How to safely delete oldest backup and incrementals to free up some disk space

These should be able to be deleted. Try deleting from within 2011 if possible.
If I remember correctly, you can delete in 2011 from within the timeline of Acronis Explorer.

local_disk (3) 6. tib 16,321,754.00 3/3/2013
local_disk (3) 5. tib 17,091,759.00 2/16/2013
local_disk (3) 4. tib 16,415,896.00 2/3/2013
local_disk (3) 3. tib 14,537,770.00 1/7/2013
local_disk (3) 2. tib 10,126,152.00 12/3/2012
local_disk (3). tib 188,047,796.00 11/4/2012

this is the screen I am thinking of where the delete option resides.
Not sure if this is in 2011.
http://forum.acronis.com/sites/default/files/mvp/user285/2012-htb/task-…

I do have that screen, but unfortunately the Disks and Partitions tab is greyed out, and therefore I cannot select it. Could I safely delete those files via Widows Explorer ?

Thanks,

Steve
..

You indicated you have the screen, are these "to be deleted" files listed?

It is possible to delete from outside the program but the preferrred is from inside.

Once these files have been deleted, then do a validate of the remaining and and you will have to work your way through the resulting error messages.

No they are not listed, because the Disk and Partitions tab is greyed out. The other tab, the Files and Folders tab is showing, and those various dates are showing.
I will have to delete them via Windows Explorer, but I'm not sure about the Validate process, nor how I'd work myself through the resulting error messages.
Thanks,

Steve

As you indicated you changed to 2 to 1, I am assuming that you edited the existing task to make the change. While this is not prohibited, my experience that often times the results of an edit are not predictable.

My suggestion is to cease to use the old task and create a new task pointing to a new sub-folder so the backup files are not mixed.
Go ahead with the deletion of the old chain and you can validate the remaining as a separate entity apart from the new ongoing backups.

Perhaps you should also consider adding additonal storage space.

Thanks, that did it.

I just deleted the entire backup-up from within ATI 2011, and created a new backup, and ran it. It ran fine with no errors. I did mispeak regarding the size of my external. It is 1 Tb, so with the original chains deleted, and the new backup there, I still have plenty of room.

Thanks again,
Steve

Based on the file size info above, it would appear that 1 completed backup chain consumes about 275GB of space.

This would imply that a setting of "store no more than 2 recent version chains" is the maximum number you can set.

Chain 1 ( 275GB) + Chain 2 (275gb) = 550GB
550 +275 (note 1) =825 GB needed for a setting of keep of 2 chains above.
(Note1= temporary 275 short term space needed during the creation of the next full)
With a need for 825, there is not enough space for a permanent keep of 3 so a setting of keep 2 would be your max setting which is my interpretation of your current 1 TB space limitations.

Extract from my guide:

Figure 11-Inc: Example of custom/incremental backup method settings
If using incremental type backups (which is full + X Inc), the 11-Inc is my recommended method. Change the 6 or 4 to fit your available storage.
These automatic cleanup settings will provide for automatic deletion of the oldest backups after the "Store no more than X number of chains" quota has been reached.
In this example, deletion of oldest backup will occur immediately following creation of backup #29.

Allow space for 1 more full backup in addition to "Store no more than X number of chains" as the program will NOT delete the oldest full until its replacement has been successfully created.

In this example, one chain or one recent version chain =1 full plus 6 inc or 7 files per chain.
If keeping 4 recent version chains (4 chains of 7 each) retention would be 28 files. Deletion of oldest chain will occur after backup 29 (full).

Also understand the limitations/risk factor of incremental backups. If one inc backups gets corrupt or accidentally deleted, all newer inc are worthless so avoid excessive number of incremental backups. Always maintain a full backup set which are current This explains why keeping a reasonable number of x "recent version chains" can be very important. Keeping a high number of incremental is a high risk factor to your backup data and should be avoided.
For a better understanding of the differences between Inc and Dif as it relates to the safety factor, review this link.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/40810

When restoring an Incremental backup, select the specific Inc file to be restored and all preceding Incremental files plus the full backup base must be present and will be restored (multiple files required).

Thanks for the math PLUS. I do have various videos and picture on that external, so that is the reason that with the 2 chain setting I ran out of space. I'm assuming with the 1 chain, as soon as the next full BU is created, it'll delete the other chain, correct ?

Thanks again for all your patience.

Steve

I'm assuming with the 1 chain, as soon as the next full BU is created, it'll delete the other chain, correct ?

Yes.
With a setting of keep 1 recent version chain, what should happen is that the entire first chain shoud be created--as scheduled,
followed by a next new full replacement created.
Followed seconds later by the deletion of all files of the prior chain.--assuming that the task is new and has not been edited.