Acronis Secure Zone is a hard disk partition type created and used by Acronis True Image (ATI) as a backup storage target.
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Backup applications typically use network storage for storing backup archives, but this can be problematic when such resources are not available. Acronis designed a solution to this problem by carving off part of the local disk as a proprietary partition, which they refer to as Acronis Secure Zone (ASZ). Since this partition is accessibly only by True Image and Backup & Recovery, it functions as a backup target safe from malware, user files, or other uses or corruption. It is important to note that ATI can manage only a single ASZ per computer.
Although the Acronis Secure Zone has its own partition type, it is actually just a rebadged FAT32 partition labeled ACRONIS SZ, and the "partition type" code set to 0xBC. Knowing these requirements, one can manually create and/or manage existing Acronis Secure Zone using any partition manager. Since the ASZ is actually just a modified FAT32 partition type, it is possible to gain direct access to this partition by changing the partition type code in the MBR to 0x0B (FAT32 LBA) using any MBR management application such as MBRWizard.
ATI is designed to self-manage the backup archives stored to the ASZ. As such, all backup files will be stored with autogenerated names in the root folder. If there is not enough freespace for the next backup file, ATI will automatically delete the oldest image set (base+incremental/differential files) in order to create space for the new files.
Acronis Secure Zone differs from other backup places in that:
OEM versions of True Image are designed to use a special "OEM secure zone", which is technically the same as a regular ASZ, but uses a partition type of 0xBB, and typically contains only a single image file with the "factory default" OS and application configuration set forth by the manufacturer.[2]