Update 2 User's Guide Copyright © Acronis, Inc., 2002-2012. All rights reserved. "Acronis", "Acronis Compute with Confidence", "Acronis Recovery Manager", "Acronis Secure Zone", Acronis True Image, Acronis Try&Decide, and the Acronis logo are trademarks of Acronis, Inc. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. VMware and VMware Ready are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Windows and MS-DOS are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks and copyrights referred to are the property of their respective owners. Distribution of substantively modified versions of this document is prohibited without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. Distribution of this work or derivative work in any standard (paper) book form for commercial purposes is prohibited unless prior permission is obtained from the copyright holder. DOCUMENTATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE DISCLAIMED, EXCEPT TO THE EXTENT THAT SUCH DISCLAIMERS ARE HELD TO BE LEGALLY INVALID. Third party code may be provided with the Software and/or Service. The license terms for such third- parties are detailed in the license.txt file located in the root installation directory. You can always find the latest up-to-date list of the third party code and the associated license terms used with the Software and/or Service at http://kb.acronis.com/content/7696. 2 Copyright © Acronis, Inc. Table of contents 1 Getting started ......................................................................................................................8 1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 8 1.1.1 What is Acronis True Image Home 2012? ..................................................................................................... 8 1.1.2 What is Acronis True Image Home 2012 Plus Pack? .................................................................................... 8 1.1.3 Acronis True Image Home 2012 basic concepts ........................................................................................... 9 1.1.4 New in Acronis True Image Home 2012 ...................................................................................................... 11 1.1.5 System requirements and supported media .............................................................................................. 12 1.1.6 Technical Support .......................................................................................................................................... 14 1.1.7 Trial version information .............................................................................................................................. 14 1.2 Acronis True Image Home 2012 installation ...........................................................................14 1.3 Acronis True Image Home 2012 activation .............................................................................16 1.4 Program workspace .................................................................................................................18 1.4.1 Get started tab .............................................................................................................................................. 18 1.4.2 Backup and recovery tab .............................................................................................................................. 19 1.4.3 Synchronization tab ...................................................................................................................................... 23 1.4.4 Tools and utilities tab .................................................................................................................................... 25 1.4.5 Wizards and notification area icons ............................................................................................................. 25 1.4.6 Acronis Backup Explorer ............................................................................................................................... 26 1.4.7 Integration with Windows ............................................................................................................................ 32 1.4.8 Settings menu ................................................................................................................................................ 34 1.4.9 Help menu ..................................................................................................................................................... 34 1.4.10 Installing Acronis Hotfixes............................................................................................................................. 35 2 How to ................................................................................................................................37 3 Backing up data ................................................................................................................... 38 3.1 The difference between file backups and disk/partition images ............................................38 3.2 Full, incremental and differential backups ..............................................................................38 3.3 Backing up partitions and disks ...............................................................................................40 3.4 Backing up files and folders .....................................................................................................42 3.4.1 Data categories .............................................................................................................................................. 43 3.4.2 Support for Zip format .................................................................................................................................. 44 3.5 Backing up e-mail .....................................................................................................................45 3.6 Using Acronis Nonstop Backup ................................................................................................46 3.6.1 Protecting your data continuously ............................................................................................................... 48 3.6.2 Protecting your system continuously .......................................................................................................... 49 3.6.3 Acronis Nonstop Backup data storage ........................................................................................................ 50 3.6.4 Nonstop Backup - Frequently asked questions........................................................................................... 51 3.7 Making reserve copies of your backups ..................................................................................52 3.8 Backup to various places .........................................................................................................54 3.9 Adding an existing backup to the list .......................................................................................55 3.10 Deleting backups and backup versions ....................................................................................55 3.11 Backup options ........................................................................................................................56 3.11.1 Backup schemes ............................................................................................................................................ 57 3.11.2 Single version scheme ................................................................................................................................... 58 3.11.3 Version chain scheme ................................................................................................................................... 58 3 Copyright © Acronis, Inc. 3.11.4 Custom schemes ........................................................................................................................................... 59 3.11.5 Image creation mode .................................................................................................................................... 63 3.11.6 Backup protection ......................................................................................................................................... 63 3.11.7 Pre/Post commands for backup ................................................................................................................... 64 3.11.8 Backup splitting ............................................................................................................................................. 64 3.11.9 Backup validation option .............................................................................................................................. 65 3.11.10 Backup reserve copy ..................................................................................................................................... 66 3.11.11 Removable media settings ........................................................................................................................... 66 3.11.12 Backup comment .........................................................................................................................................