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ATI 2020 manual clean up takes ages

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I've got Acronis True Image 2020 backing up my Windows 10 64-bit PC to a 6TB NAS drive.  I need to manually delete some "older" backup images but the "Clean up" operation is taken absolutely ages.  For example, I've selected 3 differentials (6.3GB, 7GB and 11.3GB respectively) and it took over 20 minutes for the first file to actually delete and the "clean up" dialogue progress to switch from 0% to 33% progress.  I'm now about another 10-15 minutes in and it's only just deleted the 2nd (66% complete).

I know that I can manually delete the image from the NAS which only takes a few seconds via SMB/CIFS.  Any idea why doing it through ATI (so that it can keep it's catalogue integrity in check) is taking so long? I've got 3 full backups and 34 diffs in total and at this speed, it'll take over a day to delete all my "older" backups.

I remember something a few years ago about oplocks but I think this was related to "allocating" large spaces prior to writing but I thought I would mention it.

This NAS is a QNAP T412 and has a 6TB WD Red drive in it dedicated to the backup process.

Thanks, Chris

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Chris, I recently did some similar cleaning up of files stored on my Synology NAS and the clean up tool ran very quickly to clean up over 100GB of space on the NAS.

I haven't seen the type of delay that you are describing here myself and don't remember seeing other users reporting such issues, which suggests that there is something else in play here?

See the following KB documents which may be relevant here?

KB 36429: Acronis Software: exclude program folders and executables from antivirus and other security programs

KB 46430: Acronis Software: Making Acronis Products Compatible with Antivirus Software

Thanks for replying Steve and letting me know that it isn't normal behaviour.

So your first link is about excluding certain Acronis executable folders from installed virus checkers/firewalls.  The PC in question doesn't have any 3rd party virus checkers (including those listed in your second link) - only the Windows 10 default "Firewall & network protection" and "Virus & Threat protection" which I assume is either known to not cause a problem or ATI's installation applies whitelists to.

I had a painful 2-hour conversation and TeamViewer session with 1st line support and the outcome was that apparently, issues can occur in ATI 2020 if the destination disk becomes full.  However, their solution was to "upgrade to ATI 2021" (initially the trial then the paid product) as the issue has apparently been solved in 2021!

I am sceptical but I said I'm not paying for an upgrade to a paid-for product that is still in its support period that has a known issue with it, particularly as I've only got their word that an upgrade to 2021 fixes the problem.   Additionally, based on my backup and clean up schedule, the trial will expire out before my 6TB fills up again (for me to be sure the problem resolves).  Additionally, the only reason my 6TB destination HDD filled up in the first place was because the auto-clean up schedule hasn't been clearing down previous generations for some reason!

Several hours later and the manual version clean up has managed to clear about 10 .tibx images (differentials) (around 125GB) and is still going.  Still not enough for a fresh full backup but hopefully in 24 hours time it will be.

Once the manual version clean up has finished this current round, I will reboot PC and NAS and see if that speeds up the clear up process with the second backup chain.

Thanks for your advice Steve and reference docs. Much appreciated.  I'll update this thread post-reboot about if  that fixed my issue.

Chris, I am not certain that the issue with the Clean up versions tool not working when there is too little space has been fixed in ATI 2021 - I have vague memories of seeing reports of it still and it isn't mentioned as being fixed in the ATI 2021 Update #2 build release notes!

Perhaps of greater importance is to resolve the issue with automatic cleanup on your PC so as to avoid the basic space issue arising in the first place!

What actual settings are you using for automatic cleanup for your tasks?

My personal recommendation and which I use myself, is to always use 'Store no more than X recent version chains' where the value of X is set so as to allow at least 1 further Full backup file to be stored in the destination location.

The reason for this is simply that ATI automatic cleanup is never performed until after a new full backup chain has been started successfully.

Morning Steven,

I'm glad your doubtful about ATI 2021 fixing this issue.  I'm glad I didn't fall for paying for an upgrade based on unsubstantiated claims from 1st line support.

Your personal recommendation exactly aligns with my view on how to calculate a clean up strategy. I had a 6TB backup drive (dedicated to the backup) on the NAS.  Let's remove 0.5TB for wiggle room (= 5.5TB).  A full backup consumes just under 1.6TB.  3 * 1.6TB = 4.8TB so I should be able to have 2 "full" backup chain + the latest full backup and have (5.5TB - 4.8TB =) 0.7TB remaining for incrementals or differentials.  Incrementals take 10GB a go which should allow for (0.7TB / 10GB = 70 incrementals across all chains.  Differentials range from 10GB through 30GB which would allow for around 23.  All values are conservative + the 0.5TB wiggle room.

My schedule is:

  • Weekly: Mon, Wed, Fri at 23:10pm
  • Create a full version every 11 differential versions
  • Store no more than 2 version chains

Over night, I've managed to free up 3.5TB of data by clean ups (took best part of 10 hours to do this).  I am going to let the backup run now ("Backup Now") and monitor the situation from there.  Thanks for your help Steven.