Why is automatic cleanup still not working????
One of the main reasons I bought Acronis TIH was because of the automatic cleanup feature. This has never worked, no matter which option I select. It is a pain to have to remember to delete the oldest backup before each run.
I see many other threads on this saying that it does not work, so I am wondering why this is not being fixed. Are you even working on it? If so, when will the next release be available?
Seems like with every new version I have bought over the years, something doesn't work and I am getting to the point where I am not going to buy another version, unless they get this feature fixed.
It should be simple enough to recreate this on the current build 5519 using Windows 7.
PLEASE FIX THIS ASAP!!! VERY FRUSTRATED!!!
Mike
Actually those are my settings except that I have 2 recent versions. It creates the third and doesn't delete the oldest backup. It just keeps creating them and eventually runs out of space, unless I intervene and delete some of the older ones. I have tried other settings with the same results. I am running the most current build 5519. I have also tried deleting the tasks and then redefining them with no luck. I will be looking forward to the new release.
Thanks,
Mike.
Same for me - I think I tried a hundret different settings but a cleanup NEVER occured.
Each time I create a completely fresh task without re-editing the task. I bought an update to TIH 2011, updated recreated backups - same again.
Either I am too stupid or TIH just doesn't clean up.
Concenring the lots of postings concerning this bug, this seems to be a quite common bug that acronis is unable/unwilling to fix.
Hello Locked,
Welcome to our Forum, we're glad to greet you here! I understand your concern, and will be glad to address it.
The issue with the Clean-up was fixed in the latest build of Acronis True Image Home, so make sure you have it installed.
Should the issue remain, we will need additional diagnostic information. Please gather Acronis Info, submit a case with the information attached, and let us know its number.
Should you need anything else or have any further questions - feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience, we will be happy to help you!
Thank you!
Acronis customer: Upgrading to the most current 6696 build should help. The automatic cleanup has worked in all my recent testing where I chose the "keep x number of chains" using the custom differential version as listed in post #1 above.
Locked:
Would you post a screen capture of your backup settings as illustrated in post #1 above. Maybe we can offer some suggestions once we see what your exact setting combination is.
A fullbackup and some restarts later, it still doesn't work.
I attached screenshots of the backup setting, the cleanup settings, the created files and a screenshot of the version dialog.
Drive e: ius an external USB drive which is always mounted to the PC.
The Log report of Acronis also reports no problems.
ANY help is appreciated.
BTW: contacting the support is "funny":
After logging in, http://www.acronis.com/support/contact-us.html tells me
Support program: Acronis Standard Home
Expiration date: Mon May 30 2011
Some of support options are unavailable because your support program is expired!
To get support for your problem: Buy Pay Per Incident I already purchased PPI
Take it for sure that I will definately NOT pay for reporting bugs!
Hi there,
Assuming that you have been changing some of the auto-cleanup options, it is still early to say whether you have a problem, based on your list of files and you settings.
If you change the number of differentials before the new full after the first full, you have to wait until the next full runs to the change to take effect in weird ways. If you start a backup with 6 partials before a full, run 3 partials, then change the setting to, let's say, 4 partials, you will get 6+4=10 partials before the next full. If you change it to 5, however, you will get 5 partials.
Also the way it works for auto-cleanup is the following (for 5 differentials, keep only 1 version)
- Backup(1) (full)
- Backup(1)2 (first differential - I know the 2 is funny)
- ...
- Backup(1)6 (fifth differential)
- Backup(2) (full) completes, *then* the previous chain is deleted
- Backup(2)2 (first differential on the second full).
So you need enough space for 3 full backups (with your settings). After the 3rd full backups, ATI will delete your first chain.
In short, let the backup run a while longer until you see the 3rd full.
Well I can say that I have been using automatic cleanup for some time and have it set to do this after 100Gb of space is used. Now this seems to have stopped working and the space consumed is 121Gb and running a new backup does not consolidate the older backup files.
I also tried consolidating the space manually but that failed as well.
Trying to validate the backup set I am trying to consolidate does not seem to work (explanations already commented on in another thread) "Backup date cannot" be found is the error - what date in what files cannot be found? The error does not explain exactly what the issue is to the end user. The backup set validated 100% OK when it was created!
