does acronis need to be running in the background all the time?

Cerise, only one actual background Windows service needs to be running in order for ATI 2017 (and other versions) to work correctly, that is the Acronis Scheduler 2 service.

All the other background services for ATI 2017 do not need to be running unless you are going to be using the feature(s) that need them.

See KB 60522: Acronis True Image 2018: Windows services and processes (Acronis didn't publish a document for 2017 but this should be the same!).

Hi,

I looked at 2016 Windows services and processes, so does the same apply to it.

Only Scheduler 2 service needed?

Also when backing up and I get the dreaded 'Failed to Read data from disk'

what happens if I press Ignore? 

Does it bypass or correct the sector area or is the error transferred into the backup?

I will use ChkDsk once I let it complete, if it does.

Thanks

oz

David, yes regarding background services, only the Scheduler 2 service is essential.

If you are getting any disk related errors, i.e. failed to read data, then the data is not included in the backup file and there are no corrective actions performed by Acronis!  Clicking on Ignore does exactly that.