Help with Acronis True Image 2021 requested.

I am using Acronis True Image 2021 and I have been doing incremental backups every week for 6 months. I now have 26 incremental backups. I thought I had setup so that the backups would be consolidated back to a new main backup after 26 incrementals, but it failed and I still have 26 backups. Can anyone assist me with this so that I can a) consolidate the existing backups and b) setup the program to consolidate in 26 weeks time?
I tried asking this on the Acronis community but all I am getting from the site is Gateway error Time out. I am assuming Acronis are effectively dumping their old customers who do not upgrade to their subscription version.

sydh said:

I am using Acronis True Image 2021 and I have been doing incremental backups every week for 6 months. I now have 26 incremental backups. I thought I had setup so that the backups would be consolidated back to a new main backup after 26 incrementals, but it failed and I still have 26 backups. Can anyone assist me with this so that I can a) consolidate the existing backups and b) setup the program to consolidate in 26 weeks time?
I tried asking this on the Acronis community but all I am getting from the site is Gateway error Time out. I am assuming Acronis are effectively dumping their old customers who do not upgrade to their subscription version.

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Sorry to hear about your problem. I can‘r help you with Acronis because I stopped using it years ago because it proved to be unreliable as well as the lack of tech support. What I would recommend is that you download Macrium and immediately use it to make a full back up of your system so your files are protected. You’ll find lots of help here on the forum for Macrium. It’s very popular here and it’s rock solid.

sydh said:

I am using Acronis True Image 2021 and I have been doing incremental backups every week for 6 months. I now have 26 incremental backups. I thought I had setup so that the backups would be consolidated back to a new main backup after 26 incrementals, but it failed and I still have 26 backups. Can anyone assist me with this so that I can a) consolidate the existing backups and b) setup the program to consolidate in 26 weeks time?
I tried asking this on the Acronis community but all I am getting from the site is Gateway error Time out. I am assuming Acronis are effectively dumping their old customers who do not upgrade to their subscription version.

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Hmm - I am no Acronis expert and cannot advise with the main issue.

My first reaction though is why bother consolidate the 26 backups anyway? All it will do is bring you up to date - it is just easier, quicker and more reliable just to do a new full now. Then keep the previous full/incs as well as new one.

My bigger concern is the whole backup strategy you are using.

In general, with any image backup tool, incremental backups are ok provided you are running same version of OS e.g. 22H2. It is best practice to always do a new full upon a build change e.g. 21H2 to 22H2.

Also, 26 weeks (each for a week) is a lot of incrementals to consolidate in one go. It only needs one to glitch and you could be left months out of date. To me, you are putting a lot of faith in that strategy. I certainly consider it to be very risky, particularly as a build change could happen during that extended period.

I seriously think you should think about your backup strategy e.g. do one full at least each month, and also immediately after any build upgrade and that way if something breaks, at worst you are only a month out of date. The cost of storage is so cheap nowadays (HDDs are good for long term backups - cheap high capacity)

Also to me, a reliable image backup tool is worth its weight in gold, and it is a false economy not keeping up to date.

I am sorry I cannot answer main issue, but I hope I have given you some food for thought about you present backup strategy.

Thanks Cereberus and Sofine409. I used to do a monthly backup but it is 1.2TB which took ages, hence the incremental backups, as 99% of the data was unchanged. It seemed pointless leaving the PC running for hours just almost duplicate the previous backup.
I also image my C drive monthly.
I have been reading on the forum about Macrium but it is now subscription based. I refused to go down that route with Acronis as I think the subscription system is a rip off. The annual cost for Acronis is the same as I paid for the perpetual licence that lasted me for 12 years.
Maybe someone can advise where I can download Macrium 7 as it seems most are still using it.

Macrium is a One Time payment

@sydh


If the price for Macrium is too much... just wait. They have sales regularly.

sydh said:

I have been reading on the forum about Macrium but it is now subscription based.

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No, it is a one-off payment for a perpetual licence....

sydh said:

Maybe someone can advise where I can download Macrium 7 as it seems most are still using it.

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Few are using Reflect v7, Refflect v8.0 was released in May 2021. With the recent release of Reflect v8.1 Macrium have now retired Reflect Free, but will provide security/bug fix updates until 1st January 2024. Reflect Free v8.0 can still be downloaded though. The Free version can do Full and Differential backups, but not Incrementals. That is a Premium feature in the paid for version.

Reflect Free v8.0 Download Agent: https://updates.macrium.com/reflect/v8/ReflectDLHF.exe

sydh said:

Thanks Cereberus and Sofine409. I used to do a monthly backup but it is 1.2TB which took ages, hence the incremental backups, as 99% of the data was unchanged. It seemed pointless leaving the PC running for hours just almost duplicate the previous backup.
I also image my C drive monthly.
I have been reading on the forum about Macrium but it is now subscription based. I refused to go down that route with Acronis as I think the subscription system is a rip off. The annual cost for Acronis is the same as I paid for the perpetual licence that lasted me for 12 years.
Maybe someone can advise where I can download Macrium 7 as it seems most are still using it.

