Target disk is full
I have a backup job that runs daily incrementals. The target disk is full. Isthere a way to consolidate old backups to eliminate space?


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The problem with the consolidation feature of the backup scripts is that there is no way to keep only the full backup from an old chain, and delete only the incrementals.
For example, suppose I have
- Backup chain starting 2015-06-01
- Full
- Incremental 1
- Incremental 2
- etc.
- Backup chain starting 2015-07-01
- Full
- Incremental 1
- Incremental 2
- etc.
- Backup chain starting 2015-08-01
- Full
- Incremental 1
- Incremental 2
- etc.
- ...
- Backup chain starting 2016-03-01
- Full
- Incremental 1
- Incremental 2
- etc.
I have 9 complete backup chains, and one that is being added to now. I want to keep the full backups from all of these chains, but only want to keep the incrementals from the last three. The "Old version cleanup rules" give you three choices:
- Delete version chains older than X: This will completely delete old backup chains, including the first (full) backup in the chain.
- Store no more than X recent backup chains: When you get to X+1 backup chains, it deletes the oldest—including the first (full) backup in that oldest chain.
- Keep the size of the backup no more than X: This will delete the oldest chains when you hit the limit—including the first (full) backup in that oldest chain.
The checkbox "Do not delete the first version of the backup" refers to this backup script, not to each backup chain.
None of these automated cleanup rules do what I want. The only way to get what I want is to manually consolidate the individual chains of my choice.
[When fooling around with these options, I accidentally deleted older backups that I had wanted to keep; so this knowledge was hard won.]
As best I can tell, the only way to accomplish this is to delete the unwanted incrementals outside of ATI. Then, after deleting the files,
- Run ATIH
- Start a recovery
- When ATIH complains that there is a version missing, click on "Ignore".
- Repeat step three until ATIH is satisfied.
It would be a lot easier if ATIH still had a manual consolidation feature.
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