Incremental images take up a lot of disk space: can I delete the oldest ones?
Hello,
I'm new to Acronis True Image (2016) and installed it immediately after I upgraded to Windows 10.
I set the automatic backup settings to once a week, incremental. The schedule says it will make a new full disc backup, after 5 incremental backups.
BTW: I also copied the first three files to an external harddisk, just in case...
Since these files backup add up each week and so take up a lot of disk space, I wish to delete the eldest ones. However, I wanna do this right and not risking to delete any files that are important to ATI in case of a restore.
Can somebody please advice me on this? I included some screenshots of my settings to this message.
Thanks in advance.
Yes, as MVP Enchantech has indicated, you have reached your user preset quota 1 chain or 1 full plus 5 incrementals.
After completion of your next full backkup, the first six backups (chain 1) wil be deleted and subsequent backups of 5 incrementals will accrue as backup cycle proceeds.
and the cycle will repeat. Each future full will delete the oldest chain so your backup retention will always contain 1 full, plus 0-5 incrmentals depending upon where you are in your backup cycle.
The space requirements for your procedure will be space needed for
2 full pluls 5 incrementals. If you do not have space for that amount, your current backup will fail when the next full is initiated with a disk full error message.
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User has no option in this version to delete individual backups. Each incremental contains data not included in any other version.
Your only choice of deletion is to delete " no incrmental" or "all incrmentals".
This link may help explain the Acronis deletion instructons"
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/100395
Hello Enchantech and GroverH,
Thanks for the reply. I understand that after every full backup and 5 incrementals sets, a new full backup and 5 sets are made and the previous one is deleted after that. This means it will never take up more space than two full backups and five incrementals at one point. I have enough disk for that, so there's no problem then.
Also, since this set is the first one that was created with Windows 10 it can be considered a 'clean image'. So I'm thinking of copying all six files to an external drive, so I'll always have a clean backup at hand if ever necessary. You think this is a good idea?
Yes, it is always a good idea to have more than 1 copy of a backup. Make sure that all files have been validated as that insures the integrity of the backup.
Hello Enchantech,
How can I validate these files? Do I have to do that right after creating the backup (set), or when I need them to restore?
Maybe I'm overlooking something, but I cannot find the 'Validate' option in ATI 2016..
Sorry for asking all this. Your help is greatly appreciated!
From the Backup list in the GUI click on the backup you wish to validate in the list to select it. Now hover your mouse over the backup and right click. You will see a menu appear with available options that can be performed with the backup. Validate will appear in the list, simply choose it to run the validation process.
Hello again,
Sorry for all these questions, I'm just trying to understand these processes and making sure that my backups are ok in case of an emergency... I really appreciate your help and answers.
I now validated all the backup files: 1 full and 5 incrementals. It took about 15 minutes for each file to complete the process, so I hope I did this right. Is there a way to check if these backup files validated now indeed and are OK? I cannot find that.. Maybe I'm over-suspicious?
My plan is now to copy all the validated files to my external harddisk to keep them in case of restoring to the original Windows 10 installation. Do I have to validate these copies on the external disk again, or can I assume they're allright?
Also, I checked the validate option under the Disk Backup Options. See my attached screendump. Is this the right setting?
As for validation, once validated a green check mark should appear to the right of the backup file in the Backup File list. When you check the option to Validate when backup is created box the validation takes place at the end of the backup before the task completes. The application should advise when this is completed and validation is successful. If you have no error messages then all should be good.
You will have the option to perform a validation of the files during the recovery process as well should you choose to activate it.
If you copy these files to a secondary location and you wish to restore such files from that location it will be necessary to add those files (Add Existing Backup) to the list of backup files in the GUI of the application in order to work with them. Be advised this might confuse the application due to duplicate file names. Another option is to use the Recovery Media to work with the files which is the recommended way to perform a recovery of most backup files (OS system backups).
Hello,
I started ATI2016 and clicked on the 'down-arrow' of my backup set. I choose 'Validate' from the sub-menu here. Then the validation process started -again-. No errrors. After the process had ended I noticed a green check mark, clicked on that and got 'the backup is valid' popup. However I can't get the separate backup files visible here (The backup file list).
I opened the file location, that showed these files in Windows File Explorer, but without any green check marks... I'm probably overlooking something here?
I made a screenshot, which I wll attach to this message.
Whenever I need to use this set which I also copied to the external harddisk, I will use the ATI bootable disk (=Recovery Media). From there I should be able to access the backup files on the external disk drive and restore my system from there I presume?
The separate files are only available via Windows File Explorer. I suppose a better name for the list of backups as viewed in the GUI would be the backup task list as that is what is displayed there. The green check marks will only appear in the TI application not in Explorer.
Yes the recovery media can and should be used to access the files on your external storage for recovery purposes.
It is good to use the TI recovery CD and browse to the disk and folder where you have your extra copies and validate the copies
as the copy process can induce read/write errors into the copies.