Change locationand order of first and replicated backups

Hello Sven,

thank you for posting on Acronis forums!

So the future backup locations will be SERVER and NAS1.

Please clarify whether the result is NAS1 -> SERVER and NAS2 -> NAS1 or NAS1 remains for the first backup location and NAS2 -> SERVER.

it should be possible to simply copy the files from NAS2 to SERVER and go on using these backup chains, right?

You could simply copy the backups to new locations, right. Please note that the first backup chain and the replication backup chain have different IDs. Thus, the replication backup chain from NAS2 can't be continued with the first location backup chain on SERVER. However, if the first backup location remains on NAS1 and you simply move your replication backups from NAS2 to SERVER then the backup chains will remain the same.

Can I change the order in the backup jobs to do the backup to SERVER and then replicate to NAS1 and continue the existing backup chains?

No, the backup chains will not be continued this may (see my reply above). In this case you can start new backup chains.

Hello Maria

Please clarify whether the result is NAS1 -> SERVER and NAS2 -> NAS1 or NAS1 remains for the first backup location and NAS2 -> SERVER.

The last is the target: NAS2 is replaced by the SERVER.

So current status: NAS1 (first location), NAS2 (replication location)

Target: SERVER (first location), NAS1 (replication location)

The information with the backup chains is a bit confusing to me.
Maybe I used the term "chain" a bit misleading.

So please let me explain what I mean:
As mentioned above, the target should be:

- usage of the storage location on SERVER as first location
- usage of the storage location on NAS1 as replication target
- use the same backup filenames as now

What I did in the past was moving files between locations and the simply continued using them in the plans.
 

So the question is:
What would happen if I copy the files from NAS2 (the "old" replication target) to SERVER and then would change the existing plan to use SERVER as first location and NAS1 as raplicaiton location ?

Will it just use the correct locations, correct filenames and just create a new tibx file and starts with a full backup?
Or do I have to move the files from NAS1 --> SERVER and NAS2--> NAS1 to reach my goal?

Or a bit easier:
What happens if I create a new plan that uses an existing storage and an existing backup filename as backup location?

Regards
Sven

Any news on this ?

What I am also wondering:
In the follwing I use :
"Backup-File" to indicate a single file
"Chain" to indicate the Full, diff and inc backups within a Backup-File
"Archive" to indicate a set of Backup Files that belong together.

Format is V12 and.

Let´s assume
- a plan (let´s call it PlanA ) creates an Archive with BackupFiles and the FileNames are "FileServer_Backup".
- there are retention rules
- Plan A uses Storage Location A

So after a while we have Files "FileServer_Backup.tibx" and several "FileServer_Backup-xxxx.tibx" where xxxx is a number.

Then I will be more safe and use a second storage location.
Let´s name it Storage Location B.

So I creata replication plan that runs once and replicates the existing Archive from Storage Location A to Storage Location B.

Then I say "well let´s use both from now on" and create a new Backup Plan: PlanB.

In this Plan I use the Storage Locations A as first target, and Storage Location B as replication target.
I use the same filenames and from now on the bakups are done in both locations.

Right ?
That´s what I´ve been told a while ago, that a Plan can use an existing Archive if the Filenames are the same.

So now:
Where is the problem, if I do the same with my existing Archives?
Why is there a problem with teh ID as Maria stated?

Why can´t a new (or an existing) plan use existing storage locations and existing backup files and continue using them by using the same filename?

Where is my fault in thinking?
Sven

Hey there,
I did now some tests:

Former situation:
- a backup plan used a folder on NAS1 as first backup location, a folder on NAS2 as replication target

What I did:

Test a):
- copied the data from NAS1 to a folder on SERVER
- copied the data from NAS2 to a folder on NAS1
- changed the Plan to use SERVER as first location and NAS1 as replication target

Result:
- incremental backups ran as expected.
- Backup validation successful
- I can restore data from the backups

Test b):
- copied the data from NAS2 to a folder on SERVER
- leave the data on NAS1 unchanged
- changed the Plan to use SERVER as first location and NAS1 as replication target

Result:
- incremental backups ran as expected.
- Backup validation successful
- I can restore data from the backups

Hmm I thought this is not possible......
Even incremental backup is possible.

Where is my fault in thinking?
Or doe sit simply work ?

Sven

Hello Sven.

What I did in the past was moving files between locations and the simply continued using them in the plans.

You can proceed this way and it could work. However, please be accurate with retention rules: if different retention rules are applied on different backup locations, please do not forget to change them accordingly when moving backups from first backup location to a replication one.