sufficient for most applications. The longer the key, the more

secure your data. However, the 192 and 256-bit long keys significantly slow down the backup

process.

If you want to use AES encryption, choose one of the following keys:

 AES 128 - to use 128-bit encryption key

 AES 192 - to use 192-bit encryption key

 AES 256 - to use 256-bit encryption key

If you do not want to encrypt the backup and only want to protect a backup with a password,

select None.

4. Having specified the backup settings, click OK.

How to get access to a password-protected backup

Acronis True Image asks for the password every time you try to modify the backup:

 Recover data from the backup  Edit settings  Delete  Mount  Move

To access the backup, you must specify the correct password.

4.5.7 Pre/Post commands for backup

Location: Options > Advanced > Pre/Post commands

You can specify commands (or even batch files) that will be automatically executed before and after the backup procedure.

For example, you may want to start/stop certain Windows processes, or check your data before starting backup.

To specify commands (batch files):

 Select a command to be executed before the backup process starts in the Pre-command field. To

create a new command or select a new batch file, click the Edit button.

 Select a command to be executed after the backup process ends in the Post-command field. To

create a new command or select a new batch file, click the Edit button.

Please do not try to execute interactive commands, i.e. commands that require user input (for example, "pause"). These are not supported.

4.5.7.1 Edit user command for backup

You can specify user commands to be executed before or after the backup procedure:

 In the Command field, type-in a command or select it from the list. Click ... to select a batch file.  In the Working directory field, type-in a path for command execution or select it from the list of

previously entered paths.

 In the Arguments field enter or select command execution arguments from the list.

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Disabling the Do not perform operations until the command's execution is complete parameter (enabled for Pre commands by default), will permit the backup process to run concurrently with your command execution.

The Abort the operation if the user command fails (enabled by default) parameter will abort the operation if any errors occur in command execution.

You can test a command you entered by clicking the Test command button.

4.5.8 Backup splitting

Location: Options > Advanced > Backup splitting

Acronis True Image 2018 cannot split already existing backups. Backups can be split only when being created.

Large backups can be split into several files that together make up the original backup. A backup can also be split for burning to removable media.

The default setting - Automatic. With this setting, Acronis True Image 2018 will act as follows.

When backing up to a hard disk:

 If the selected disk has enough space and its file system allows the estimated file size, the

program will create a single backup file.

 If the storage disk has enough space, but its file system does not allow the estimated file size, the

program will automatically split the image into several files.

 If you do not have enough space to store the image on your hard disk, the program will warn you

and wait for your decision as to how you plan to fix the problem. You can try to free some

additional space and continue or select another disk.

When backing up to a CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, BD-R/RE:

 Acronis True Image 2018 will ask you to insert a new disk when the previous one is full.

Alternatively, you may select the desired file size from the drop-down list. The backup will then be split into multiple files of the specified size. This is useful when you store a backup to a hard disk in order to burn the backup to CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW or BD-R/RE later on.

Creating images directly on CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, BD-R/RE might take considerably more time than it would on a hard disk.

4.5.9 Backup validation option

Location: Options > Advanced > Validation

You can specify the following settings:

 Validate backup when it is created - Select to check the integrity of the backup version

immediately after backup. We recommend that you enable this option when you back up your

critical data or system disk.

 Validate backup regularly - Select to schedule validation of your backups to ensure that they

remain "healthy".

The default settings are as follows:

 Frequency: once a month.

 Day: the date when the backup was started.

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 Time: the moment of backup start plus 15 minutes.

 Advanced settings: the Run the validation only when the computer is idle check box is

selected.

Example: You start a backup operation on July 15, at 12.00. The backup version is created at

12.05. Its validation will run at 12.15 if your computer is in the "screen saver" state at the

moment. If not, then the validation will not run. In a month, August 15, at 12.15, the validation

will start again. As before, your computer must be in the "screen saver" state. The same will

occur on September 15, and so on.

You can change the default settings and specify your own schedule. For more information see

Scheduling (p. 52).

4.5.10 Backup reserve copy

Location: Options > Advanced > Backup reserve copy

Backup reserve copy is an independent full backup version created immediately after a normal backup. Even when you create an incremental or differential backup version containing only data changes, the reserve copy will contain all the data selected for the normal backup. You can save reserve copies of your backups on the file system, a network drive, or a USB flash drive.

Please, be aware that CD/DVDs are not supported as locations for reserve copies.

To make a reserve copy:

1. Select the Create a reserve copy of my backups check box.

2. Specify a location for the backup copies.

3. Select the reserve copy format. You can create it as an Acronis backup (.tib files) or just copy the

source files to the selected location as is, without any modification.

4. [Optional step] Protect the reserve copy with a password.

All other backup options will be inherited from the source backup.

4.5.11 Removable media settings

Location: Options > Advanced > Removable media settings

When backing up to removable media, you can make this media bootable by writing additional components to it. Thus, you will not need a separate bootable disk.

Acronis True Image 2018 does not support creating bootable media if a flash drive is formatted in NTFS or exFAT. The drive must have a FAT16 or FAT32 file system.

The following settings are available:

 Place Acronis True Image 2018 on media

Acronis True Image 2018 - includes support of USB, PC Card (formerly PCMCIA), and SCSI

interfaces along with the storage devices connected via them, and therefore is strongly

recommended.

 Place Acronis System Report on media

Acronis System Report - the component allows you to generate system report that is used for

collecting information about your system in case of any program problem. Report generation will

be available before you start Acronis True Image 2018 from the bootable media. The generated

system report can be saved to a USB flash drive.

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 Ask for first media while creating backups on removable media

You can choose whether to display the Insert First Media prompt when backing up to removable

media. With the default setting, backing up to removable media may not be possible if the user is

away, because the program will wait for someone to press OK in the prompt box. Therefore, you

should disable the prompt when scheduling a backup to removable media. Then, if the

removable media is available (for example, CD-R/RW inserted) the backup can run unattended.

If you have other Acronis products installed on your computer, the bootable versions of these programs' components will be offered as well.

32-bit or 64-bit components

Please pay attention to which versions of Acronis True Image 2018 and Acronis System Report are compatible with your computer.

32-bit components

64-bit components

BIOS-based 32-bit computers

BIOS-based 64-bit computers

EFI-based 32-bit computers

EFI-based 64-bit computers

4.5.12 Error handling

Location: Options > Advanced > Error handling

When the program encountered an error while performing backup, it stops the backup process and displays a message, waiting for a response on how to handle the error. If you set an error handling policy, the program will not stop the backup process, but will simply handle the error according to the set rules and continue working.

