Backup vs. Archive: The Sweetness of Loving a Feature You Didn’t Even Know You Had!

When I first installed Acronis True Image Cloud, I ignored the ‘Archive’ button. I was already able to back up my stuff to an external hard drive and to the cloud. Did I really need another button? Well, I am glad I explored that button! Here’s why:

There is a difference between backup and archive. A quick Google search will tell you all you need to know. But most links will be about business oriented backup and archive. Let me give you the scoop from the home and family perspective:

• You can think of backup as a bunch of data you access on a fairly regular basis and can easily recover if the original data gets hosed. Think files, folders, operating system, and settings. Either in their entirety or in selected parts.
• You can think of an archive as a bunch of data you rarely access being made available to you on-demand via a simple user interface. While that data may not be on the computer in front of you, the file manager will show you, in a familiar way, that you have access to it via the cloud.

Now that we know the difference between backup and archive, let’s look at a real-word example:

Suppose you have a laptop with a pretty large drive. But you have so much personal video editing, photo editing, scanned receipts, tax records, and writing projects on it that you don’t want to keep them all on the computer you carry around. Why?

• There can be a lot of clutter on your laptop drive, and you want to minimize it.
• You don’t want to slow down your drive or worry that you will run out of room.
• You don’t want to carry around everything you ever created on your “main” laptop to reduce the likelihood of theft or loss.

In the old way of doing things, you would make backups of certain data and save them on removable hard drives.  And throw them in a closet. Or in a bank vault.  But this approach could cause problems when you need to access them.

For example, suppose you are trying to work on a project in a coffee shop and you need a folder of files on a hard drive you knew was at home, in your closet. Or the backup drive was in a bank vault and it was Sunday. Or you misplaced the darn thumb drive--who hasn’t done THAT!

You would be kind of stuck.

Now, let’s look at the new way of doing things with archiving. With Acronis True Image Cloud, our industry-leading cloud backup software, you can analyze your hard drives and folders and you can select the data that you may rarely need. Or you can select the stuff that clutters up your local hard drive with sheer size – think raw source video after you finished editing a home movie.

Then, you tell Acronis True Image Cloud to archive your selections. Acronis True Image archives those files to the cloud and adds an icon to your file explorer window that lets you access the files anytime, just like you would access any other file. Except now those files don’t live on your hard drive. They live in the Acronis cloud. And you can access them anytime you need them. 

The beautiful part is that if you have Acronis True Image Cloud, you can already do this!  Give it a try.

Celebrate World Backup Day with Acronis

Take advantage of our latest deal on Acronis True Image below. You can also participate in our Twitter contest and learn more on backup best practives as Acronis celebrates World Backup Day all month long:

1. Super specials in your geographic regions that include a FREE bonus license of Acronis True Image 2016 with purchase. Click here for details.

2, Would you like a little extra cash? Then enter the Acronis World Backup Day Twitter contest (if you are a US resident) and maybe win a $500 American Express Gift Card as grand prize. Click here for details.

3. Check out our videos about World Backup Day and learn how simple and fast it is to have effective backup to protect your priceless family data.