All users can be divided into two groups: those who regularly make backups and those who have not yet started making them. If you belong to the second category, then this only means that you do not understand well or fully the number and scale of troubles that can damage your data - theft, fire, hurricane, viruses, bugs software, hardware failures, user errors and stuff like that. Well, or you haven’t yet encountered the “quest” to restore data after its loss (which, unfortunately, can not always be completed successfully). Be that as it may, it is better to know in advance what mistakes should be avoided when backing up, so we present to your attention eleven mistakes when creating a backup. These are not so much errors as they are tips and a list of strategies that should not be used (primarily for Mac users). Welcome to cat.
1. You can’t help but make backups
A recent Backblaze post cited data from a year-long survey that found that just 8% of respondents backed up every day (a couple of years ago this figure was higher), 16% backed up once a year, and 25% didn't back up at all. At the beginning of summer, we also conducted a survey, the results of which are no less frightening - 90.6% of respondents are not ready to lose data, while only 74% of respondents make backup copies of important data (of which 57.9% use only an external drive for this).Doing nothing is one of the worst approaches. You hope that, regardless of your (or other people’s) actions, everything will work perfectly, but not a single computer can guarantee this to you - sooner or later you will lose data and regret it.
2. You cannot rely on data recovery tools and services.
If you accidentally deleted a file from your MacBook, there is a chance that you can recover it using special programs for data recovery. If this was not possible (for example, if the drive itself was damaged), then your only hope is in specialized data recovery companies. However, believing that you can use one of these methods is simply stupid. Sometimes the cause of data loss is theft or an unscheduled meteor shower, as a result of which you simply do not have a disk on which to perform all the above operations.3. Don't rely on autosave
Indeed, some applications automatically save documents, giving you the opportunity to pick up where you left off, even if the file was never saved with a name (an example of such an application is BBEdit). However, not all applications work this way. But even if they work, situations always arise when users accidentally or mistakenly delete autosave files. It's no secret that most systems Reserve copy they assume that the user will at least save and name the file - often autosave is enabled only after this step.4. Don’t make backups manually
There are many people who back up their entire system (or at least parts of the files) whenever their heart desires, either by creating clones or manually copying files to another drive. Of course, this is better than nothing, but this is a very unreliable and fickle approach - there are a thousand and one reasons not to make a backup one day. And according to the law of meanness, it may well happen that you lose data on the very day when you forget or do not have time to make a backup. Therefore, automatic backups are a more reliable option. Even, perhaps, the best.5. Can't be relied upon only on Time Machine
Time Machine is a great (free) tool built into OS X - Apple has made a good bet on simplifying the backup process. Time Machine is good . But you should not completely trust this application. For example, in the article “Why I Don’t Rely on Time Machine”, the author talks about how he encountered an unrecoverable Time Machine error, as a result of which he had to clear everything backup disks and start copying everything again. The disks were fine, but the data was not. Even the vaunted recovery tools did not help. Time Machine can work perfectly for years, but if it stumbles even once... Although Time Machine is a reliable utility (and does a good job as an auxiliary backup tool), it is better not to rely only on it.One more thing about Time Machine: if your entire disk has failed, the only way out is to format it or replace it and then restore the backup - this process may take long hours. You will not be able to use your Mac during this procedure, so we strongly recommend making bootable copies of the system, or “clones.” But this leads to another problem...
6. Cannot be used only clones
Clones are a great thing. If something goes wrong, they allow you to get back to work almost instantly (reboot the system while holding Option and select a clone). Clones also make it possible to roll back the system to previous versions OS X, if the update was completed with errors.The problem is that clones don't give you the ability to restore by accident deleted files or access earlier versions of them if the clone has been updated (some applications provide file archiving capabilities, but you need to understand what you are doing). Another problem is that the clone is stored on your MacBook, so if something happens to the computer (tornado, robbery), then the only backup will disappear along with it. This problem leads us to the next conclusion...