You can set the following error handling policy:

 Do not show messages and dialogs while processing (silent mode) - Enable this setting to ignore

errors during backup operations. This is useful when you cannot control the backup process.

 Ignore bad sectors - This option is available only for disk and partition backups. It lets you

successfully complete a backup even if there are bad sectors on the hard disk.

We recommend that you select this check box when your hard drive is failing, for example:

 Hard drive is making clicking or grinding noises during operation.

 The S.M.A.R.T. system has detected hard drive issues and recommends that you back up the

drive as soon as possible.

When you leave this check box cleared, the backup may fail because of possible bad sectors on

the drive.

 When not enough space in ASZ, delete the oldest backup (the preset is enabled) - We

recommend that you select this check box when planning unattended scheduled backups to the

Acronis Secure Zone. Otherwise, when the Acronis Secure Zone is full during a backup operation,

Acronis True Image suspends the backup and requires your action. The dialog will open even

when the Do not show messages and dialogs while processing (silent mode) setting is enabled.

 Repeat attempt if a backup fails - This option allows you to automatically repeat a backup

attempt if the backup fails for some reason. You can specify number of attempts and time

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interval between attempts. Note that if the error interrupting the backup persists, then the

backup will not be created.

4.5.13 File-level security settings for backup

Location: Options > Advanced > File-level security settings

This option is only available for file-level backups.

You can specify security settings for backed up files:

 Preserve file security settings in backups - selecting this option will preserve all the security

properties (permissions assigned to groups or users) of the backup files for further recovery.

By default, files and folders are saved in the backup with their original Windows security settings

(i.e. permissions for read, write, execute and so on for each user or user group, set in file

Properties -> Security). If you recover a secured file/folder on a computer without the user

specified in the permissions, you may not be able to read or modify this file.

To eliminate this kind of problem, you can disable preserving file security settings in backups.

Then the recovered files/folders will always inherit the permissions from the folder to which they

are recovered (parent folder or disk, if recovered to the root).

Or, you can disable file security settings during recovery, even if they are available in the backup.

The result will be the same.

 In backups, store encrypted files in a decrypted state (the preset is disabled) - check the option

if there are encrypted files in the backup and you want them to be accessed by any user after

recovery. Otherwise, only the user who encrypted the files/folders will be able to read them.

Decryption may also be useful if you are going to recover encrypted files on another computer.

If you do not use the encryption feature available in Windows XP and later operating systems,

simply ignore this option. (Files/folders encryption is set in Properties -> General -> Advanced

Attributes -> Encrypt contents to secure data).

These options relate only to file/folder backups.

4.5.14 Computer shutdown

Location: Options > Advanced > Computer shutdown

You can configure the following options:

 Stop all current operations when I shut down the computer

When you turn off your computer while Acronis True Image 2018 is performing a long operation,

for example a disk backup to the cloud, this operation prevents the computer from shutdown.

When this check box is selected, Acronis True Image 2018 automatically stops all its current

operations before shutdown. This may take about two minutes. The next time you run Acronis

True Image 2018, it will restart the stopped backups.

 Shut down the computer after the backup is complete

If you know that the backup process you are configuring may take a long time, you may select

the Shut down the computer after the backup is complete check box. In this case, you will not

have to wait until the operation completion. The program will perform the backup and turn off

your computer automatically.

This option is also useful when you schedule your backups. For example, you may want to

perform backups every weekday in the evening to save all your work. Schedule the backup and

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select the check box. After that you may leave your computer when you finish your work

knowing that the critical data will be backed up and the computer will be turned off.

4.5.15 Acronis Cloud cleanup

Location: Options > Advanced > Acronis Cloud cleanup

This option is only available for online backup.

You can configure the cleanup settings for Acronis Cloud to optimize usage of its space.

To set the limits for the amount of versions on Acronis Cloud:

 Select the Delete versions that are older than check box and enter a value that limits the

maximum age of the older versions. All other versions will be automatically deleted except the

most recent versions.

 Select the Store no more than … recent versions check box and enter a value that limits the

maximum number of all versions in the storage.

4.5.16 Online backup protection

Location: Options > Advanced > Backup protection

To protect your data on Acronis Cloud from unauthorized access, you can use encryption. In this case, your data will be stored on Acronis Cloud in an encrypted form. To encrypt and decrypt your data, the program needs the password, that you should specify when you configure the online backup. You can specify any set of characters you like. Note that the password is case-sensitive.

Warning! A password of an online backup cannot be retrieved. Please memorize the password

that you specify for backup protection.

While attempting to access the encrypted data, the program asks you to enter the password.

Note that you cannot set or change the password for a pre-existing online backup.

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4.5.17 Performance of backup operation

Location: Options > Advanced > Performance

Compression level

You can choose the compression level for a backup:

 None - the data will be copied without any compression, which may significantly increase the

backup file size.

 Normal - the recommended data compression level (set by default).  High - higher backup file compression level, takes more time to create a backup.  Maximum - maximum backup compression, but takes a long time to create a backup.

The optimal data compression level depends on the type of files stored in the backup. For example, even maximum compression will not significantly reduce the backup size, if the backup contains essentially compressed files, like .jpg, .pdf or .mp3.

You cannot set or change the compression level for a pre-existing backup.

Operation priority

Changing the priority of a backup or recovery process can make it run faster or slower (depending on whether you raise or lower the priority), but it can also adversely affect the performance of other running programs. The priority of any process running in a system, determines the amount of CPU usage and system resources allocated to that process. Decreasing the operation priority will free more resources for other CPU tasks. Increasing backup or recovery priority may speed up the process by taking resources from the other currently running processes. The effect will depend on total CPU usage and other factors.

You can set up the operation priority:

 Low (enabled by default) - the backup or recovery process will run slower, but the performance

of other programs will be increased.

 Normal - the backup or recovery process will have the equal priority with other processes.  High - the backup or recovery process will run faster, but the performance of other programs will

be reduced. Be aware that selecting this option may result in 100% CPU usage by Acronis True

Image 2018.

Network connection transfer rate

When you back up data to Acronis Cloud, network drives, or FTP, you can change the connection speed used by Acronis True Image 2018. Set the connection speed that will allow you to use Internet and network resources without annoying slowdowns.

To set up the connection speed, select one of the following options:

 Optimal

The data transfer rate is not changed by Acronis True Image 2018.

 Maximum (available for online backups only)

This option significantly speeds up the upload process, but at the same time the Internet

connection speed decreases for other applications. The optimization mechanism splits the data

into small portions, and then uploads these portions via multiple network connections. In the

target Acronis data center, the split data is assembled back to the initial state, and then stored in

the cloud storage.

