Simplified Naming Of Backup Files - ACRONIS BACKUP AND RECOVERY 10 ADVANCED SERVER VIRTUAL EDITION - UPDATE 3 User Manual

3. Naming the new archive
Once you select the archive destination, the program generates a name for the new archive and
displays it in the Name field. The name commonly looks like Archive(1). The generated name is
unique within the selected location. If you are satisfied with the automatically generated name,
click OK. Otherwise enter another unique name and click OK.
If the automatically generated name looks like [Virtualization Server Type] [Virtual Machine
Name], this means that the name contain variables. Such might be the case when you have
selected virtual machines to back up. Virtualization Server Type stands for the virtualization
server type (ESX, Hyper-V or other). Virtual Machine Name stands for the virtual machine name.
You can add suffixes to the name but never delete the variables, since each virtual machine has
to back up to a separate archive with the unique name.
Backing up to an existing archive
You can configure the backup plan to back up to an existing archive. To do so, select the archive in
the archives table or type the archive name in the Name field. If the archive is protected with a
password, the program will ask for it in the pop-up window.
By selecting the existing archive, you are meddling in the area of another backup plan that uses the
archive. This is not an issue if the other plan is discontinued, but in general you should follow the
rule: "one backup plan - one archive". Doing the opposite will not prevent the program from
functioning but is not practical or efficient, except for some specific cases.
Why two or more plans should not back up to the same archive
1. Backing up different sources to the same archive makes using the archive difficult from the
usability standpoint. When it comes to recovery, every second counts, but you might be lost in
the archive content.
Backup plans that operate with the same archive should back up the same data items (say, both
plans back up volume C.)
2. Applying multiple retention rules to an archive makes the archive content in some way
unpredictable. Since each of the rules will be applied to the entire archive, the backups belonging
to one backup plan can be easily deleted along with the backups belonging to the other. You
should especially not expect the classic behavior of the GFS and Tower of Hanoi backup schemes.
Normally, each complex backup plan should back up to its own archive.
6.2.9

Simplified naming of backup files

If you select the Name backup files using the archive name... check box:
 The file name of the first (full) backup in the archive will consist of the archive name; for
example: MyData.tib. The file names of subsequent (incremental or differential) backups will
have an index; for example: MyData2.tib, MyData3.tib, and so on.
This simple naming scheme enables you to create a portable image of a machine on a detachable
media or move the backups to a different location by using a script.

Before creating a new full backup, the software will delete the entire archive and start a new
one.
This behavior is useful when you rotate USB hard drives and want each drive to keep a single full
backup (p. 216) or all backups created during a week (p. 216). But you might end up with no
backups if a full backup to your only drive fails.
This behavior can be suppressed by adding the [Date] variable (p. 217) to the archive name.
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