7. You cannot store backups on the same machine
A hypothetical meteorite could destroy a house in California, but it is unlikely to simultaneously destroy the CrashPlan data center in Minnesota and other places where you may store your data. This also applies to data lost as a result of theft, burst pipes, fire - misfortunes much more likely than a meteorite fall. If your backups are stored on a local machine, then they are protected only from a certain range of dangers. This problem can be easily solved by simply giving the backups to a friend or, for example, placing them in a bank safe deposit box. You can also use cloud services like CrashPlan, Backblaze or DollyDrive. In short, make sure you have a backup on the side.But, oddly enough, the opposite statement is also true. Not worth it...
8. ...have only online backups
They are ideal for a huge number of situations, but restoring a multi-gigabyte piece of data from cloud storage (let’s forget about the whole disk for now) can take a long time. In this situation you are limited throughput Internet provider communication channel. And some providers still have a limit on downloaded data, so the recovery procedure can take a long time. This is why, in addition to cloud backups, you should always keep local backups (of course, if you want to boot from a clone, it must be on a local hard drive).The next two errors also apply to online backups.
9. Don't use Dropbox (or similar services) exclusively
Dropbox is an excellent and very convenient tool, although many others cloud storage (iCloud Drive, Box, Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive, Yandex.Disk, Microsoft OneDrive, etc.) have approximately the same set of functions. Most of them even offer a primitive backup function that restores old or deleted files (if they are less than a month old).This is all good, however, such services are more suitable for storing a small number of files rather than for a full backup of the system or the entire disk. In addition, in most services the free space is quite modest in size, while additional space for storing a large amount of data will be a regular and significant expense.
10. Don’t think that web applications don’t need backups
Do you use Google Docs, Office 365, iWork for iCloud, or other web apps (of which there are countless) to create and share documents? Many of us use these services at least occasionally. That's good, but are you making local copies of these documents? If the answer is “No,” then it’s bad.There are countless cases where people have opened Google Docs (or something else) and discovered that an important document has disappeared for some unknown reason. And what to do in such a situation is unclear. Situations like this don’t arise often, but believe me, they do happen. Don't count on the fact that cloud service will adequately restore the lost data, or that you will be able to do it yourself (even if you have data in the cloud, you will not always be able to access it due to problems with the server or with your Internet connection, and this will happen at the most inopportune moment). Therefore, it is better to make your own backups of cloud documents. You can use special utilities, for example, CloudPull (see the article “Back Up Your Google Data with CloudPull" (“Making a backup Google Docs using CloudPull"), although it is already old).
11. Don’t think that RAID and backup are synonymous
RAID combines several hard drives into one logical volume. One option for setting up RAID is mirrored RAID (RAID 1), which is most often confused with backups. The essence of RAID 1 is that each block is written to two different physical disks, thereby providing 100% redundancy (RAID 5 and 6 also provide redundancy, but in different ways). It's not exactly cloning because the data is always current and updated. Isn't this wonderful?Actually, not always. It's the constant updates that are part of the problem. If you accidentally delete a file, it will be deleted from both disks of the mirrored RAID. If a directory or file has been damaged, a virus has penetrated you, or some other problem has arisen, this will have the same effect on both disks. Of course, if the array is stolen or damaged, the files will be lost. RAID 1 only protects your data if one of your hard drives fails (it happens) and nothing more. So remember that a disk array is not synonymous with the word “backup”.
Do it normally - it will be fine!
It's great if, while reading this list of ridiculous mistakes, you are convinced that your data backup strategy is perfect and free of the described shortcomings. If so, we hope you enjoyed taking a look at how the other 92% of the population lives.However, if you recognize yourself in at least one of the points, do not rush to get upset - we just made this post to help you fix it. We've all been through this. It is necessary to understand errors and correct them, especially when it comes to the safety of important data. Just do it backup copy right now, after reading the article, taking into account the errors mentioned above - after that you can be sure that no meteorites will destroy your data, and you can focus your efforts on more important tasks, for example, protecting against zombies :)
All users can be divided into two groups: those who regularly make backups and those who have not yet started making them. If you belong to the second category, then this only means that you do not understand well or fully the number and scale of troubles that can damage your data - theft, fire, hurricane, viruses, software bugs, hardware failures, errors users and stuff like that. Well, or you haven’t yet encountered the “quest” to restore data after its loss (which, unfortunately, can not always be completed successfully). Be that as it may, it is better to know in advance what mistakes should be avoided when backing up, so we present to your attention eleven mistakes when creating a backup. These are not so much errors as they are tips and a list of strategies that should not be used (primarily for Mac users). Welcome to cat.
