ATIH2012- Backup Scheme 1xFULL & 3xINC, then 1xFULL & 3xINC, finally 1xFULL & 3xINC repeat. Storing only 3 recent version chains
The scheduled backups get stuck creating ONLY INCREMENTALS with no end in sight & this is after working fine for some months. Note it has been set to store no more than 3 recent version chains, so it was deleting the oldest version chain. My external hard drive is a 3TB & has 500GB of free space for the backups, which historically are only 180GB for the full backup
Any help really appreciated...thanks
When you started the setting of keep no more then 3, the task needed to be a new task--not a change of configuration for the old task. Editing an existing task causes unpredictable results.
If 500 gb is your available space and the size of the backups is 180 (times 3 full) plus the space for the 9 inc, the result will be that Acronis will give you an "out of disk space" error and the backup would FAIL. The reason being, that acronis will attempt to create the replacement before performing the deletion so your real space requirements needs is for more than 500gb of free space. ( 4 full plus the space used by the 9 (3 chains x 3 inc) of incs.
My suggestion is to create a new task and use the setting of keep no more than 2 recent versions chains; providing that the available space needed for 3 full and the space needed by the 6 (2 x 3) inc never exceed the available space--which you say is 500 GB. The new storage folder should be a new empty folder.
Create your backup scheme as per below except change the 6 inc to your 3; and change the store number from 4 to 2 if the available space is at least 500 GB.
Figure 11-Inc: Example of custom/incremental backup method settings
If using incremental type backups (which is full + X Inc), the 11-Inc is my recommended method. Change the 6 or 4 to fit your available storage.
These automatic cleanup settings will provide for automatic deletion of the oldest backups after the "Store no more than X number of chains" quota has been reached.
In this example, deletion of oldest backup will occur immediately following creation of backup #29.
Allow space for 1 more full backup in addition to "Store no more than X number of chains" as the program will NOT delete the oldest full until its replacement has been successfully created.
In this example, one chain or one recent version chain =1 full plus 6 inc or 7 files per chain.
If keeping 4 recent version chains (4 chains of 7 each) retention would be 28 files. Deletion of oldest chain will occur after backup 29 (full).
Also understand the limitations/risk factor of incremental backups. If one inc backups gets corrupt or accidentally deleted, all newer inc are worthless so avoid excessive number of incremental backups. Always maintain a full backup set which are current This explains why keeping a reasonable number of x "recent version chains" can be very important. Keeping a high number of incremental is a high risk factor to your backup data and should be avoided.
For a better understanding of the differences between Inc and Dif as it relates to the safety factor, review this link.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/40810
When restoring an Incremental backup, select the specific Inc file to be restored and all preceding Incremental files plus the full backup base must be present and will be restored (multiple files required).
Thanks for your prompt response, yes I did assign a fixed drive letter to my external usb hard drive prior to creating the backup task, it has always been the same drive letter designation. I wish there was some way to have acronis bind to the drive serial no.
@GroverH, wow, thank you for the very comprehensive response, I owe u an apology as I should have qualified that the external usb 3TB HD with the most recent backups(3xFULL + respective 3xINC for each) still resulted in just over 500GB of free space for any subsequent 4th FULL backup prior to deleting the oldest chain version, so in short hard disk space isn't the issue here.
This issue has happened to me before, & as you suggest I needed to create a new task & start over. I'm going to attempt to use 'Import Backup Settings' utility
I am disappointed with the seeming lack of reliability of ATIH12, it also seems to have issues with destination naming conventions when using "add" => add (@date@) => add (@time@)...etc, I also needed to get my PC to sleep upon finishing any given backup, but Acronis only has a "Shutdown" option, so I had to write a short program to do this(run as a post command in task options), sorry, but I now feel better having got those of my chest, I guess I'll leave these for another topic.
Yes, I use both the Pre and the Post command to control the sleeping. Here is one suggestion I found works for me.
http://forum.acronis.com/forum/29618
When using the date and time in the file name, I make a practice of using the underscore (before-during-after) to separate the two commands such as below and I avoid the use of parenthesis.
file name_@date@_@time@_
and the program will add the new
full_b1_s1_v1.tib
inc_b1_s2_v1.tib
If space is not the issue and if tsk editing is not the issue and if drive letter change is not the issue, then, I am unsure as to the cause of the backups not doing its cleanup job. Acronis reported they spent considerable time on the 2013 code to make sure the issues you are describing about 2012 did not occur with 2013. 2014 is in beta testing as we write.
Perhaps a contributing factor is the 3TB size. Is this 3 all one partition or 2 partitions?
One usual troubleshooting method would be to check the disk for disk and file errors. Another option would be use the repair option during a re-install.
Whatever you decide, good luck.