Acronis Backup Cloud: using Physical Data Shipping and Large Scale Recovery services
Formerly known as the Initial Seeding service.
This article applies to:
- Backup services based on Acronis Backup Cloud solution, end-user side
What is Physical Data Shipping and Large Scale Recovery and when are they needed
(!) Check service availability with your backup service provider.
(!) Services are available for Windows and Linux machines and is not available for Macs and application backup.
Physical Data Shipping is a service which helps you if your Internet connection is too slow to back up large amounts of data or the entire machines to the cloud storage. With this service you can save the first full backup locally and then send it to your backup service provider for upload. After uploading the initial seeding backup, only the incremental backups to that full backup are uploaded to the cloud.
Large Scale Recovery is a service that enables you to obtain a copy of the backups you have in the cloud storage. You can then recover data from this copy. Once you order Large Scale Recovery for a particular machine, the service provider sends you a hard disk drive with all of the backups made from this machine. You can recover data directly from the disk or copy the backups to a local or network folder.
How to create Physical Data Shipping backup
(!) Before creating the initial backup, please check with your backup service provider for availability, terms, and procedure.
- Run Backup Management console.
- Select the machine to back up and start creating a new backup plan. It is not possible to create initial seeding backup to the existing backup plan, you need to create a new backup plan.
- Select the data to back up and schedule.
- Set Where to backup = Cloud Storage .
- On the Backup options screen, select Use Physical Data Shipping :
- Select the destination for the initial backup, it could be either local or network folder.
- Apply the backup plan and run it.
On the first run, backup agent creates local backup to the selected destination. When backup finishes, you can send the backup to your service provider for uploading.
Do not delete the initial seeding backup plan. Without that backup plan it's impossible to continue incremental backups to the seeded full backup.
How to select a drive for sending the backup
(!) Before selecting a drive, check with your service provider for supported hard drive types. Conditions may vary from the described below.
Acronis-based backup service supports any local or network hard drive to create initial seeding backup. The following hard drive types for the Physical Data Shipping can be used to send the initial backup to the service provider:
- external hard disk drives with USB connection
- SATA hard drives
- eSATA hard drives
ATA, IDE, and SCSI drives are not accepted.
The hard drive should have one volume and NTFS file system. Make sure to ship a PSU if external power is required.
You can back up directly to the drive you will send to your backup service provider or copy the backup to this drive after it is created.
How to package the drive for shipment
It is very important that your hard drive be packaged carefully. Careful packaging will protect your drive from any damage during shipment.
If possible, use the original packaging. Otherwise, packaging materials can be obtained at any shipping outlet or stationary store. You should also include all necessary cables or adapters to the drive. Service provider may not be able to process your Physical Data Shipping request if there are no cables included.
The following are instructions about how to package your hard disk drive.
- Delicately remove your hard disk drive from the machine. Stick the seeding label you have printed to the drive.
- Place the hard drive into an anti-static bag to protect the drive from electrostatic discharge. If you do not have an anti-static bag, simply wrap the hard drive into aluminum foil:
- Use a sturdy box that is at least twice the size of the drive. Pack the drive with a bubble wrap around all 6 sides so it can fit tight into the box and cannot be moved within. It is not recommended to use Styrofoam peanuts and jiffy bag for packing as they do not provide enough protection:
- Using the website of the shipping company that you chose, prepare and print two prepaid shipping labels:
1 - Shipping label for sending your hard drive. This label is placed on the top of the box. You should send your package to the data center.
2 - Shipping label for returning your hard drive. Put this label in the box. If you do not enclose the label, your backup service provider won't be able to send the drive back to you. In such case, the hard drive is stored in a safe and after a month will be securely destroyed.
- Seal the box with a sturdy tape. Then, stick the shipping label for sending your hard drive to the top of the box, so the label does not wrap around the edge of the package:
How to send the initial backup
Contact your service provider to receive shipping address and details.
How to proceed when upload is completed
When the initial full backup has been uploaded, further incremental backups are created according to the schedule within the same backup plan.
After the first run of the seeded backup, all other runs of this backup plan will check whether it was uploaded to cloud storage and fail if the uploaded backup is not found in the cloud.
How to request Large Scale Recovery
Contact your service provider for details.
How to restore from a Large Scale Recovery backup
Consider the received Large Scale Recovery a local backup as restore just as you would do from a local backup, see detailed instructions here .