1. You can’t help but make backups
A recent Backblaze post cited data from a year-long survey that found that just 8% of respondents backed up every day (a couple of years ago this figure was higher), 16% backed up once a year, and 25% didn't back up at all. At the beginning of summer, we also conducted a survey, the results of which are no less frightening - 90.6% of respondents are not ready to lose data, while only 74% of respondents make backup copies of important data (of which 57.9% use only an external drive for this).Doing nothing is one of the worst approaches. You hope that, regardless of your (or other people’s) actions, everything will work perfectly, but not a single computer can guarantee this to you - sooner or later you will lose data and regret it.
2. You cannot rely on data recovery tools and services.
If you accidentally deleted a file from your MacBook, there is a chance that it can be recovered using special data recovery programs. If this was not possible (for example, if the drive itself was damaged), then your only hope is in specialized data recovery companies. However, believing that you can use one of these methods is simply stupid. Sometimes the cause of data loss is theft or an unscheduled meteor shower, as a result of which you simply do not have a disk on which to perform all the above operations.3. Don't rely on autosave
Indeed, some applications automatically save documents, giving you the opportunity to pick up where you left off, even if the file was never saved with a name (an example of such an application is BBEdit). However, not all applications work this way. But even if they work, situations always arise when users accidentally or mistakenly delete autosave files. It's no secret that most backup systems assume that the user will at least save and name the file - often autosave is enabled only after this step.4. Don’t make backups manually
There are many people who back up their entire system (or at least parts of the files) whenever their heart desires, either by creating clones or manually copying files to another drive. Of course, this is better than nothing, but this is a very unreliable and fickle approach - there are a thousand and one reasons not to make a backup one day. And according to the law of meanness, it may well happen that you lose data on the very day when you forget or do not have time to make a backup. Therefore, automatic backups are a more reliable option. Even, perhaps, the best.5. Can't be relied upon only on Time Machine
Time Machine is a great (free) tool built into OS X - Apple has made a good bet on simplifying the backup process. Time Machine is good . But you should not completely trust this application. For example, in the article "Why I Don't Rely on Time Machine" ("Why I don't trust Time Machine") the author talks about how he encountered an unrecoverable Time Machine error, as a result of which he had to erase all the backup drives and start copying everything over again . The disks were fine, but the data was not. Even the vaunted recovery tools did not help. Time Machine can work perfectly for years, but if it stumbles even once... Although Time Machine is a reliable utility (and does a good job as an auxiliary backup tool), it is better not to rely only on it.One more thing about Time Machine: if your entire disk has failed, the only solution is to format it or replace it and then restore the backup - this process can take many hours. You will not be able to use your Mac during this procedure, so we strongly recommend making bootable copies of the system, or “clones.” But this leads to another problem...
6. Cannot be used only clones
Clones are a great thing. If something goes wrong, they allow you to get back to work almost instantly (reboot the system while holding Option and select a clone). Clones also make it possible to roll back the system to previous versions of OS X if the update was completed with errors.The problem is that clones don't give you the ability to recover accidentally deleted files or access earlier versions of them if the clone has been updated (some apps provide file archiving capabilities, but you need to know what you're doing). Another problem is that the clone is stored on your MacBook, so if something happens to the computer (tornado, robbery), then the only backup will disappear along with it. This problem leads us to the next conclusion...
