Glossary of Terms


Acronis Secure Zone

A secure partition for storing backups on a hard disk. Advantages:

  • enables recovery of a disk to the same disk where the disk’s backup resides
  • offers a cost-effective and handy method for protecting data from software malfunction, virus attack, operator error
  • eliminates the need for a separate media or network connection to back up or recover the data

Limitations:

1) The Acronis Secure Zone cannot be created on a dynamic disk or a disk using the GPT partitioning style.

2) The Acronis Secure Zone is not available as a location for backups in the recovery environment when you start Acronis True Image Home 2011 from bootable rescue media, through Acronis Startup Recovery Manager or BartPE.


Acronis Startup Recovery Manager

A protection tool that allows to start standalone version of Acronis True Image Home 2011 at boot time when F11 is pressed. Acronis Startup Recovery Manager eliminates the need for rescue media.

Acronis Startup Recovery Manager is especially useful for mobile users. If a failure occurs, the user reboots the machine, hits F11 on prompt “Press F11 for Acronis Startup Recovery Manager…” and performs data recovery in the same way as with ordinary bootable media.

Limitations: cannot be organized on a dynamic disk; requires manual configuration of boot loaders, such as LILO and GRUB; requires re-activation of third-party loaders.


Backup
  1. The same as Backup operation.
  2. A set of backup versions created and managed by using backup settings. A backup can contain multiple backup versions created using full and incremental backup methods. Backup versions belonging to the same backup are usually stored in the same location.


Backup operation

An operation that creates a copy of the data that exists on a machine’s hard disk for the purpose of recovering or reverting the data to a specified date and time.


Backup settings

A set of rules configured by a user when creating a new backup. The rules control the backup process. Later you can edit the backup settings to change or optimize the backup process.


Backup version

The result of a single backup operation. Physically, it is a file or a set of files that contains a copy of the backed up data as of a specific date and time. Backup version files created by Acronis True Image Home 2011 have a TIB extension. The TIB files resulting from consolidation of backup versions are also called backup versions.


Backup version chain

Sequence of minimum 2 backup versions that consist of the first full backup version and the subsequent one or more incremental or differential backup versions. Backup version chain continues till the next full backup version (if any).


Bootable media

A physical media (CD, DVD, USB flash drive or other media supported by a machine BIOS as a boot device) that contains stanalone version of Acronis True Image Home 2011.

Bootable media is most often used to:

  • recover an operating system that cannot start
  • access and back up the data that has survived in a corrupted system
  • deploy an operating system on bare metal
  • create basic or dynamic volumes on bare metal
  • back up sector-by-sector a disk that has an unsupported file system


Consolidation

Combining two or more subsequent backup versions belonging to the same backup into a single backup version.

The consolidation procedure allows you to delete the backup versions you no longer need from any backup chain while maintaining the consistency of chain’s backups. A chain to be consolidated consists of a full backup and one or more incremental backups. Consolidation keeps whichever backups you choose and deletes any backups that are not selected. Note that consolidation may take a lot of time and system resources (including disk space).

Acronis Nonstop Backup uses a different consolidation mechanism. In such cases, the program consolidates the metadata information it uses for managing the backed up data. This is because the metadata information volume is much less than the backed up data volume. Accordingly, consolidation requires much less time and system resources.


Differential backup
  1. A backup method used for saving data changes that occurred since the last full backup version within a backup.
  2. A backup process that creates a differential backup version.


Differential backup version

A differential backup version stores changes to the data against the latest full backup version. You need access to the corresponding full backup version to recover the data from a differential backup version.


Disk backup (Image)

A backup that contains a sector-based copy of a disk or a partition in packaged form. Normally, only sectors that contain data are copied. Acronis True Image Home 2011 provides an option to take a raw image, that is, copy all the disk sectors, which enables imaging of unsupported file systems.


Full backup
  1. A backup method that is used to save all the data selected to back up.
  2. A backup process that creates a full backup version.


Full backup version

A self-sufficient backup version containing all data chosen for backup. You do not need access to any other backup version to recover the data from a full backup version.


Image

The same as Disk backup.


Incremental backup
  1. A backup method used for saving data changes that occurred since the last backup version (of any type) within a backup.
  2. A backup process that creates an incremental backup version.


Incremental backup version

A backup version that stores changes to the data against the latest backup version. You need access to other backup versions from the same backup to restore data from an incremental backup version.


Nonstop backup

Nonstop backup actually is a disk/partition or file backup that is created using the Acronis Nonstop Backup feature. This is a set of one full backup version and a sequence of incremental backup versions that are created at short intervals. It gives almost continuous protection of data, that is, it allows recovery of previous data state at any recovery point you need.


Nonstop protection

Nonstop protection – the process that the Nonstop Backup feature performs when it is turned on.


Online backup

Online backup – a backup that is created using Acronis Online Backup. Online backups are stored in a special storage named the Online storage, accsessible over the Internet. The main advantage of an online backup is that all backups are stored on the remote location. It gives a guarantee that all backed up data will be safe independently of a user local storages. To begin to use the Online storage a user should subscribe to the service.


Recovery

Recovery is a process of returning of a corrupted data to a previous normal state from a backup.


Validation

An operation that checks whether you will be able to recover data from a particular backup version.

When you select for validation…

  • a full backup version – the program validates the full backup version only.
  • a differential backup version – the program validates the initial full backup version and the selected differential backup version.
  • an incremental backup version – the program validates the initial full backup version, the selected incremental backup version, and the whole chain (if any) of backup versions to the selected incremental backup version. If the chain contains one or more differential backup versions, the program validates (in addition to the initial full backup version and the selected incremental backup version) only the most recent differential backup version in the chain and all subsequent incremental backup versions (if any) between the differential backup version and the selected incremental backup version.

Glossary of Terms