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I still think you need to re-think your strategy.

Image backups are great for OS+programs, but not so useful for data.

If you use some form of file syncing backup software for the data, it will only backup stuff that has changed in real time with much less risk compared with incrementals falling over.

OK 1st time takes ages but once done, you hardly have to do anything. Windows even has a built in version (File History Backup) but there are great tools e.g. Freefilesync.

@cereberus is 100% correct. 26 incrementals is way too many. You yourself said "I thought I had setup so that the backups would be consolidated back to a new main backup after 26 incrementals, but it failed and I still have 26 backups." You are taking a big gamble in doing it that way.
Yes 1.2 tb is a lot of data to backup, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Consider making full images more often than twice a year.

Something else you might consider for your data is mirroring if your disk arrangement is appropriate for it. How to create Mirrored Volume for Instant Hard Drive Backup in Windows 11/10.

Regarding Acronis itself, many years ago I used it but it failed me so I sought another solution. I did find this old post on the Acronis forum about consolidation. Maybe it will answer your question because I doubt Acronis has changed. https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2018-forum/consolidating-incremental-backups

I had 3 copies of Acronis True Image 2021 but was annoyed by its painfully slow GUI. I had enough when it started corrupting my mobile backups. Acronis said there would be no fix for that. I managed to talk them into letting me downgrade to Acronis True Image 2018. I have not had any problems since I did that. BTW, Acronis had suggested I replace ATI 2021 with a subscription but I said no.

My main computer has 2 x 2TB SSDs. I back those up to an external 12TB HDD. It does a daily backup of the most important data and weekly backups of both SSDs. I never do more than 4 incremental backups before I do another full backup.

I don't worry about how long the backups take since the backups are scheduled to be done after midnight.

ATI 2021 has the full backup plus all the incremental backups stored in a single .tibx file. That means that if it becomes corrupted you lose everthing. ATI 2018 has the full backup plus all the incremental backups stored in individual .tib files.

If any use here’s a macrium reflect trial link: Macrium Reflect Free Trial

Test the functionality, see if you like it, buy it, and then use @cereberus ’s ”strategy” (??) to rethink your approach to backing up. Good luck!

glasskuter said:

@cereberus is 100% correct. 26 incrementals is way too many. You yourself said "I thought I had setup so that the backups would be consolidated back to a new main backup after 26 incrementals, but it failed and I still have 26 backups." You are taking a big gamble in doing it that way.
Yes 1.2 tb is a lot of data to backup, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Consider making full images more often than twice a year.

Something else you might consider for your data is mirroring if your disk arrangement is appropriate for it. How to create Mirrored Volume for Instant Hard Drive Backup in Windows 11/10.

Regarding Acronis itself, many years ago I used it but it failed me so I sought another solution. I did find this old post on the Acronis forum about consolidation. Maybe it will answer your question because I doubt Acronis has changed. https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2018-forum/consolidating-incremental-backups

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Thanks glasskuter but the link failed. 504 Gateway Time Out.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I agree 26 incrementals is alot but full backups were taking ages as I backup to HDD on my PC but also to my NAS which takes even longer obviously. There is a 3rd backup to a portable SSD which goes with us on holiday, just in case the house burns down. (Before anyone suggests cloud backup, I used to but it was getting more expensive every year).
That all takes a long time hence the incrementals. As I said, only about 1% of data changes. The disk images are also spread across the 3 targets.
I will keep a check on Macrium price offers but for now, I need to try and fix Acronis setup. I'm sure the consolidation failed from my error in setup. If need be, I shall start a new main backup and then delete the previous chain, and I will also reduce the incrementals with the new backup.

sydh said:

the link failed

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Don't know why. It works for me. You might try another browser.

sydh said:

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I agree 26 incrementals is alot but full backups were taking ages as I backup to HDD on my PC but also to my NAS which takes even longer obviously. There is a 3rd backup to a portable SSD which goes with us on holiday, just in case the house burns down. (Before anyone suggests cloud backup, I used to but it was getting more expensive every year).
That all takes a long time hence the incrementals. As I said, only about 1% of data changes. The disk images are also spread across the 3 targets.
I will keep a check on Macrium price offers but for now, I need to try and fix Acronis setup. I'm sure the consolidation failed from my error in setup. If need be, I shall start a new main backup and then delete the previous chain, and I will also reduce the incrementals with the new backup.

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Macrium just went on sale...

sydh said:

Thanks glasskuter but the link failed. 504 Gateway Time Out.

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From that same thread:

I solved the problem of a missing consolidation option via conversion to vhd. This is a little tedious and time consuming, but works. You also need a disk with enough space.
Convert your old backup to vhd. You can choose the date of any incremental backup. Then mount the vhd and back it up using ATI just like a new Backup. You end up with the version of your choice in a single compressed backup file.

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