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. 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 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 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. Refer to Acronis Nonstop Backup for more details about the Nonstop Backup feature.

To back up your computer

  1. Start Acronis True Image.

  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 click Add 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.

As a 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. This is a special secure partition on your local hard drive for storing backups.
  • The best—Acronis Cloud or an external hard disk.

Refer to Deciding where to store your backups 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 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.