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 Limit to

You can specify a maximum value for data upload speed.

Snapshot for backup

This option is for advanced users only. Do not change the default setting if you are not sure which option to choose.

During a disk or partition backup process, which often takes a long time, some of the backed-up files may be in use, locked, or being modified in one way or another. For example, you may work on a document and save it from time to time. If Acronis True Image 2018 backed up files one by one, your open file would likely be changed since the backup start, and then saved in the backup to a different point in time. Therefore, the data in the backup would be inconsistent. To eliminate it, Acronis True Image 2018 creates a so-called snapshot that fixes the data to back up to a particular point in time. This is done before the backup starts and guarantees that the data is in consistent state.

Select a backup snapshot type from the list:

 No snapshot

A snapshot will not be created. The files will be backed up one by one as an ordinary copy

operation.

 VSS

Warning! This is the only recommended option for backing up your system. Your computer may not start

after recovery from a backup created with a different snapshot type.

This option is default for disk-level and the Entire PC backups, and guarantees data consistency in

the backup.

 Acronis snapshot

A snapshot will be created with the Acronis driver used in previous versions of Acronis True

Image.

 VSS without writers

This option is default for file-level backups.

VSS writers are special VSS components for notifying applications that a snapshot is going to be

created, so that the applications prepare their data for the snapshot. The writers are needed for

applications that perform large number of file operations and require data consistency, for

example databases. Because such applications are not installed on home computers, there is no

need to use writers. In addition, this reduces the time required for file-level backups.

4.5.18 Selecting a data center for backup

Location: Options > Advanced > Data center

This option is only available for online backup.

When you create a backup to Acronis Cloud, your data is uploaded to one of the Acronis data centers located in different countries. Initially, the data center is defined as the one closest to your location when you create your Acronis account. Afterwards, your online backups and synced files are stored in the same data center, by default.

We recommend that you set the data center for a backup manually, when you are in a different country and your default data center is not the closest to your current location. This will significantly increase the data upload rate.

Note: You cannot change the data center for a pre-existing backup.

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To select a data center:

1. On the Online Backup Options screen, click Advanced, and then click Data center.

2. Select the country that is closest to your current location.

4.5.19 Laptop power settings

Location: Settings > Battery power saving

This setting is only available on computers with batteries (laptops, computers with UPS).

When you work on your laptop and there is no power supply around you or when your computer has switched to UPS after a blackout, it's reasonable to save the battery charge. Long-term backups may consume the battery power quite fast, for example when you back up significant amount of data to the cloud.

To save the battery charge:

 On the sidebar, click Settings > Battery power saving, and then select the Do not back up when

working on battery power check box.

When this setting is turned on and you unplug your laptop power adapter or use UPS for your computer after a blackout, all current backups are paused and scheduled backups will not start. Once you plug the power adapter back in or the power supply is restored, the suspended backups will be resumed. The scheduled backups that have been missed because of this setting will be started as well.

This setting does not block backup functionality completely. You can always start a backup manually.

Local mobile backups do not depend on this setting. Your mobile data is backed up to local storage on your computer as usual.

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4.6 Operations with backups

In this section

Backup operations menu ......................................................................... 73

Backup activity and statistics ................................................................... 74

Sorting backups in the list ........................................................................ 75

Validating backups ................................................................................... 76

Backup to various places .......................................................................... 77

Adding an existing backup to the list ....................................................... 77

Deleting backups and backup versions .................................................... 78

Removing data from Acronis Cloud ......................................................... 79

4.6.1 Backup operations menu

The backup operations menu provides quick access to additional operations that can be performed with the selected backup.

The backup operations menu can contain the following items:

 Rename (not available for online backups) - allows you to set a new name for a backup in the list.

The backup files will not be renamed.

 Reconfigure (for backups manually added to the backup list) - allows configuring the settings of a

backup created by a previous Acronis True Image version. This item may also appear for backups

created on another computer and added to the backup list without importing their settings.

Without backup settings, you cannot refresh the backup by clicking Back up now. Also, you

cannot edit and clone the backup settings.

 Reconfigure (for online backups) - allows you to bind a selected online backup to the current

computer. To do this, click this item and reconfigure settings of the backup. Note that only one

online backup can be active on one computer.

 Validate - starts backup validation.  Open location - opens the folder containing the backup files.

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 Clone settings - Creates a new empty backup box with the settings of the initial backup and

named (1) [the initial backup name]. Change the settings, save them, and then click Back up

now on the cloned backup box.

 Move - click to move all the backup files to another location. The subsequent backup versions

will be saved to the new location.

If you change the backup destination by editing the backup settings, only new backup versions

will be saved to the new location. The earlier backup versions will remain in the old location.

 Delete - depending on a backup type, this command completely deletes the backup from its

location or allows you to choose whether you want to delete the backup completely or the

backup box only. When you delete a backup box, the backup files remain in the location, and you

will be able to add the backup to the list later. Note that when you delete a backup completely,

the deletion cannot be undone.

4.6.2 Backup activity and statistics

On the Activity tab and the Backup tab, you can view additional information on a backup, such as backup history and file types the backup contains. The Activity tab contains a list of operations performed on the selected backup starting from its creation, the operation statuses, and statistics. This comes in handy when you need to find out what was happening to the backup in background mode, for example the number and statuses of scheduled backup operations, size of backed-up data, results of backup validation, etc.

When you create the first version of a backup, the Backup tab displays a graphical representation of the backup content by file types.

The Activity tab

Nonstop backup and mobile backups do not have an activity feed.

To view a backup activity:

1. On the sidebar, click Backup.

2. In the backup list, select the backup, the history of which you want to view.

3. On the right pane, click Activity.

What you can view and analyze:

 Backup operations and their statuses (successful, failed, canceled, interrupted, and so on)  Operations performed on the backup, and their statuses  Error messages  Backup comments  Backup operation details, including:

 Backed up—Size of backed-up data, with compression.

 Speed—Backup operation speed.

 Time spent—Time spent for the backup operation.

 Data to recover—Initial size of data, without compression.

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 Method—Backup operation method (full, incremental, or differential).

For more information, refer to the Knowledge Base article: https://kb.acronis.com/content/60104.

The Backup tab

When a backup is created, you can view statistics on types of the backed-up files:

Point to a color segment to see the number of files and the total size for each data category:

 Pictures  Video files  Audio files  Documents  System files  Other file types, including hidden system files

Information on the data size:

 Data to recover—size of the original data that you selected to back up.

