Acronis Backup for Windows Server Essentials - User Guide - Manual (Page 247)

247 Copyright © Acronis International GmbH, 2002-2014
8.4.3 Converting a backup to full
When the chain of incremental backups in an archive becomes long, conversion of an incremental
backup to a full one increases the reliability of your archive. You may also want to convert a
differential backup if there are incremental backups that depend on it.
During the conversion, the selected incremental or differential backup is replaced with a full backup
for the same point in time. The previous backups in the chain are not changed. All subsequent
incremental and differential backups up to the nearest full backup are also updated. The new backup
versions are created first and only after that are the old ones deleted. Therefore, the location must
have enough space to temporarily store both the old and the new versions.
Example
You have the following backup chain in your archive:
F1 I2 I3 I4 D5 I6 I7 I8 F9 I10 I11 D12 F13
Here F means full backup, I -incremental, D - differential.
You convert to full the I4 backup. The I4, D5, I6, I7, I8 backups will be updated, while I10 I11 D12 will
remain unchanged, because they depend on F9.
Tips on usage
Conversion does not create a copy of a backup. To obtain a self-sufficient copy of the backup on a
flash drive or removable media, use the export (p. 237) operation.
When you mount an image (p. 242) in the read/write mode, the software creates an incremental
backup containing the changes you make to the backup content. The subsequent backups do not
contain these changes. Naturally, if you convert any of the subsequent backups to full, none of these
changes will appear in the resulting full backup.
Limitations
Conversion is not allowed for the following backups:

Backups stored on tapes, CD/DVD, or in Acronis Cloud Storage.

Backups that have simplified names (p. 76).

Backups of Microsoft Exchange Server data.
8.4.4 Deleting archives and backups
The Backups deletion window displays the same tab as for the vaults view, but with check boxes for
each archive and backup. The archive or backup you have chosen to delete has the check mark.
Review the archive or backup that you have selected to delete. If you need to delete other archives
and backups select the respective check boxes, then click Delete selected and confirm the deletion.
What happens if I delete a backup that is a base of an incremental or differential backup?
To preserve archive consistency, the program will consolidate the two backups. For example, you
delete a full backup but retain the next incremental one. The backups will be combined into a single
full backup which will be dated the incremental backup date. When you delete an incremental or
differential backup from the middle of the chain, the resulting backup type will be incremental.