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Target disk is full

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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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Don, You won't be able to consolidate the existing ones unless it was setup originally.  Technically it's possible, but will probably lead to trouble as modifying existing scripts usually ends with database corruption (not backup corruption, but the database files that remember what your existing backups are made of).

You'd have to delete the existing task (not the backups though).  Then reimport the old backup and set the new task to clean.  Unfortunately, if you have a bunch of incrementals, probably not the best idea.  It would be better if you replaced the disk with a new one and held onto the old backusp for posterity.

Take a look at this for scheduling and automatic cleanup

Deleting backups and backup versions

 

Custom schemes

 

 

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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:

  1. Delete version chains older than X: This will completely delete old backup chains, including the first (full) backup in the chain.
  2. 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.
  3. 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,

  1. Run ATIH
  2. Start a recovery
  3. When ATIH complains that there is a version missing, click on "Ignore".
  4. Repeat step three until ATIH is satisfied.

It would be a lot easier if ATIH still had a manual consolidation feature.