Acronis Backup for Windows Server Essentials - User Guide - Manual (Page 61)

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added, deleted or modified by another user or by the program itself according to scheduled
operations. Use the Refresh button to refresh the list of archives.
3. Naming the new archive
Once you select the archive destination, the program generates a name for the new archive and
displays it in the Name field. The name commonly looks like Archive(N), where N is a sequence
number. The generated name is unique within the selected location. If you are satisfied with the
automatically generated name, click OK. Otherwise enter another unique name.
If the automatically generated name looks like [Machine Name]_Archive(N), this means that the
name contain variables. Such might be the case when you have selected virtual machines to back up.
The [Machine Name] stands for the virtual machine name. You can add suffixes to the name but
never delete the variables, since each virtual machine has to back up to a separate archive with the
unique name.
Backing up to an existing archive
You can configure the backup plan to back up to an existing archive. To do so, select the archive in
the archives table or type the archive name in the Name field. If the archive is protected with a
password, the program will ask for it in the pop-up window.
By selecting the existing archive, you are meddling in the area of another backup plan that uses the
archive. This is not an issue if the other plan is discontinued. However, you should generally follow
the rule: "one backup plan - one archive". Doing the opposite will not prevent the program from
functioning but is not practical or efficient, except for some specific cases.
Why two or more plans should not back up to the same archive
1. Backing up different sources to the same archive makes it difficult to use archive. When it comes
to recovery, every second counts, and you might be "lost" in the archive content.
Backup plans that operate with the same archive should back up the same data items (say, both
plans back up volume C.)
2. Applying multiple retention rules to an archive makes the archive content unpredictable. Since
each of the rules will be applied to the entire archive, the backups belonging to one backup plan
can be easily deleted along with the backups belonging to the other. You should not expect the
classic behavior of the GFS and Tower of Hanoi backup schemes.
Normally, each complex backup plan should back up to its own archive.
4.2.4.1 Selecting backup destinations
Acronis Backup lets you back up data to various physical storages.
Destination Details