Old version cleanup rules?
I have a backup setup in ATI 2020. It does not clean up after itself. It just keeps creating backups until the disk is full. I have posted a picture of my settings. What am I missing? How do I get ATI to clean up after itself? So far I have used the "Clean Up Backup versions" tool that is included in ATI. But doing it manually is frustrating and time-consuming. I have been testing it for about two weeks. But I have never seen ATI do any type of cleanup on its own.
Yes, I am on Build 21400
I created a new backup. I tried a different setting.
Same problem.
I have just tested this myself and cleanup worked just fine using the same backup scheme (Single version) using ATI 2020 #21400
One difference I am seeing here is that your new backup task was cloned from another older task as shown by having (1) prefixing the name. Please try making a whole new backup task and see if the problem is still shown?
Ok, thanks for giving it a try.
The next options are:
- Do a Repair Install following the steps in KB 60915: Acronis True Image: repairing program settings - and if not resolved, a Clean install.
- Open a Support Case direct with Acronis to investigate what the issue is?
Have you looked at the logs to see if there has been any attempt to cleanup the older versions? I can't think of a reason for it to fail, but let's see if it even tried.
If you aren't familiar with viewing the logs, follow the link at the bottom of Steve's posts to MVP Log Viewer.
Well, I have been looking at the logs. Nice little program. But there does not appear be any errors. It looks to me that it never attempted to do "cleanup".
So I decided to reinstall. I did a clean install.
I removed it with Windows Programs and Features. Then I downloaded a new install file of ATI 2020.
I did not restore any settings. I set everything up fresh. I formatted the destination drive first.
But I am having the same results. ATI 2020 never attempts to do the "cleanup".
Is it because I am running the backup manually? Maybe it only does cleanup on the scheduled backup?
Is it because the destination is an internal drive? Maybe it only does cleanup on external drives?
Is it because I am not testing with validation? Maybe it only does a cleanup after validation?
Is it because I am running the backup manually? Maybe it only does cleanup on the scheduled backup?
Is it because the destination is an internal drive? Maybe it only does cleanup on external drives?
Is it because I am not testing with validation? Maybe it only does a cleanup after validation?
No for all the above questions. I do a mix of manual & scheduled backups with no issues of cleanup not working. I also use a mix of internal, external, network & cloud destinations, and never use validation as part of any of my backup tasks.
Are you running ATI from an Administrator account?
Yes it is an Administrator account.
It is a home PC. It only has one user account. Guest account is disabled.
Windows 10 Pro Version 1903 build 18362.356
The source drive is using BitLocker. The destination is not using Bitlocker.
I use the built in Encryption in ATI for the backup. I have also tested with Encryption off and it makes no difference.
When you did the clean install, did you follow the steps in the KB document shown below?
Method 3. Repair and reinstall
If all of the above failed, follow https://kb.acronis.com/content/60195 to repair the installation, and if it does not help, perform a clean installation of the software. It would recreate all of the program files and settings, including those stored in the system registry.
Method 4. Use the Cleanup tool
Lastly, if the repair or uninstallation fails, hangs, or crashes, apply a special Cleanup tool to remove the software, install the latest version of the program and see if the problem has been fixed.
In particular, did you run the Cleanup tool before reinstalling and setting up a new backup task?
Your source drive using BitLocker should not be an issue here, especially given the destination drive is not encrypted.
I skipped the Repair step completely. I have only been using ATI 2020 for about two weeks. I am a new user. I have doubts that the install was bad. So I chose to skip trying to repair it.
I uninstalled it with windows Program and Features.
Reboot machine.
Run the Acronis Cleanup Tool. To make sure it is all gone.
Reboot machine.
Install ATI 2020. Log into my account. Setup backups. Run backups.
If you have configured your backup task as per your earlier screen images, i.e. using Single version for the backup scheme and are seeing it creating multiple full backups, then I am out of ideas here.
Please open a Support Case with Acronis to let them investigate why the cleanup of older versions is not happening on your computer.
Yea sorry. I'm surprised anyone responded to this on a Sunday. Thanks for that.
When I first created this thread I thought maybe it was something simple.
I thought I was missing something.
I will give them information about my computer. But I will quickly run out of energy if I need to do a ton of troubleshooting.
At this point, I have reinstalled it and gone through the settings several times. I don't rely on this product today. I only paid for it 9 days ago.
I actually did test this kind of stuff when I was using the Trial. I know that is was working 12 days ago. I still have those backups on an external drive. Acronis was cleaning up after itself as a Free Trial.
But paying for it has disabled the feature. So maybe they will be able to fix it.
