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Secure disk images for the mobile executive

For the mobile executive, disk images are invaluable, especially when they are used for backups. You don't want to accidentally change or delete a disk image if it contains critical data, but you might not always have access to your networked image server, your removable drive for storing images, or multiple blank CDs or DVDs. Fortunately Acronis True Image lets you create a special kind of partition called the Acronis Secure Zone where you can store your important disk images.

The Acronis Secure Zone is a special, hidden partition on your hard disk that is inaccessible to normal applications. It is used to store disk and partition images and works with Acronis Startup Recovery Manager to let you restore images quickly and easily should your laptop become corrupted and fail to boot.

The Acronis Secure Zone can be located on any local disk, although usually a laptop has but one hard disk. If there is unallocated space on the disk, the Acronis Secure Zone partition will be created in it. If not, it will be created out of free space in other partitions on the disk.

Normally Acronis Secure Zone easily handles overflow by deleting older images as needed. This lets you use the Acronis Secure Zone with scheduled image backups without worrying about running out of space.

Here's how it works: If there is not enough free space in the Acronis Secure Zone to create an image, then Acronis True Image deletes the oldest full image with all subsequent incremental backup images in the zone. If there is only one full image with its associated incremental images in the zone and a full backup is in progress, then the old full image, with its incremental backup images, is deleted.

If, however, you are creating an incremental image to an existing full backup, it is possible to get an out of space error. In this case you will have to either create full image or increase the Acronis Secure Zone size. You can always check how much free space left in Acronis Secure Zone on the second screen of the Manage Acronis Secure Zone wizard.

When you establish your Acronis Secure Zone, you will need to decide how much space you will devote to it. Since Acronis True Image compression normally produces about a 1.5 to 1 compression, you can make the Acronis Secure Zone partition substantially smaller than the partitions you are backing up. However if you need more space, Acronis True Image allows you to re-size it at any time.

With Acronis True Image Management Console (part of Acronis True Image 8.0 Enterprise Server for Windows and Acronis True Image Corporate Workstation) you can manage the Acronis Secure Zones on remote computers over the network.