Backing up files and folders
To back up files and/or folders, click File backup on the main screen. This will open the File Backup window.
Let’s consider how to use this backup type for backing up a folder.
- Select the folder on the directory tree in the What to back up area. The right side will show the folder contents with all the files and subfolders selected. There you can unselect the files you do not need to back up, if any.
- Select a destination for backup (you can leave the default destination or browse for a destination after clicking the down arrow to the right of the current destination and selecting Browse…).
When the backup destination is any removable media (USB, BD, DVD…), the Make this media bootable check box appears. Leaving the check box selected will result in creating a bootable recovery environment on the removable media and adding a standalone Acronis True Image Home 2011 version. You will be able to run Acronis True Image Home 2011 from the removable media and recover the backed up data even on a crashed computer that cannot boot.
- By default the program will assign the name of the folder to be backed up to the backup, but if you would like to assign another name, type the name in the Backup name field.
You can also add useful information to the backup name. To do so, click the down arrow to the right of the destination and click Browse…. Select the items you want to add in the right field of the File name line:
- add date – the backup creation date will be added
- add time – the backup creation time will be added
- add user name – the current user name will be added
- add machine name – the computer name will be added
- add task name – the name of the task that includes the backup will be added
- add task run number – the sequence number of the task run will be added
- Click the Back up now button if you want to run backup immediately. You can also delay the start of backup for up to 6 hours by clicking the down arrow to the right of this button and selecting a delay interval from the dropdown list.
When you need to change the default backup options, click File backup options and set the options you require. You can also change the default backup scheme by clicking on the appropriate link. For more information see Backup schemes.
If you want to run the backup on a schedule, click the Turn on link to set up a schedule (for more information see Scheduling). To run the backup on the schedule, click the down arrow to the right of the Back up now button and select Later in the drop down list. The backup with the settings you have made will run according to the schedule. You can also start the backup manually later on the main screen.
The program allows you to back up files by categories. For more information see Data categories.
You can exclude hidden or system files and folders from backup, as well as files matching the criteria you specify. To add exclusion criteria, click the Add link to the right of Exclusions. While adding criteria, you can use the common Windows wildcard characters. For more information see Excluding items from backup.