Deleting differential drive backup versions ?

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/78542#comment-240122

Inside that link, look at item 5 for deletion info.

You may want to consider the GH-13 method of allowing the program to perform the deletions automatiacally.

Thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately I could not find any information on deletion in item 5 https://forum.acronis.com/forum/28323
Automatic deletion of the program was what I originally planned. But there have been so many troubles with automatic deletions that I have abandoned it almost completely.

Please reread my posting #1 again. Note that item 5 is inside the first link--not inside my signature.

Automatic deletion of old backups by the creating task does work successfully but one key is to set the task once and then make no changes.

Look at my signature lnk #1 below and INSIDE that link, review item AGH-1.

The automatic deletion schemes don't work for me because I don't want the N most recent differential backups. Several widely spaced differentials are much more valuable than several very recent ones with nearly the same data.

For simplicity, let's say that I created a full backup 1 month ago, and daily differentials. Now say that today I realize that some important data I stored 3 weeks ago was corrupted 1 week ago. If I have the 3 latest differentials, I am out of luck. The data is not on the full backup or the differentials. If I have kept (for example) the Saturday differential each week, I can recover that data.

I don't mind deleting the unwanted differentials manually in Explorer, but TI 2015 doesn't handle that well. I can't tell it that the file is gone, and it can't seem to update itself. I keep getting a Warning box saying "Cannot find version 2." None of the 3 buttons are useful.

My little NAS has space for about 3 full backups. That is easily enough space to do what I want if I can either control which differentials are kept or manually delete the ones I don't want.

I don't miss most of the removed features, but the loss of selective deletion seems like a terrible decision.

James,
A 2015 task does seem to survive the deletion of one or more of its diff tib files.

Try simulating a TI restore via Windows and click the ignore button when the error for the missing files appears.

Here goes...
- RECOVER FILES
- diagram with my two drives appears
- pick the date of the deleted diff
- warning message appears with options of RETRY, CANCEL, and BROWSE
- click CANCEL twice and try another way, hoping to find an IGNORE button
- cancel the file recovery
- RECOVER DISKS
- loading backup content message
- different diagram with the two drives shown
- check the smaller one
- select the nonexistent date
- same warning message, same buttons
- RETRY and BROWSE just cause the warning box to pulse
- it takes 6 clicks on the CANCEL button to get out now
- "Due to an internal error, you can only recover files from this backup. To resolve ... restart ... or recreate ..."
- cancel out of that screen, try RECOVER FILES again
- this time pick a more recent date which DOES exist, to see how that works.
- pick a drive and wait - network traffic at about 1/10 the rate seen during backups and a message saying "Calculating time remaining..." from 3:09 PM to 3:15 PM One CPU thread (of 12) was at about 75% load during this time. I'm expecting the drive I selected to open and show folders, but there's nothing in the UI to tell me that.
- At 3:15 network traffic jumps, and folder list appears, and traffic drops to zero
- select one unimportant directory to recover
- recovery works quickly and correctly
- stop and restart the interface
- back to "recover files"
- the nonexistent differential backup is still listed

What else can I try?

Oh - thanks for the quick response!

How about a screen capture of the storage folder showing the tib files.

Also, attempt a validation of the backup chain.

My experience with 2015 is that if I manually delete an out of sequence or an older diff files but keep newer dif files,
once I run the simulated restore, I get the ignore or cancel or retry message and a response updates the history files.\

The tib listing will only list what has not been deleted and the next diff sequence number will be the next sequential number.

A validation and error message response might achieve the same history update.

Thanks -
Since my last message I had deleted one more file. Getting things right required three validations. The first two took about 10 minutes each, and each removed one date from the list, but left the interface with a red circle indicating a problem with the backup.

The third validation took hours, but eventually got things back to normal.

Bottom line, it worked but would be impractical as a way of routinely "thinning out" my backup history.

I sure hope Acronis gets the message that management of backups is a required part of a backup system. I know that doing this sort of thing with incremental backups is tricky, but with differentials it should be dead simple.

Thanks again for your help. I had no idea what validation would accomplish.

This is a recommended backup scheme. The more frequent the full backup, the safer you are for restore possibilities.

GH13. Create Custom Differential Backup Scheme with automated cleanup . 2 Diff, Keep 2 chains. The 2-2 is an example only with user choice for whatever number of chains to be retained best fits the individual needs.

James Ryan wrote:

................but the loss of selective deletion seems like a terrible decision...................I sure hope Acronis gets the message that management of backups is a required part of a backup system

My personal comments:The deletion of old backups by the user has always been and is a weak point. This manual deletion has never been promoted or supported or encouraged. Perhaps the business version is better but I have no experience with the business version. Version 2015 provide NO options to enable the deletion of individual backups by the user.

In past version, back as far a TI 8, 9, 10, 11, etc, any deletion of differential was immediate cause for failed future backups and failed validation. Usually, the backup was still restorable, but could not be validated or increased. It has only been version 2015 which will validate after deletion, plus I have been able to do some selective deletion of the diff files with the adding of backups continuing to function. This may be different for some users as I have not done any extensive testing. With 2015, for example, with 6 diff present, I have been able to, delete dif 1 and update the history, delete dif2 and update, deleted dif 3 and update, and then run a new backup and the numbering would continue with 1, 2, 3 missing. By update the deletion, I am talking about simulating the start of a recovery and responding "ignore" to each of the error notices about missing backup. The method I used for deletion was to use the Operation tab, browse the directory tree /tib storage folder (target disk must be present) and then right click on the tib diff file and chose the windows delete of a single diff file followed by the updating (simulated restore) of the tib backup history file after each deletion.

Whether this will work for you I have no clue--you will just have to try on your own.
The 2015 version leads me to believe there will be no improvement as it relates to individual backup management. The current 2015 backups schemes work via automatic deletion providing you create the task and then make no further changes. None of the past versions have responded well to changes of configuration which is why my overall suggestion is that if changes of task needed, it is best to start a new task with the revised changes.

Assorted links regarding discussion about backup schemes and their handling--especially link AGH-1
https://forum.acronis.com/forum/75086