Switching from Incremental to Differential
As a new user, I originally setup three backups and used the Incremental scheme for all three. However, today, I received a warning stating that I was running out of drive space. As I read up, I saw that I could switch to the Differential scheme and use less space. I switched all three to Differential.
The question I have it this: Do I delete all Incremental backups except the last one? Then once the first Differential backup occurs, I can go back and delete the last Incremental? Or do I delete all Incrementals? Or do I delete all backups, then force the "first" Differential to do a complete backup then continue from there?
Another way of asking is...when it does a Differential, what does it compare the current state to? If the directory is empty, does it assume a complete backup is required first? If the directory is not empty, does it compare to the last Incremental or Differential backup only? Or does it compare to the last backup plus the original Complete?
Sorry if that's confusing. Thanks for any advice.
OK, I think I get all that. So a direct answer to my concern is to delete all incrementals then allow a differential backup, which would leave the original full backup, plus a most recent differential. Alternatively, I can delete everything from the folder, and it will automatically know to do a full backup first, then differentials thereafter, right? Is there a way to delete previous differentials as they are replaced with new ones?
Thanks for your help.
Don't delete any backup until you have a proven replacement.
Your old backups are just that--old. Now you start fresh with new backups.
This link can be very helpful. An example of how to set up your backup scheme to create a new full plus x number of differential is the example shown in figure 11-Dif inside this link. That example shows you how to control the number of versions or chains or sets of backups and the program will automatically delete the oldest--much like an escalator--new comes on as the old drops off.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/28705
Each new backup task should point to its own empty storage folder.
Before you start, if you do not have a name assigned to your system partition (normally drive C), do so now before you start so you can help identify your system partition by its name and not its drive letter when doing a recovery of your backups. I use something like this for my system name of a Windows 7 system. Any name will do just so you can identify it specifically by its description in 11 char or less.
WIN-7_C