7. You cannot store backups on the same machine
A hypothetical meteorite could destroy a house in California, but it is unlikely to simultaneously destroy the CrashPlan data center in Minnesota and other places where you may store your data. This also applies to data lost as a result of theft, burst pipes, fire - misfortunes much more likely than a meteorite fall. If your backups are stored on a local machine, then they are protected only from a certain range of dangers. This problem can be easily solved by simply giving the backups to a friend or, for example, placing them in a bank safe deposit box. You can also use cloud services like CrashPlan, Backblaze or DollyDrive. In short, make sure you have a backup on the side.But, oddly enough, the opposite statement is also true. Not worth it...
8. ...have only online backups
They are ideal for a huge number of situations, but restoring a multi-gigabyte piece of data from cloud storage (let’s forget about the whole disk for now) can take a long time. In such a situation, you are limited by the bandwidth of your Internet provider. And some providers still have a limit on downloaded data, so the recovery procedure can take a long time. This is why, in addition to cloud backups, you should always keep local backups (of course, if you want to boot from a clone, it must be on a local hard drive).The next two errors also apply to online backups.
9. Don't use Dropbox (or similar services) exclusively
Dropbox is an excellent and very convenient tool, although many other cloud storage services (iCloud Drive, Box, Amazon Cloud Drive, Google Drive, Yandex.Disk, Microsoft OneDrive, etc.) have approximately the same set of functions. Most of them even offer a primitive backup function that restores old or deleted files (if they are less than a month old).This is all good, however, such services are more suitable for storing a small number of files rather than for a full backup of the system or the entire disk. In addition, in most services the free space is quite modest in size, while additional space for storing a large amount of data will be a regular and significant expense.
10. Don’t think that web applications don’t need backups
Do you use Google Docs, Office 365, iWork for iCloud, or other web apps (of which there are countless) to create and share documents? Many of us use these services at least occasionally. That's good, but are you making local copies of these documents? If the answer is “No,” then it’s bad.There are countless cases where people have opened Google Docs (or something else) and discovered that an important document has disappeared for some unknown reason. And what to do in such a situation is unclear. Situations like this don’t arise often, but believe me, they do happen. You should not rely on the cloud service to adequately recover lost data, or that you will be able to do it yourself (even if you have data in the cloud, you may not always be able to access it due to problems with the server or your Internet connection, and this will happen at the most inopportune moment). Therefore, it is better to make your own backups of cloud documents. You can use special utilities, for example, CloudPull (see the article “Back Up Your Google Data with CloudPull” (“Making a backup of Google documents using CloudPull”), although it is already old).
11. Don’t think that RAID and backup are synonymous
RAID combines multiple hard drives into one logical volume. One option for setting up RAID is mirrored RAID (RAID 1), which is most often confused with backups. The essence of RAID 1 is that each block is written to two different physical disks, thereby providing 100% redundancy (RAID 5 and 6 also provide redundancy, but in different ways). It's not exactly cloning because the data is always current and updated. Isn't this wonderful?Actually, not always. It's the constant updates that are part of the problem. If you accidentally delete a file, it will be deleted from both disks of the mirrored RAID. If a directory or file has been damaged, a virus has penetrated you, or some other problem has arisen, this will have the same effect on both disks. Of course, if the array is stolen or damaged, the files will be lost. RAID 1 only protects your data if one of your hard drives fails (it happens) and nothing more. So remember that a disk array is not synonymous with the word “backup”.
Do it normally - it will be fine!
It's great if, while reading this list of ridiculous mistakes, you are convinced that your data backup strategy is perfect and free of the described shortcomings. If so, we hope you enjoyed taking a look at how the other 92% of the population lives.However, if you recognize yourself in at least one of the points, do not rush to get upset - we just made this post to help you fix it. We've all been through this. It is necessary to understand errors and correct them, especially when it comes to the safety of important data. Just make a backup copy right now, after reading the article, taking into account the errors mentioned above - after that you can be sure that no meteorites will destroy your data, and you can focus your efforts on more important tasks, for example, protecting yourself from zombies :)
Many Windows users familiar with this popular program, like Acronis, which allows complex work with hard drive computer. Unfortunately, working with the program does not always go smoothly, and one of the most common problems is the message “No hard drive».
