Creating Backup Jobs

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
You can automate the creation of recovery points with a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. If you create a recovery point set, you can also specify that certain events, like logging on or off a computer, create incremental recovery points.
To create a Backup Job
  1. On the Arctera System Recovery Manager console, click Manage Computers tab in the left pane.
  2. Click Create in the Backup Tasks tab.
  3. On the Create Backup Job window, select any Backup Type.
  4. On the Drives panel, set any drive option you want.
    All drives on selected computers Lets you define a backup job for two or more drives. You should select this option to protect all drives (including hidden or unmounted), that exist on the client computers.
    By Drive Lets you select the drives that you want to back up on the selected client computers.
    Hidden drives are not displayed in the By Drive list. Also, by checking the Other option, you can add any single drive and also multiple drives by separating with semi-colon. For e.g. E or for multiple drives E;F;G
    Sometimes a selected drive letter is not available for backing up on a particular client computer. The drive has been deleted or the entire hard disk has been removed from the client computer since Arctera System Recovery was installed. In such cases, when the recovery point is created, it does not include the drive.
  5. In the Destination pane. Specify the path to a local drive or a network share.
Enable the Save backup files to a unique subfolder option to create a new subfolder that serves as your backup destination
Note: The new subfolder is given the same name as your computer. For example, if your computer name is "My_Laptop", the new subfolder is named \My_Laptop
User name Lets you specify the user name to a destination folder that is located in a network path.
Password Lets you specify the password to a destination that is located in a network path.
  1. Arctera recommends that you use AES encryption when you define a backup to prevent unauthorized access to the files.
    Enable password protection Sets a password and enables AES encryption on the recovery point when it is created.
    This check box is selected by default.
    Password Lets you specify a password for the backup. Passwords can include standard characters. Passwords cannot include extended characters, or symbols. (Use characters with an ASCII value of 128 or lower.)
    Confirm password Lets you retype the password for
    confirmation.
    AES encryption Encrypts recovery point data to add another level of protection to your recovery points.
    Note: If theUse Passwordcheck box is selected, you must define AES encryption.
    Choose from the following encryption levels:
    - Standard 128-bit (8+ character password)
    - Medium 192-bit (16+ character password)
    - High 256-bit (32+ character password)
    While higher strengths require longer passwords, the result is greater security for your data.
  2. On the Schedule panel, check the Schedule check box and set the schedule options you want.
The available scheduling options depend on the backup type that you selected.
Schedule tab options for a recovery point set
Schedule Lets you select the days and a start time for when the backup should run.
Start time (24 hour format) Lets you customize the start time of the backup .
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Lets you customize the days of the week for the backup to run. The default is to run the backup Monday through Friday.
Run more than once per day Lets you run the backup more than once a day to protect the data that you edit or change frequently.
Time between backups Lets you specify the maximum time that should occur between backups.
Number of times Lets you specify the number of times per day that the backup should run.
Automatically optimize Lets you select how often optimization should occur for the backup destination to manage the used disk space.
You can choose from the following options:
- Never Indicates that no deletion of incremental recovery points is performed.
- Every four hours Indicates that a deletion of incremental recovery points that are four hours old (or older) is performed every four hours. Also, after the first incremental of the day is taken, all incremental files from two days previous are consolidated to a single file.
- Every twelve hours Indicates that a deletion of incremental recovery points that are 12 hours old (or older) is performed every 12 hours. Also, after the first incremental of the day is taken, all incremental files from two days previous are consolidated to a single file.
Start a new recovery point set Lets you select how frequently a new recovery point set should be started.
Your options for starting new recovery point set (base) include the following:
- Weekly Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup of the week.
- Monthly Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup of the month.
- Quarterly Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup every three months from the date when you selected this option.
- Half-Yearly Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup every six months from the date when you selected this option.
- Yearly Creates a new recovery point set on the first scheduled or manual backup of the year, once a year, on the date that you selected for this option.
- Custom Lets you set specific weekly or monthly options for starting a new recovery point set.
Custom Lets you customize the start time, and the days of the week or month to run the backup.
Note: If you choose to archive recovery points, consider creating recovery point sets more frequently to keep the size of your recovery point sets smaller.
Schedule options for an independent recovery point
Automatically create a recovery point Lets you specify a weekly or monthly backup schedule.
The scheduling options include the following:
- No Schedule Saves all of the backup jobs settings except a schedule. You can later apply the backup jobs at your convenience by assigning a schedule to the job.
- Weekly Creates a new, independent recovery point on each day of the week that you check, and at the specified time. When you create independent recovery points one or more times per week, large amounts of disk storage space may be required.
- Monthly Creates a new, independent recovery point on each day of the month that you check, and at the specified time.
Start time (24 hour format) Lets you customize the start time of the backup .
Days of the week Lets you customize the days of the week for the backup jobs to run.
Days of the month Lets you customize the days of the month for the backup jobs to run.
  1. On the Advanced Options panel, in the Compression list, set the compression level for the recovery points.
    None Indicates that compression is not used on the recovery point.
    You can choose this option if storage space is not an issue. If the recovery point is saved to a busy network drive, high compression may be faster than no compression because less data needs to be written across the network
    Standard (recommended) Lets you use low compression for a 40 percent average data compression ratio on recovery points. This setting is the default.
    Medium Lets you use medium compression for a 45 percent average data compression ratio on recovery points.
    High Lets you use high compression for a 50 percent average data compression ratio on recovery points. This setting is usually the slowest method.
    When a high compression recovery point is created, CPU usage may be higher than normal. Other processes on the computer may also be slower. To compensate, you can adjust the operation speed of the backup process. Speed adjustments may improve the performance of other resource-intensive applications that you run at the same time.
  2. On the Advanced Options panel, use the below options and click Apply.
    Limit the number of recovery point sets (bases) saved for this backup (Recovery point sets only) Specifies the maximum number of recovery points or recovery point sets that are saved for each drive.
    or When this limit is reached, each successive recovery point or set is first created and stored. The oldest, previously created recovery point or set is then deleted (including all associated incremental, if applicable) from the same storage location.
    Limit the number of recovery points saved for this backup (Independent recovery points only) Ensure that you have enough hard disk space to accommodate the number of recovery points or sets you specify, plus one additional recovery point or set.
    If you run out of hard disk space before the number is reached, the recurring recovery point process cannot complete successfully, and a current recovery point or set is not created
    Divide into smaller files to simplify archiving Splits a recovery point into two or more smaller files. This feature is useful if you create or export a recovery point that you want to copy to removable media later for safekeeping. The recovery point is split into smaller, more manageable files. You can then copy the files onto separate, removable media, such as a DVD or CD.
    If Arctera System Recovery creates an .sv2i file in addition to the .v2i files, you need to save the .sv2i file on the same media as the first .v2i file.
    If you create a recovery point of volumes with thousands of files on a computer that has low memory, splitting the recovery point into smaller segments can help speed the process.
    If a recovery point is divided into multiple files, the file names for subsequent files are appended with \_S01, \_S02, and so forth. For example, if the default file name were Dev-RBrough_C_Drive.v2i, the second file name would be Dev-RBrough_C_Drive_S01.v2i, and so on.
  3. Click Create>Note: Create button will be disabled if all the required fields are not entered properly.