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4.6.3 Sorting backups in the list

By default, the backups are sorted by the date they were created, starting from the newest to oldest. To change the order, select the appropriate sorting type in the upper part of the backup list. You have the following options:

Command

Description

Name

This command sorts all backups in alphabetical order.

To reverse the order, select Z —> A.

Date created

This command sorts all backups from newest to oldest.

To reverse the order, select Oldest on top.

Sort by

Date updated

This command sorts all backups by date of the last version. The newer the last backup version, the higher the backup will be placed in the list.

To reverse the order, select Least recent on top.

Size

This command sorts all backups by size, from biggest to smallest.

To reverse the order, select Smallest on top.

Source type

This command sorts all backups by the source type. The order is as follows: entire PC backups - disk backups - file backups - nonstop backup.

Destination type

This command sorts all backups by the destination type. The order is as follows: internal disk drives - external disk drives - NAS devices - network shares - Acronis Cloud.

4.6.4 Validating backups

The validation procedure checks whether you will be able to recover data from a backup.

For example, backup validation is important before you recover your system. If you start recovery from a corrupted backup, the process will fail and your computer may become unbootable. We recommend that you validate system partition backups under bootable media. Other backups may be validated in Windows. See also Preparing for recovery (p. 81) and Basic concepts (p. 28).

Validating backups in Windows

To validate an entire backup:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018, and then click Backup on the sidebar.

2. In the backup list, click the down arrow icon next to the backup to validate, and then click

Validate.

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Validating backups in a stand-alone version of Acronis True Image (bootable media)

To validate a specific backup version or an entire backup:

1. On the Recovery tab, find the backup that contains the version that you want to validate. If the

backup is not listed, click Browse for backup, and then specify the path to the backup. Acronis

True Image adds this backup to the list.

2. Right-click the backup or a specific version, and then click Validate Archive. This opens the

Validate Wizard.

3. Click Proceed.

4.6.5 Backup to various places

You can save versions of a backup to different destinations by changing the backup destination when editing the backup settings. For example, after you save the initial full backup to an external USB hard drive, you can change the backup destination to a USB stick by editing the backup settings. The subsequent incremental or differential backups will be written to the USB stick.

You cannot continue backing up to an optical disc.

Acronis Secure Zone and FTP servers can contain an entire backup only.

Splitting backups on-the-fly

When free space on the destination storage is insufficient to complete the current backup operation, the program displays a message warning you that the disk is full.

To complete the backup, perform one of the following:

 Free up some space on the disk and click Retry.  Click Browse, and then select another storage device.

When versions of a backup are stored in different locations, you may need to specify the locations during recovery.

4.6.6 Adding an existing backup to the list

You may have Acronis True Image backups created by a previous product version or copied from another computer. Every time you start Acronis True Image 2018, it scans your computer for such backups and adds them to the backup list automatically.

If you have backups that are not shown in the list, you can add them manually.

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To add backups manually:

1. In the Backup section, at the bottom of the backup list, click the arrow icon, and then click Add

existing backup. The program opens a window where you can browse for backups on your

computer.

2. Select a backup version (a .tib file), and then click Add.

The entire backup will be added to the list.

4.6.7 Deleting backups and backup versions

This topic is applicable to local and network backups. For information about deleting online backups, refer to Removing data from Acronis Cloud (p. 79).

When you want to delete backups and backup versions you no longer need, please do it by using the tools provided by Acronis True Image 2018.

To delete an entire backup:

In the Backup section, click the down arrow icon next to the backup to delete, and then click Delete.

Depending on a backup type, this command completely deletes the backup from its location or allows you to choose whether you want to delete the backup completely or the backup box only. When you delete a backup box only, the backup files remain in the location, and you will be able to add the backup to the list later. Note that if you delete a backup completely, the deletion cannot be undone.

To configure automatic cleanup rules for a backup:

1. Go to the Backup section.

2. Perform one of the following:

 For a new backup, click Add backup, choose Create new backup, select backup source and

destination, and then click Options.

 For an existing backup, select the backup from the backup list, and then click Options.

3. On the Backup scheme tab, select Custom scheme, select a backup method, and then click Turn

on automatic cleanup.

4. Configure cleanup rules for the backup. Refer to Custom schemes (p. 56) for details.

To delete a specific backup version:

1. Start your computer by using bootable media. Refer to Arranging boot order in BIOS (p. 92) for

details.

2. In the Recovery section, click Refresh backups. This will update the backup list. If you cannot find

the target backup in the list, or the backup is located on removable media, click Browse for

backup, and provide the path to the backup.

3. Depending on type of the backup, go to the Disk backups or File backups tab.

4. Right-click the backup version that you want to delete, and then click Remove. The opened

window displays the list of backup versions that will be deleted. See below why this list may

contain more than one backup version.

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5. To confirm the deletion, click Delete.

Why does Acronis True Image sometimes delete more than one backup version?

When you delete a backup version, please remember that this version may have dependent versions. In this case the dependent versions will be deleted as well, because data recovery from such versions becomes impossible.

 If you delete a full backup version - the program will also delete all subsequent incremental and

differential versions till the next full version.

 If you delete an incremental backup version or a differential backup version - the program will

also delete all subsequent incremental versions till the next full or differential version.

See also Full, incremental and differential backups (p. 31).

4.6.8 Removing data from Acronis Cloud

Because the available space on Acronis Cloud is limited, you need to manage your Cloud space by cleaning up the obsolete data or the data you do not need anymore. Cleanup can be done in a variety of ways.

Deleting an entire backup

The most drastic option is deleting the entire backup on Acronis Cloud. To do this, click the down arrow icon next to the backup to delete, and then click Delete.

Cleanup settings

The Online backup options provide for automatic cleanup of Acronis Cloud. You can specify deletion of files that have been kept longer than the specified number of months or days. In addition, you can set the maximum number of file versions to be kept on Acronis Cloud. You can accept the default settings for those options or set the values you need. For more information see Acronis Cloud cleanup (p. 69).

One-time cleanup

When your Acronis Cloud is full or is running out of space, we recommend that you use the cleanup tool in Acronis Cloud web application. This tool allows you to free up considerable amount of space on the cloud fast and easy.

To clean up Acronis Cloud:

1. Go to https://www.acronis.com/my/online-backup/webrestore/, and then log in to your Acronis

account.

2. On the Storage status tab, click Clean up space.

3. In the opened window, configure the cleanup settings and click Clean up now.

Deleting specific files and folders

You can also manage Acronis Cloud by deleting individual files and folders.