Given I have just restored the system to a previous image I am inclined to think that restoring to a previous backup caused this all to happen.
Again because of the atrocious logging and lack of information on what is happening I cannot at this time locate the source of this issue.
I have checked the task and the setting are as I expect them to be - and no I have not edited the task since it was setup.
Ray,
Restoring a backup can cause TI to become confused as it relates to backup data base. It sees backups which it did not know existed as they were not created by this particular install or scripts.
There has been other postings of the space limitations or delete after x number of days does not always work. Recent testing does seem to indicate that the option to keep x number of chains does work. Or if TI does become confused on the x number of backups, it will correct itself after a few additional backups are run.
Hi GroverH
Yes that as maybe - but it is still a bug it should be able to sort itself every time without fail, - sloppy programming again I feel.
If the GUI reports 120GB in use and the limit is 100GB what is the problem - it should be able to see that 120 is a larger value that 100 - I rest my case.
Assuming that you have been changing some of the auto-cleanup options, it is still early to say whether you have a problem, based on your list of files and you settings.
I tried to avoid doing this as I read in other threads that changing the backup task can confuse TI (scary but ... well, okay).
I created a task from scratch an never edited it - but I opened the config dialog once in a while to double and trible check and possibly I pressed "okay" ... maybe this was already recognized as a change.
If you change the number of differentials before the new full after the first full, you have to wait until the next full runs to the change to take effect in weird ways. If you start a backup with 6 partials before a full, run 3 partials, then change the setting to, let's say, 4 partials, you will get 6+4=10 partials before the next full. If you change it to 5, however, you will get 5 partials.
OMG thanks for this explanation! Combined with my above statement, this could really make sense.
I'll wait for about the next 10 backups (and the currently running update of TI) and keep an eye on the created files. Anyways I think that this counter-reset-behaviour is a bit scary as I have NO clue what TI is doing (and why) and I currently am afraid that the chain-counter is reset whenever I open this config dialog (or whenever I do ANYTHING with this backup task).
There should be a possbility to display the current counter value or at least give a warning like "change this and the chain counter will be reset, ARE YOU SURE?" - or AT LEAST put a line into the log file "creating differential backup 5/7" (at least I didn't see such a hint in my logs).
Concluding, I must say that TI currently behaves totally unpredictable to me in this issue - and THIS scares me. Honestly I'd love to try the other features like Try&Decide etc. - but I currently can't trust TI as it seems(!!) to fail in a simple task like rotating backup chains already.
Well thank you very much and I'll be back in the next days to share my (hopefully successfull) experience.
RayG,
I could not agree more. If the option is offered, it should work and the it should be thoroughly tested before the option is included in any build.
IT SEEMS TO WORK!
I triggered several backups and restarts and suddenly TI started a new chain and deleted the oldest full backup.
Now I have (ordered by time)
- 8 differential Backups (without the original full backup?)
- 1 full + 5 diffs
- 1 full + 2 diffs
But aren't the 8 diffs a bit useless? Well hopefully they'll get cleaned up soon.
I guess my problem was that after a while I opened the config dialog - somehow reseted the backup-counter shortly before the next full backup was triggered - expected a full backup in the near future (even though about a week would now pass), got confused, looked again, reseted again, etc. And finally ended up in reseting the counter over and over again. :-(
I hope my backup tasks now just simply work.
Acronis, please make this more transparent! (either in the config dialog or at LEAST in the log file)
Thank you for pointing this resetting out. I would never have expected THAT!
Locked,
If you have what seem to be orphaned files, make sure they don't show up in the list of available backups in ATI (backup list, and under "restore previous versions" of any backup). If they are orphaned, delete them manually.
Locked,
Whether the diff's are useless only you can decide. For example, let's assume that the 5 diffs represent daily--Monday thru Friday. If you have a file which changes every time between backups, then a single specific diff is the only backup you have which can provide you with a copy of that file at that particular time backup time. Often times, the problem with a file does manifest itself until some time later so it the older backup are are often the most beneficial.
The latest 6857 build solves many auto-cleanup options. Cleaning up by limiting the age in days, or the size in GB now works great.