I can not confirm this anymore. When I install it it says my Trial has expired. Although that is not true. The Trial lasts 30 days.
So paying for it has modified a windows registry. Now the Trial will not work. Although I am not over the 30 days.
Look at the picture. Desktop Data Drive was a test of differential backup. C Boot Windows 10 was a test of Single version backup. It was changing the original file to 12KB (as cleanup). This is the only way I can show it was working on the Trial. Since I can not run the Trial anymore.
I ran a test of this scenario today and it all worked as expected. I backed up to a USB drive.
In a prior post I suggested looking at the logs. After my test I checked my log files and see that the new version does not put an entry in the ti_demon log when it deletes an older version as ATI 2019 version does. So basically the logs tell us absolutely nothing.
At this point, I am wondering if there is something about your H: drive which is the root of the problem. It's unclear from your latest post whether you successfully ran the backups under the trial version to the H: drive or to the external drive you reference. What happens if you try again to the external drive?
Bruno, with the new .tibx backups, the ti_demon logs show minimal information (the same as is sent via email to users via the notification settings), but the main volume of log entries are now written to the backup_worker log files instead, so it is those logs we would need to review for this situation.
The easiest method of gathering the logs would be by creating an Acronis System report (zip file) and attaching as a File if smaller than 8MB in size (else sharing via OneDrive, Dropbox etc).
Right, Steve. I looked into the backup_worker logs and what I find are minimal entries, but at least an indication of a cleanup.
For the first backup, the log shows
... type=cleanup; slices_deleted=0; cleaned_up=0; ...
For the next backup where there is a backup to be deleted it shows
...type=cleanup; slice_id=2; slice_uuid=...
...type=cleanup; slices_deleted=1; cleaned_up=...
For the third backup is shows
...type=cleanup; slice_id=4; slice_uuid=...
...type=cleanup; slices_deleted=1; cleaned_up=...
Bruno, I am seeing the following entries in my backup_worker logs for when cleanup is active.
09/28/2019 21:21:31 type=log; level=inf; message=
io#1: deleting volume "\\?\S:\Test\/TestSingleVersion-0001.tibx";
09/28/2019 21:21:31 type=cleanup; slice_id=4; slice_uuid=f2f7ebf5e0e2e27ba80b7320d10e8ad8; slice_ctime=1569700864; id=1;
09/28/2019 21:21:31 type=cleanup; slices_deleted=1; cleaned_up=35262771200; new_size=35263098880; id=1;
This matches the information shown on the Activity page for that task (using single version).
So, I would expect the backup_worker log(s) to show more information about cleanup actions.
Well, I found something. I did a lot more testing.
Single version was used.
"Sector-by-Sector" is the option that breaks cleanup on my PC.
Both external and internal drives are affected by this.
I can not install the Trial version of ATI to test. It says it has expired
Steve, my log is similar to yours. I'm still operating with one weird eye so looking at the screen is frustrating and I miss things, but I do have the line naming the deleted file.
CrabsRule, so glad you were able to determine what option breaks the cleanup. I've not used the sector-by-sector backup so no experience there. I don't know why that would affect cleanup, but worth sending feedback through the product.
(and what crabs are ruling?)
CrabsRule wrote:Well, I found something. I did a lot more testing.
Single version was used.
"Sector-by-Sector" is the option that breaks cleanup on my PC.
Both external and internal drives are affected by this.
I can not install the Trial version of ATI to test. It says it has expired
Have you specifically elected to use 'Sector by Sector' mode for this backup or is this failing over to this mode of operation? There is a key difference here as if it is the latter situation, then this is caused by a file system errors such as bad sectors. Under normal circumstances there should be no need to elect to use this mode.
I am able to recreate this issue after selecting the top 'Sector-by-Sector' option for the Advanced Image creation mode setting where my single version backup task no longer deletes the prior full version file.
CrabsRule, please either submit Feedback with an Acronis System Report for this issue using the Feedback tool in the ATI GUI, or else open a support case with Acronis for it.
If you have selected this image creation mode, then I would recommend deselecting it.
Feedback sent by myself:
Something doesn't work.
ATI 2020 Single Version backup scheme does not delete older backup .tibx files if the Image creation mode is set to use 'Sector-by-Sector'.
See ATI 2020 Forum topic linked below:
Topic: Old version cleanup rules?
Link: https://forum.acronis.com/forum/acronis-true-image-2020-forum/old-versi…
Update on my feedback for this issue - reply received today from Renata.
Thank you for reporting this!
I have passed your feedback to QA, we have reproduced it and created a bug TI-178135.