1. Go to https://www.acronis.com/my/online-backup/webrestore/, and then log in to your Acronis

account.

2. Select files and folders you want to delete, and then click Delete.

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5 Recovering data

In this section

Recovering disks and partitions ............................................................... 80

Recovering files and folders ..................................................................... 93

Searching backup content ........................................................................ 94

Recovery from Acronis Cloud ................................................................... 95

Recovering your Facebook account ....................................................... 101

Recovery options.................................................................................... 101

5.1 Recovering disks and partitions

In this section

Recovering your system after a crash ...................................................... 80

Recovering partitions and disks ............................................................... 88

About recovery of dynamic/GPT disks and volumes ............................... 90

Arranging boot order in BIOS or UEFI BIOS .............................................. 92

5.1.1 Recovering your system after a crash

When your computer fails to boot, it is advisable to at first try to find the cause using the suggestions given in Trying to determine the crash cause (p. 80). If the crash is caused by corruption of the operating system, use a backup to recover your system. Make the preparations described in Preparing for recovery (p. 81) and then proceed with recovering your system.

5.1.1.1 Trying to determine the crash cause

A system crash can be due to two basic factors:

 Hardware failure

In this scenario, it is better to let your service center handle the repairs. However, you may want

to perform some routine tests. Check the cables, connectors, power of external devices, etc.

Then, restart the computer. If there is a hardware problem, the Power-On Self Test (POST) will

inform you about the failure.

If the POST does not reveal a hardware failure, enter BIOS and check whether it recognizes your

system hard disk drive. To enter BIOS, press the required key combination (Del, F1, Ctrl+Alt+Esc,

Ctrl+Esc, or some other, depending on your BIOS) during the POST sequence. Usually the

message with the required key combination is displayed during the startup test. Pressing this

combination takes you to the setup menu. Go to the hard disk autodetection utility which usually

comes under "Standard CMOS Setup" or "Advanced CMOS setup". If the utility does not detect

the system drive, it has failed and you need to replace the drive.

 Operating system corruption (Windows cannot start up)

If the POST correctly detects your system hard disk drive, then the cause of the crash is probably

a virus, malware or corruption of a system file required for booting. In this case, recover the

system using a backup of your system disk or system partition. Refer to Recovering your system

(p. 81) for details.

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5.1.1.2 Preparing for recovery

We recommend that you perform the following actions before recovery:

 Scan the computer for viruses if you suspect that the crash occurred due to a virus or malware

attack.

 Under bootable media, try a test recovery to a spare hard drive, if you have one.  Validate the image under bootable media. A backup that can be read during validation in

Windows, may not always be readable in a Linux environment.

Under bootable media, there are two ways to validate a backup:

 To validate a backup manually, on the Recovery tab, right-click a backup and select Validate

Archive.

 To validate a backup automatically before recovery, on the Options step of the Recovery

Wizard, select the Validate backup archive before recovery check box.

 Assign unique names (labels) to all partitions on your hard drives. This will make finding the disk

containing your backups easier.

When you use the Acronis True Image rescue media, it creates disk drive letters that might differ

from the way Windows identifies drives. For example, the D: disk identified in the standalone

Acronis True Image might correspond to the E: disk in Windows.

5.1.1.3 Recovering your system to the same disk

Before you start, we recommend that you complete the procedures described in Preparing for recovery (p. 81).

To recover your system:

1. Attach the external drive if it contains the backup to be used for recovery and make sure that the

drive is powered on.

2. Arrange the boot order in BIOS so as to make your rescue media device (CD, DVD or USB stick)

the first boot device. See Arranging boot order in BIOS or UEFI BIOS (p. 92).

If you use an UEFI computer, please pay attention to the boot mode of the bootable media in

UEFI BIOS. It is recommended that the boot mode matches the type of the system in the backup.

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If the backup contains a BIOS system, then boot the bootable media in BIOS mode; if the system

is UEFI, then ensure that UEFI mode is set.

3. Boot from the rescue media and select Acronis True Image 2018.

4. On the Home screen, select My disks below Recover.

5. Select the system disk or partition backup to be used for recovery.

When the backup is not displayed, click Browse and specify path to the backup manually.

If the backup is located on a USB drive, and the drive is not recognized correctly, check the USB port version.

If it is a USB 3.0 or USB 3.1, try connecting the drive to a USB 2.0 port.

6. Select Recover whole disks and partitions at the Recovery method step.

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7. Select the system partition (usually C) on the What to recover screen. If the system partition has

a different letter, select the partition using the Flags column. It must have the Pri, Act flags. If

you have the System Reserved partition, select it, too.

8. At the "Settings of partition C" (or the letter of the system partition, if it is different) step check

the default settings and click Next if they are correct. Otherwise, change the settings as required

before clicking Next. Changing the settings will be needed when recovering to the new hard disk

of a different capacity.

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9. Carefully read the summary of operations at the Finish step. If you have not resized the partition,

the sizes in the Deleting partition and Recovering partition items must match. Having checked

the summary click Proceed.

10. When the operation finishes, exit the standalone version of Acronis True Image 2018, remove

the rescue media and boot from the recovered system partition. After making sure that you have

recovered Windows to the state you need, restore the original boot order.

5.1.1.4 Recovering your system to a new disk under bootable media

Before you start, we recommend that you complete the preparations described in Preparing for recovery (p. 81). You do not need to format the new disk, as this will be done in the process of recovery.

Warning! Your old and new hard drives must work in the same controller mode (for example, IDE or AHCI). Otherwise, your computer will not start from the new hard drive.

To recover your system to a new disk:

1. Install the new hard drive to the same position in the computer and use the same cable and

connector that was used for the original drive. If this is not possible, install the new drive to

where it will be used.

2. Attach the external drive if it contains the backup to be used for recovery and make sure that the

drive is powered on.

3. Arrange the boot order in BIOS so as to make your rescue media device (CD, DVD or USB stick)

the first boot device. See Arranging boot order in BIOS or UEFI BIOS (p. 92).

If you use an UEFI computer, please pay attention to the boot mode of the bootable media in

UEFI BIOS. It is recommended that the boot mode matches the type of the system in the backup.

If the backup contains a BIOS system, then boot the bootable media in BIOS mode; if the system

is UEFI, then ensure that UEFI mode is set.

4. Boot from the rescue media and select Acronis True Image 2018.

5. On the Home screen, select My disks below Recover.

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6. Select the system disk or partition backup to be used for recovery. When the backup is not

displayed, click Browse and specify path to the backup manually.

