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Backup schemes with self deletion? Not working right....

Thread needs solution

What back up scheme do I need?

I need help on what scheme i want to use. I was manually deleting the backups i didn't want but then that broke the backup process because it claimed there was a corruption when validating and there doesn't seem to be a way to tell it i deleted a back up or i want to delete a backup.

 

What I want to do:

Back up daily

1 full back up

30 differentials

1 full back up

30 diff

.....

 

I want to delete all differentials older than 30 days(2nd option)/no more than 30(prefer option)/after a new full back up(worst option).

 

Backup scheme not working correctly....

I currently am trying these settings in the attached screenshot but its not following that scheme. It is doing like full ones every week-ish. What is it doing???

 

Looking at the photo again...maybe it is working but took a full cycle to update the process?

 

How do I manually delete older backups without breaking validation?

Eventually I would like to delete every other month or so down the road when they get really old/get low on space. I have 6TB dedicated to this so I still need to understand how I can manually delete certain backups without making the backup scheme glitch out. I really want to be able to access older versions of files if needed within the OS. If i manually delete the file the breaks the backup validation process and I don't want to create a new scheme every year because that means I can't easily see old versions of files from 1,2,3, or so years back.

 

Compression option missing?

Why is compression sometimes missing in advance options?

 

System

Win 7 Pro 64bit

480GB Sandisk Extreme Pro

1650v3 4.2Ghz

AsRock WS MB

64GB ECC RAM

Norco 4224 case

LSI HBA

Intel expander

Intel 10GbE

980TI (temporary will be 750TI later on)

Attachment Size
acronis server back up.png 208.42 KB
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Automatic cleanup works only on 'completed backup version chains' which means from your settings 1 full plus 30 differential backup files = 1 complete version chain.

No cleanup is actioned until a new full backup has been created successfully, so again using your settings, this means that the 32 days do not start counting until this point either.

The net effect of this is that you will need sufficient storage space to hold both the completed version chain plus the files created over the next 32 days before anything gets deleted.

Automatic cleanup will not delete individual differential files from a version chain - only complete version chains!

Personally, I do not use the option you have chosen to delete after X days.  My choice is to use the alternative option to "Store no more than X recent version chains" which I find easier to manage and to understand.

Using the store no more than... option - any old version chains are deleted as soon as the X+1 full backup has been created successfully, thus avoiding the issues you have described providing the backup drive has the space to hold the files I am allowing.

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

I have the do not delete first version of backup so that doesn't delete the full version but only differentials??? like does first version mean the very first back up or the first version of a chain?

 

How do I manually delete ones I do not want anymore without bricking the validation process?

 

Is the new image what i want? Please read text in image.

 

Thanks

Attachment Size
448229-146466.png 43.95 KB

From the ATI 2016 User Guide: Custom schemes

Automatic cleanup rules

To delete obsolete backup versions automatically, you can set one of the following cleanup rules:

  • Delete versions older than [defined period] (available for full method only) - Select this option to limit the age of backup versions. All versions that are older than the specified period will be automatically deleted.
  • Delete version chains older than [defined period] (available for incremental and differential methods only) - Select this option to limit the age of backup version chains. The oldest version chain will be deleted only when the most recent backup version of this chain is older than the specified period.
  • Store no more than [n] recent versions (available for full method only) - Select this option to limit the maximum number of backup versions. When the number of versions exceeds the specified value, the oldest backup version will be automatically deleted.
  • Store no more than [n] recent version chains (available for incremental and differential methods only) - Select this option to limit the maximum number of backup version chains. When the number of version chains exceeds the specified value, the oldest backup version chain will be automatically deleted.
  • Keep size of the backup no more than [defined size] - Select this option to limit maximum size of the backup. After creating a new backup version, the program checks whether the total backup size exceeds the specified value. If it's true, the oldest backup version will be deleted.

The first backup version option

Often the first version of any backup is one of the most valuable versions. This is true because it stores the initial data state (for example, your system partition with recently installed Windows) or some other stable data state (for example, data after a successful virus check).

Do not delete the first version of the backup - Select this check box to keep the initial data state. The program will create two initial full backup versions. The first version will be excluded from the automatic cleanup, and will be stored until you delete it manually.

If you select incremental or differential method, the first backup chain will start from the second full backup version. And only the third version of the backup will be incremental or differential one.

Note that when the check box is selected, the Store no more than [n] recent versions check box will change to Store no more than 1+[n] recent versions.

----------------------------------

The 'first version of the backup' = the Full plus any associated Differential or Incremental backup files, not just a single file.

Your choice of 'Store no more than 30 recent version chains' will mean your backup drive will need to have space to store 30 times 30 Full backup files plus 30 times 30 Differential backup files plus a further Full backup before anything gets deleted automatically.

If you manually delete any of your ATI backup files using Windows Explorer, then you need to do a Validation of the backup task that created those deleted files in order to reconcile the Acronis Database information held for the task.  This will cause a pop-up error message for each deleted file encountered where you should take the option to 'Ignore' the missing file.  It is better to use the automatic cleanup rules instead of having to do this!

In reply to by truwrikodrorow…

So from what your telling me automatic clean up cannot do what I need?

 

1 full+30 diff

never delete full versions.

delete all diff older than 30 days/keep only 30 diff

 

If automatic clean up can't handle that its pretty stupid and pointless. Thats like the most common type of back up scheme.

No, it cannot just delete differential versions and leave behind just the full ones.  You can elect to have only full versions made by your backup task and keep as many of these as you wish, or you can have multiple different backup tasks, one for only full backups and a second one doing differentials.

If you don't like how ATI works then you need to submit Feedback directly to Acronis - we are just users here in the forums, including the MVP's - we do not work for Acronis, we just volunteer our time to help other users.