Deleting old backups
It used to be that Acronis True Image displayed, on launch, a list of previous backups. It was a simple matter to select one and delete or validate it
Under ATI 2016, however, the initial display shows only an amalgamated backup blob from which it is difficult to address individual previous backups.
I have searched the user guide unsuccessfully for some way to delete individual, unneeded backups. The 2013 user guide warned against deleting a backup file without going through the Acronis interface.
How do you get rid of these old files?
Jerry, if you are wanting to manage your old backup image files then the recommended method is to use the Automatic Cleanup rules for the task that is creating these backup files.
If you click on Options for the task, then select the Backup tab, you will see an option to enable automatic cleanup.
You can chose between different cleanup methods, one uses a number of days to retain files, the other states the maximum number of version chains to be kept before cleaning up older ones.
The key to both of these schemes is in understanding what a version chain is. This is the set of files that comprise a single backup chain, i.e. 1 x Full backup file plus ? x Incremental or Differential backup files - all showing the same backup sequence number in the file name, e.g. _full_b1_s1_v1.tib with _inc_b1_s2 (to sX)_v1 where the _b1_ shows this is the 1st backup sequence.
A version chain is deemed to be complete only when a new Full backup has been created successfully for the next version chain.
Acronis does not do any cleanup of old files until the next version chain has been started, so if you selected to keep no more than 5 version chains, cleanup will only run when the 6th version chain is started with a new Full backup. The same applies to days to retain backups, here the days don't start being counted until the new version chain has been started.
The alternative method of managing backup files is to manually delete these via Windows Explorer but if you do so you need to be aware that Acronis keeps track of all backup files in its Database, and will give error messages for 'Cannot find version X' for each deleted backup file. To resolve these messages you should always run a Validation for the backup task after manually deleting any backup files - this will give the same messages for missing files where you should take the Ignore option and let the validation process reconcile the database information.
Important note: Do not delete individual incremental backup files unless you want to destroy that version chain from that point forwards. Incremental files always depend on the file in the sequence before it, back to the initial full backup file.
In reply to Jerry, if by truwrikodrorow…
Extremely helpful!
In reply to Jerry, if by truwrikodrorow…
After a few hours of frustration I was able to delete some files. The above explanation didn't help be, because I couldn't find any option for enabling automatic cleanup. I wanted to selectively delete some Differential files. I had previously tried going directly into File Explorer, but it wouldn't let me delete from there.
From the Backup Tab, I right-clicked on my E drive (where backups are located). I clicked Search Files, which brought up Explorer box. From there I was able to successfully delete files.
Jamie, welcome to these User Forums.
Which version / build of Acronis True Image are you using here - you can check this on the Account page in the ATI GUI.
Automatic cleanup is offered only on the Backup scheme settings page as shown in the screen shots below (taken from ATI 2018).
#MyADHDLife Thanks - totally missed it. However, I really wanted to do manual deletions anyway so I'm glad I finally figured it out :-).