As a rule, the error “No hard drive found” is accompanied by the code E000101F4, and it indicates that the program cannot continue to operate. Such a problem can occur for various reasons, but, as a rule, there are not many of them.
Reason 1: outdated version of Acronis
First of all, if you have an outdated version of Acronis installed on your computer, you must update it to the latest one. To be safe, try using different versions of the program from the developer’s website. It is quite possible that one of them, which is this moment used on your computer is unstable, which is why the error we are considering occurs.
Reason 2: BIOS setting
In this way we look into BIOS settings, namely in the settings section disk subsystem(SATA Mode). We need to make sure that the “ACHI Mode” parameter is activated for this item, and, if not, make the necessary changes.
First of all, we need to get into the BIOS. This can be done by turning on the computer or rebooting it, and at the very early stage of startup, start pressing the key responsible for entering the BIOS (most often the F2, Del or F1 key is responsible for entering the BIOS).
Once in the BIOS settings, you will need to find the ACHI Mode section. Please note that for different versions BIOS access to this item can be done in different ways. In our example, we need to open the section "Integrated Peripherals".
Next you need to select "OnChip SATA Type" and set the mark to "ACHI". The only thing left to do is save the changes and leave the BIOS.
If this does not help, set the BIOS all in the same menu "SATA" option "IDE".
Start Acronis and check for the error. If this step did not help you solve the problem, return the previous BIOS settings.
Reason 3: Incorrect MBR
Please note that the following steps will delete all data from your disk.
The hard drive may not be supported by the program due to the fact that several partitions on it share the main boot entry. As a rule, a similar reason often occurs if the disk was formatted by the manufacturer. IN in this case The problem can be resolved by reinitializing the disk.
This can be done from command line using the utility DiskPart. You can access the command line in the process Windows installations. To do this, in Windows Installer, press the keyboard shortcut Shift+F10.
A command line window will appear on the screen, in which you will need to enter the first command and click on the Enter key:
diskpart
With this command we launched the DiskPart utility, which works in a command line environment. If more than one is connected to the computer HDD To continue, we will need to find out the number of the disk we will be working with. You can get this information with the command:
The DiskPart utility numbers disks starting from zero, so when you see required disk, you need to remember its number and execute the following command:
Select disk [disk_number]
For example, the command might look like this:
Now we will need to erase the MBR entry to remove the old disk structure. To do this, run the command:
Create a new master boot record with the command:
A wiped disk must create at least one partition, otherwise the system will never be able to read the data. If you need to create a single partition, i.e. one drive, for example, C:, then the command will look like this:
Create partition primary
If you plan to create two or more partitions, then you will need to run several commands like the following:
Create partition primary size=[disk_size_in_megabytes]
For example, we want to create the first partition of 10 GB in size. Considering that there are 1024 MB in one MB, we get the following command:
Create partition primary size=10240
We format the disk:
Format quick fs=ntfs label="System"
Now that the partition has been created, it needs to be given a letter. You can do this with the command:
Assign letter=[drive_letter]
For example, if you want to set the partition to C, the command would look like this:
Assign letter=c
We review the changes with the command:
And finally, we finish working with the command line:
Reason 4: Acronis malfunctioned
If you are working with Acronis from Windows, you should try reinstalling the program, first completely removing it from your computer.
To uninstall a program, it is better not to use standard means Windows, and the program Revo Uninstaller, which will completely uninstall the product without leaving a single file or registry entry on the computer.
Once the removal is complete, restart your computer and begin downloading new version programs from the official website of the developer.
Reason 5: Software conflict
If you use other programs on your computer whose functionality is similar to Acronis, they can easily cause incorrect operation the instrument we are considering. For example, the Partition Magic program.
If in this case we hit the mark, we will need complete removal similar programs. By complete, we again mean using the Rev Uninstaller program or uninstalling the program using an uninstaller, followed by cleaning the folders and registry yourself.
Actually, these are the main reasons that can affect the occurrence of an error with disk visibility Acronis program. If you have previously had experience solving a similar problem, tell us about it in the comments.