How to manually delete previous backup versions in True Image 2015 Build 6525?
How do I manually delete previous backup versions in True Image 2015 Build 6525? I knew how to do it in TI 2014 using the gearwheel icon, Recover files, Delete version but I cannot find an equivalent in TI 2015.
It is not possible to take a screenshot of something that you cannot find in the first place! To repeat, I cannot find any instructions on how to manually delete previous versions of a backup from local storage, which is functionality that was in TI 2014 and earlier but which I cannot find in TI 2015. One needs to be able to reduce the volume of backup file without the use of automatic cleanup.
A J,
Have a look here: http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2015/index.html#7…
A J,
Have a look here: http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2015/index.html#7…
Enchantech,
Thank you for this link, but it does not really solve my problem. The additional operations available with my locally-stored backups are
Edit settings, Validate, Open location, Clone settings, Move, Remove from the list, and Delete. The only ways that I can see of deleting specific versions of backups are to:
1. Delete [the overall backup task] from the list, then in Windows Explorer delete the specific versions that you do not want to keeo, then raise a new backup task with same details as the deleted one, and finally Add [the remaining] old backups to the new task.
or
2. Just use Windows Explorer to delete the unwanted backup versions, but this will still leave their details in TI 2015's records with the associated problems that brings.
Option 1 takes a lot more work than the procedure in TI 2014 and is therefore unsatisfactory, while Option 2 leaves TI 2015 with the wrong details. Both of these are a regression from TI 2014, so surely there must be a better way??????
A J
Can you select the backup task and choose Open Location which should open the folder containing the backup files then, select the version you wish to delete and from the operations menu choose delete?
This is probably not going to set well with users but I have found a KB Article covering 4 independent methods of deleting backups. I suspect that these procedures were put into place to solve the issue with users deleting backups using Windows Explorer and thus trashing the Backup Archives Database. Would have been nice to have had this in the product documentation I think.
Can you select the backup task and choose Open Location which should open the folder containing the backup files then, select the version you wish to delete and from the operations menu choose delete?
Enchantech,
Thank you for this idea. However, after going Open Location. selecting the versions which I wanted to delete, then to the Operations menu choices had not changed and were still Remove from the list and Delete. I did not select Remove from the list because I wanted to use the same task; as I feared, selecting Delete deleted the whole task and all of the backups for that drive, not just the vertsions I had selected. So, unfortunately this did not give the desired result.
A J
This is probably not going to set well with users but I have found a KB Article covering 4 independent methods of deleting backups. I suspect that these procedures were put into place to solve the issue with users deleting backups using Windows Explorer and thus trashing the Backup Archives Database. Would have been nice to have had this in the product documentation I think.
Enchantech,
Thank you for this further research, which I agree looked promising initially. However, as far as I can see it does not provide any new information but merely provides a useful reference summary for ways to free up space as Solutions 2, 3 and 4 are already covered in a variety of places elsewhere. What I want to do I to delete specified backup files, but Solution 1 does not say how to do this. The simple way would be to just delete them using Windows Explorer, but this leaves the backup details in the Acronis data and this is exactly what I am trying to avoid! It was possible in TI2014, and it ought to be possible in TI2015 - or Acronis has reduced the applications functionality, which is poor 'progress'!
Anyway, your further help was much appreciated.
A J
TI 2015 Build 6525, Windows 7. I am very much a novice at this. I use a WD Passport external drive for backup and a notice popped up that the drive was full and my backup could not continue. Without thinking, I opened the drive and deleted files using Windows Explorer. Now when I open Acronis this complete backup scheme shows it is running and I can not stop it. I click "Stop" and it continues. The other schemes I have show a cascading menu and "Delete" is on that menu, but for this scheme, it only shows "Stop." And no matter how long I wait after indicating I want it to stop, it continues. How do I resolve this to delete that scheme and all the files within it? Thanks for your assistance.
AJ,
I think in your response in post #7 you found the method of deleting a single version of an backup. I also understand that you were uncertain at that point to select DELETE. So how about a test to see if as I suspect selecting DELETE of the selected backup version would in fact delete just the backup version selected or the entire backup archive and possibly the entire task.
To test you could create a new task of a small set of folders from your system and point the backup to a new folder location on your storage device. Run the task as unscheduled and create a number of versions say 4 total. once you have done that attempt to once again choose/select this new backup location using the Open Location option, select a version, and choose delete and confirm your choice. Now check the results and see what happened. If I am right only the version selected will be deleted and the rest of the backup will remain intact. You can then test other deletion choices such as multiple versions or entire backup. Maybe you would need to initially create more than 4 total versions to do this but I am sure you get the idea.
Jerry,
I am not sure what to suggest to you but I will say that your situation is the result of using Windows Explorer to delete backups. I am including a link that indicates the location of the scripts that run the backup schemes.
https://kb.acronis.com/content/27348
Deletion of the script for your backup scheme located in Windows Vista/7/8/8.1 - C:\ProgramData\Acronis\TrueImageHome\Scripts could be a way to stop the task from running by using Windows Explorer to delete the scheme from the Scripts folder. You would also need to delete any remaining backups associated with the scheme using Windows Explorer as outlined in the link. So you would be sort of reverse engineering the solution as it were to fix your problem. Since you have other backup schemes that you wish to keep and use you would need to be certain that you have the right scheme chosen when you delete that scheme from the Scripts folder obviously. Same would go for the backup files associated with that scheme.
I am uncertain if doing what I suggest here could introduce new issues with the application. Not sure how the app will react to such changes. Doing this could leave invalid entries in Windows Registry for example and I am uncertain what effect if any that may have on how the app behaves after that. It may for example complain the the deleted backups cannot be found when attempting a recovery.
Maybe another MVP or user will chime in here with a better option.
I really appreciate your assistance. After looking at the script location, and realizing there was no definitive way for me to know which was the one I wanted to delete, I decided to use Acronis support -- 6 days after my support program expired!! So I decided to pay the $20 -- a bargain -- and called. Support went to Task Manager and stopped all TrueImage processes -- I had tried this on my own and must have missed one. Then when opening Acronis I could make changes in the scheme. I have the program validating the backups now and changed the scheme so it only keeps three backups, deleting older ones as it goes. Perhaps this information may assist someone else. This has been going on for about 2 weeks, and I finally decided to do something. Had I called a week ago, my frustration would have been far less, and I would have saved $20!! And again, thank you for answering my post.