If the backup is located on a USB drive, and the drive is not recognized correctly, check the USB port version.

If it is a USB 3.0 or USB 3.1, try connecting the drive to a USB 2.0 port.

7. If you have a hidden partition (for example, the System Reserved partition or a partition created

by the PC manufacturer), click Details on the wizard's toolbar. Please remember the location and

size of the hidden partition, because these parameters need to be the same on your new disk.

8. Select Recover whole disks and partitions at the Recovery method step.

9. On the What to recover step, select the boxes of the partitions to be recovered.

If you select an entire disk, MBR and Track 0 of the disk will also be recovered.

Selecting partitions leads to appearance of the relevant steps "Settings of partition ...". Note that

these steps start with partitions which do not have an assigned disk letter (as usually is the case

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with hidden partitions). The partitions then take an ascending order of partition disk letters. This

order cannot be changed. The order may differ from the physical order of the partitions on the

hard disk.

10. On the Settings of the hidden partition step (usually named Settings of Partition 1-1), specify the

following settings:

 Location. Click New location, select your new disk by either its assigned name or capacity,

and then click Accept.

 Type. Check the partition type and change it, if necessary. Ensure that the System Reserved

partition (if any) is primary and marked as active.

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 Size. Click Change default in the Partition size area. By default the partition occupies the

entire new disk. Enter the correct size in the Partition size field (you can see this value on the What to recover step). Then drag this partition to the same location that you saw in the Backup Information window, if necessary. Click Accept.

11. On the Settings of Partition C step, specify the settings for the second partition, which in this

case is your system partition.

 Click New location, and then select unallocated space on the destination disk that will

receive the partition.

 Change the partition type, if necessary. The system partition must be primary.

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 Specify the partition size, which by default equals the original size. Usually there is no free

space after the partition, so allocate all the unallocated space on the new disk to the second partition. Click Accept, and then click Next.

12. Carefully read the summary of operations to be performed and then click Proceed.

When the recovery is complete

Before you boot the computer, please disconnect the old drive (if any). If Windows "sees" both the new and old drive during the boot, this will result in problems booting Windows. If you upgrade the old drive to a larger capacity new one, disconnect the old drive before the first boot.

Remove the rescue media and boot the computer to Windows. It may report that new hardware (hard drive) is found and Windows needs to reboot. After making sure that the system operates normally, restore the original boot order.

Acronis Universal Restore

When you recover your system to dissimilar hardware, the target computer could fail to boot. This is because the new hardware is incompatible with critical drivers included in the image. Acronis Universal Restore will help you make the target computer bootable. Refer to Acronis Universal Restore (p. 177) for details.

5.1.2 Recovering partitions and disks

You can recover your disks from backups located on local storage, network storage, or Acronis Cloud.

Depending on your Internet connection speed, disk recovery from Acronis Cloud may take a long time.

To recover partitions or disks:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. If you want to recover your data from Acronis Cloud, make sure that you are signed in to your

Acronis account.

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3. In the Backup section, select the backup which contains the partitions or disks you want to

recover, then open the Recovery tab, and then click Recover disks.

4. In the Backup version list, select the backup version you want to recover by its backup date and

time.

5. Select the disks to recover.

If you need to recover separate partitions, click Recover specific partitions, and then select the

partitions to recover.

6. In the recovery destination field below the partition name, select the destination partition.

Unsuitable partitions are marked by red lettering. Note that all data on the destination partition

will be lost because it is replaced by the recovered data and file system.

To recover to the original partition, at least 5 % of the partition space must be free. Otherwise, the Recover

now button will be unavailable.

7. [optional step] To set up additional parameters for the disk recovery process, click Options.

8. After you finish with your selections, click Recover now to start recovery.

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5.1.2.1 Partition properties

When you recover partitions to a basic disk, you can change properties of these partitions. To open the Partition Properties window, click Properties next to the selected target partition.

You can change the following partition properties:

 Letter  Label  Type

You can make the partition primary, primary active, or logical.

 Size

You can resize the partition by dragging the right-side border with your mouse, on the horizontal

bar on the screen. To assign the partition a specific size, enter the appropriate number into the

Partition size field. You can also select the position of unallocated space—before or after the

partition.

5.1.3 About recovery of dynamic/GPT disks and volumes

Recovery of dynamic volumes

You can recover dynamic volumes to the following locations on the local hard drives:

 Dynamic volume.

Manual resizing of dynamic volumes during recovery to dynamic disks is not supported. If you need to resize

a dynamic volume during recovery, it should be recovered to a basic disk.

 Original location (to the same dynamic volume).

The target volume type does not change.

 Another dynamic disk or volume.

The target volume type does not change. For example, when recovering a dynamic striped volume over a dynamic spanned volume the target volume remains spanned.

 Unallocated space of the dynamic group.

The recovered volume type will be the same as it was in the backup.

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 Basic volume or disk.

The target volume remains basic.

 Bare-metal recovery.

When performing a so called "bare-metal recovery" of dynamic volumes to a new unformatted

disk, the recovered volumes become basic. If you want the recovered volumes to remain

dynamic, the target disks should be prepared as dynamic (partitioned and formatted). This can

be done using third-party tools, for example, Windows Disk Management snap-in.

Recovery of basic volumes and disks

 When recovering a basic volume to an unallocated space of the dynamic group, the recovered

volume becomes dynamic.

 When recovering a basic disk to a dynamic disk of a dynamic group consisting of two disks, the

recovered disk remains basic. The dynamic disk to which the recovery is performed becomes

"missing" and a spanned/striped dynamic volume on the second disk becomes "failed".

Partition style after recovery

The target disk's partition style depends on whether your computer supports UEFI and on whether your system is BIOS-booted or UEFI-booted. See the following table:

My system is BIOS-booted (Windows or

Acronis Bootable Media)

My system is UEFI-booted (Windows or

Acronis Bootable Media)

My source disk is MBR and my OS does not support UEFI

The operation will not affect neither partition layout nor bootability of the disk: partition style will remain MBR, the destination disk will be bootable in BIOS.

After operation completion, the partition style will be converted to GPT style, but the operating system will fail booting from UEFI, since your operating system does not support it.

My source disk is MBR and my OS supports UEFI

The operation will not affect neither partition layout nor bootability of the disk: partition style will remain MBR, the destination disk will be bootable in BIOS.

The destination partition will be converted to GPT style that will make the destination disk bootable in UEFI. See Example of recovery to UEFI system (p. 91).

My source disk is GPT and my OS supports UEFI

After operation completion, the partition style will remain GPT, the system will fail booting on BIOS, because your operating system cannot support booting from GPT on BIOS.

