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TIH 2011 - Automatic Consolidation - Endless loop?

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Hi, I'm using TIH2011 w/ Plus Pack on Win7 Ultimate x64.

I had setup a differential backup with automatic consolidation enabled (threshold: Backup > 900 GB)

The backup is somewhat big: 650 GB. A full backup takes 4 hours, a differential about 40 minutes. Backup target is a NAS. There's plenty of space there (3 times the size of the whole backup set)

When the consolidation treshold is reached, TIH correctly starts the consolidation progress.

However, this never ends. What I recognized during the process is that TIH creates another TIB file on the backup target with a GUID at the end.

This file grows until it gets a bit bigger than the initial version of the backup.

Then, the file gets deleted and is recreated again, slowly growing again.

This process then repeats endlessly. I gave up about 24 hours and canceled it.

The log just shows that the consolidation had started to the target mentioned above. No errors and no additional info.

What's wrong?

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ABi,

Consolidation is a lengthy and complicated process. I don't personally trust it for big backups. I recommend you disable auto-consolidation and set ATI to keep a limited number of version chains.

ABi,

First off, I agree with you that these quirks in ATI 2011 are annoying. Indeed, if you have change a "big" setting for a backup task, the results might be disconcerting. I tested myself changing the number of versions to be kept. I also expected that if you reduce the number of versions to keep from 6 to 4, and you already have 4, then the next backup should be full. It is not the case. It looks like the changes kick in for the next chain. Vice versa though, if you increase from 6 to 8 and you already have 4, that chain will continue until #8. Go figure.

Anyhow, avoid making changes to a task (backup scheme, autocleaning options, file name). It is better to create a new task. Changing the validation rules, schedule is OK.

Also, try to keep the file name simple (do not use the tags), and let the task name be the same as the file name. This is particular true if you use the ASZ, but not only in this case.

Hi Pat,

thanks for the advice. Will create a new task.

I've been using Acronis for years. I never will understand what Acronis did to turn a rock-solid software into this cranky thing...

*sigh*

Andreas