After operation completion, the partition style will remain GPT, the operating system will be bootable on UEFI.

Example of recovery procedure

See Example of recovery to a UEFI system (p. 91).

5.1.3.1 Example of recovery to a UEFI system

Here is an example for transferring a system with the following conditions:

 The source disk is MBR and the OS supports UEFI.  The target system is UEFI-booted.  Your old and new hard drives work in the same controller mode (for example, IDE or AHCI).

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Before you start the procedure, please ensure that you have:

 Bootable rescue media.

Refer to Creating bootable rescue media (p. 18) for details.

 Backup of your system disk created in disk mode.

To create this backup, switch to disk mode, and then select the hard drive that contains your

system partition. Refer to Backing up disks and partitions (p. 42) for details.

To transfer your system from an MBR disk to a UEFI-booted computer:

1. Boot from the rescue media in UEFI mode and select Acronis True Image.

2. Run the Recovery wizard and follow the instructions described in Recovering your system (p. 81).

3. On the What to recover step, select the check box next to the disk name to select the entire

system disk.

In the example below, you need to select the Disk 1 check box:

4. On the Finish step, click Proceed.

When the operation finishes, the destination disk is converted to GPT style so that it is bootable in UEFI.

After the recovery, please ensure that you boot your computer in UEFI mode. You may need to change the boot mode of your system disk in the user interface of the UEFI boot manager.

5.1.4 Arranging boot order in BIOS or UEFI BIOS

To boot your computer from Acronis bootable rescue media, you need to arrange boot order so the media is the first booting device. The boot order is changed in BIOS or UEFI BIOS, depending on your computer firmware interface. The procedure in both cases is very similar.

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To boot from Acronis bootable media:

1. If you use a USB flash drive as a bootable media, plug it into the USB port.

2. Turn your computer on. During the Power-On Self Test (POST), you will see the key combination

that you need to press in order to enter BIOS or UEFI BIOS.

3. Press the key combination (such as, Del, F1, Ctrl+Alt+Esc, Ctrl+Esc). The BIOS or UEFI BIOS setup

utility will open. Note that utilities may differ in appearance, sets of items, names, etc.

Some motherboards have a so-called boot menu opened by pressing a certain key or key combination, for

instance, F12. The boot menu allows selecting the boot device from a list of bootable devices without

changing the BIOS or UEFI BIOS setup.

4. If you use a CD or DVD as a bootable media, insert it in the CD or DVD drive.

5. Make your rescue media (CD, DVD or USB drive) device the first booting device:

1. Navigate to the Boot order setting by using the arrow keys on your keyboard.

2. Place the pointer on the device of your bootable media and make it the first item in the list.

You can usually use the Plus Sign and the Minus Sign keys to change the order.

6. Exit BIOS or UEFI BIOS and save the changes that you made. The computer will boot from Acronis

bootable media.

If the computer fails to boot from the first device, it tries to boot from the second device in the list, and so on.

5.2 Recovering files and folders

You can recover files and folders both from file-level and disk-level backups.

To recover files and folders:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. From the backup list, select the backup which contains the files or folders that you want to

recover, and then open the Recovery tab.

4. Select backup version (data state on specific date and time).

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5. Select the files and folders that you want to recover, and then click Next.

6. Select a destination on your computer to where you want to recover selected files/folders. You

can recover data to its original location or choose a new one, if necessary. To choose a new

location, click the Browse button.

When you choose a new location, the selected items will be recovered by default without

recovering the original, absolute path. You may also wish to recover the items with their entire

folder hierarchy. In this case select the Keep the original folder structure check box.

7. When needed, set the options for the recovery process (recovery process priority, file-level

security settings, etc.). To set the options, click Recovery options. The options you set here will

be applied only to the current recovery operation.

8. To start the recovery process, click the Recover now button.

You can stop the recovery by clicking Cancel. Please keep in mind that the aborted recovery may

still cause changes in the destination folder.

Recovering files in File Explorer

To recover files and folders directly from File Explorer:

1. Double-click the corresponding .tib file, and then browse to the file or folder that you want to

recover.

2. Copy the file or folder to a hard disk.

Note: The copied files lose the "Compressed" and "Encrypted" attribute. If you need to keep these attributes, it is recommended to recover the backup.

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5.3 Searching backup content

While recovering data from local backups, you can search for specific files and folders stored in the selected backup.

Note: Acronis True Image 2018 cannot perform search in Acronis Cloud.

To search for files and folders:

1. Start recovering data as described in Recovering partitions and disks (p. 88) or Recovering files

and folders (p. 93).

2. When selecting files and folders to recover, enter the file or folder name into the Search field.

The program shows search results.

You can also use the common Windows wildcard characters: * and ?. For example, to find all files

with extension .exe, enter *.exe. To find all .exe files with names consisting of five symbols and

starting with “my”, enter My???.exe.

3. By default, Acronis True Image 2018 searches the folder selected on the previous step. To include

the entire backup in the search, click the down arrow, and then click in entire backup.

To return to the previous step, delete the search text, and then click the cross icon.

4. After the search is complete, select the files that you want to recover, and then click Next.

Note: Pay attention to the Version column. The files and folders that belong to different backup versions

cannot be recovered at the same time.

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5.4 Recovery from Acronis Cloud

In this section

Recovering data from online backups ..................................................... 96

Recovering a file version .......................................................................... 97

Disk recovery from Cloud ......................................................................... 97

5.4.1 Recovering data from online backups

With Acronis True Image 2018 you can browse and recover data that was backed up on Acronis Cloud. If you have backed up data from several computers, select the online backup box for the computer from which you backed up the data you want to recover.

To recover files and folders from Acronis Cloud:

1. Start Acronis True Image 2018.

2. On the sidebar, click Backup.

3. From the backup list, select the backup which contains the files or folders that you want to

recover.

4. On the right panel, click Recover files.

You will be taken to Acronis Cloud website.

If the data from the selected computer is stored on the Cloud in encrypted form, you will be asked to enter

the password which has been used for encryption. You will not be able to access the data until you enter

the correct password.

5. After the Files tab on the Acronis Cloud website opens, select the required online backup in the

Backups area.

6. Select the files and folders you want to recover. Click the Download button to start recovery.

If you selected several files and folders, they will be placed into a zip archive.

By default the data will be downloaded to the Downloads folder. You may change the download path.

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5.4.2 Recovering a file version

By default Acronis True Image 2018 selects the latest versions with respect to the date you specified. However, for any file you can select a specific version of the file to recover.

Note that this option is not applicable to folders.

To recover a specific file version:

1. In the backup contents, select the file which version you want to recover, then click the gear icon

at the right-hand side. Select View versions in the opened menu.

2. In the window that appears, point to the required version, and then click the Download icon.

By default the data will be downloaded to the Downloads folder.

5.4.3 Disk recovery from Cloud

Disk recovery from Acronis Cloud is very similar to the recovery from an ordinary hard disk drive.

 When you can start Windows and Acronis True Image 2018, please refer to Recovering partitions

and disks (p. 88).

 When Windows cannot start, please refer to Recovering your system from Acronis Cloud (p. 98).

How it works

Your computer should be connected to the Internet either by an Ethernet cable or via Wi-Fi. Acronis True Image 2018 supports several wireless security protocols, including WPA-Personal, WPA2-Personal, and WPA2-Enterprise.

Recovery to the original location

When you recover a disk to the original location, Acronis True Image 2018 does not download the entire disk space to your computer. It scans your disk searching for data changes and recovers only those files that are different from files in the image. This technology significantly reduces the amount of data you need to download in order to recover your disk.

Recovery to a new location

When you recover a disk to a different location or to an unallocated space, the process is very similar to a recovery from a local storage. The only difference is in the data writing method. Acronis True

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Image downloads and writes data by separate blocks, and not continuously. This technology increases recovery speed and reliability of the entire process.

What if recovery has been interrupted

Since disk recovery from Acronis Cloud uses an Internet connection and usually takes a long time, the probability of the recovery interruption is higher comparing to recovery from an ordinary hard disk.

Possible reasons of recovery interruption:

 Internet connection has been lost.  Connection to Acronis Cloud has been lost.  You canceled the recovery, deliberately or accidentally.  Electricity supply problem.

When recovery is not complete due to a connection problem, Acronis True Image 2018 automatically tries to reconnect to Acronis Cloud and resume the recovery process. It is recommended that you check your Internet connection settings in this case. If all the automatic attempts fail, run the recovery again manually when connection is restored.

In other cases please run recovery again manually and make sure the recovery is complete.

Regardless of an interruption reason, Acronis True Image 2018 does not start recovery from the very beginning. It resumes the process and downloads only the data that was not recovered.

5.4.3.1 Recovering your system from Acronis Cloud

Depending on your Internet connection speed, disk recovery from Acronis Cloud may take a long time.

Before you start, we recommend that you complete the preparations described in Preparing for recovery (p. 81). If you recover your system to a new disk, you do not need to format the new disk, as this will be done in the process of recovery.

Before starting this procedure, please make sure that your computer is connected to the Internet by an Ethernet cable or over Wi-Fi.

To recover a system disk from Acronis Cloud:

1. Arrange the boot order in BIOS so as to make your rescue media device (CD, DVD or USB stick)

the first boot device. See Arranging boot order in BIOS (p. 92).

2. Boot from the rescue media and select Acronis True Image.

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3. On the Home screen, select My disks below Recover.

4. To add the online backup of the system disk or system partition to the list of available backups,

click Browse.

5. In the directory tree of the opened window, select Acronis Cloud and enter credentials of your

Acronis account.

6. Select the backup you want to use for recovery, and click OK.

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7. On the Archive selection step, select the online backup and click Next.

8. On the Recovery method step, select Recover whole disks and partitions.

9. On the What to recover step, select the system partition (usually C) and the System Reserved

partition (if any). You can also recognize these partitions by the Pri, Act flags.

10. On the "Settings of partition C" (or the letter of the system partition, if it is different) step,

change the settings, if necessary. For example, you need to change settings when recovering to

the new hard disk of a different capacity.

11. Carefully read the summary of operations at the Finish step. If you have not resized the partition,

the sizes in the Deleting partition and Recovering partition items must match. Click Proceed.

Acronis True Image 2018 Instruction Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual

1 Introduction

1.2 New in this version

1.2.1 Alternatives to the removed features

1.3 System requirements and supported media

1.3.1 Minimum system requirements

1.3.2 Supported operating systems

1.3.3 Supported file systems

1.3.4 Supported Internet connection types

1.3.5 Supported storage media

1.4 Installing Acronis True Image 2018

1.5 Activating Acronis True Image 2018

1.6 Trial version information

1.7 Upgrading Acronis True Image 2018

1.8 Technical Support

2 Getting started

2.1 User interface language

2.2 Protecting your system

2.2.1 Step 1. Backing up your computer

2.2.2 Step 2. Creating bootable rescue media

2.3 Backing up all data on your PC

2.4 Backing up your files

2.5 Cloning your hard drive

2.6 Recovering your computer

2.7 Recovering your files and folders

2.8 Acronis account

2.9 Getting started with Acronis Cloud

2.9.1 How we ensure security of your data

2.9.2 Subscription information

3 Basic concepts

3.1 Basic concepts

3.3 Full, incremental and differential backups

3.4 FAQ about backup, recovery and cloning

3.5 Deciding where to store your backups

3.5.1 Preparing a new disk for backup

3.5.2 FTP connection

3.5.3 Authentication settings

3.6 Using Acronis Nonstop Backup

3.6.1 Acronis Nonstop Backup data storage

3.6.2 Nonstop Backup - Frequently asked questions

3.7 Backup file naming

3.8 Integration with Windows

3.9 Wizards

4 Backing up data

4.1 Backing up disks and partitions

4.2 Backing up files and folders

4.2.1 Notarized backup

4.2.1.1 Using Blockchain technology

4.2.1.2 Verifying file authenticity

4.2.1.3 Manual verification of a file's authenticity

4.3 Backing up mobile devices

4.4 Backing up a Facebook account

4.5 Backup options

4.5.1 Scheduling

4.5.1.1 Daily execution parameters

4.5.1.2 Weekly execution parameters

4.5.1.3 Monthly execution parameters

4.5.1.4 Upon event execution parameters

4.5.2 Backup schemes

4.5.2.1 Single version scheme

4.5.2.2 Version chain scheme

4.5.2.3 Custom schemes

Managing custom backup schemes

Examples of custom schemes

4.5.3 Notifications for backup operation

4.5.4 Excluding items from backup

4.5.4.1 Excluding online data

4.5.5 Image creation mode

4.5.6 Backup protection

4.5.7 Pre/Post commands for backup

4.5.7.1 Edit user command for backup

4.5.8 Backup splitting

4.5.9 Backup validation option

4.5.10 Backup reserve copy

4.5.11 Removable media settings

4.5.12 Error handling

4.5.13 File-level security settings for backup