Backup Scheme Not Being Complied With
My backup scheme of one full version followed by 6 incremental versions then another full version plus removal of prior full version is not working. Instead, it's actually producing 4 incremental versions. then another full version while not removing the prior full version.
This issue has been resolved.
Resolved how?
Bobbo - I'm having similar issues and your comments make sense. If I have three full backups, but only want two (or one), is it safe to do a delete of the first backup file? I'm starting to run out of space on my backup drive because of too many full backups.
George,
You can manually delete backups as long as you delete the entire version chain - if you leave one incremental and are hoping to restore files from that, it will never work. Likewise, if you accidentally one of the full .tib files (assuming there is more than one - you might just have one big one), then that full would not work either.
If you manually delete files though, this is outside the knowledge of the Acronis database which has no idea that you've manually deleted files that it expects to be there. To register these changes you can either "validate" the backup or attempt a mock "recovery" of the backup. It will tell you that expected files are missing and ask you to locate them or ignore them. Ignore them (you have to do this for each file you manually deleted) until there are no more messages. Now the database knows that they don't exist and will keep chugging along.
Otherwise, instead of messing with all that, delete the files manually, but keep the ones you want (if any). Then delete the original backup task in Acronis (not the entire bakcup though if you're planning on keeping some of the older backups still - just the task in this case). Then create a new backup task and configure it to maintain less backup chains (for example if you have 4 currently, reduce it to 3 or 2) that way you won't run out of space (hopefully). You'll just have fewer backup versions to revert too from now on.
Good info to know. If you could, look at the attachment and tell me if this will work.
I'd like to delete the first full backup. If I did that, would I have to delete all backups that have b4 in the file name? The don't completely understand the naming, but I think it might have gotten messed up by re-saving the backup plan, which according to your previous post, would start the chain all over.
George,
Easiest to sort by date instead of by name so you can see the fulls and incrementals that go together. In theory, yes, you should be able to delete all B4 instances and just have your B5 remaining.
B= the backup chain number S= session number V=version number
I'm a llittle concerned with your B5 backup though. Usually, file names are appended with an underscore for different files and each version is unique:
Example: A single bakcup split into two tibs
backup_full_b1_s1_v1.tib
backup_full_b1_s1_v2.tib
Hyphens suggest there was an error and tried to append something. In your case, I'm seeing that it reused the same version number (1) and appended "-2" to it in both the full and incremental.
GeoWork E Drive_Full_b5_s1_v1.tib
GeoWork E Drive_Full_b5_s1_v1-2.tib
Hopefully that backup is still good, but you might want to start with a completely new back task (with a new unique name) and create another full to start to be sure. Then delete that version 5 backup to free up the space again, but only after your newly created one has completed without issue.
That is one large backup for a single TIB file - nearly 1TB. Personally, I split mine into smaller chunks, but I understand this can bet messy if not managed correctly. However, think about the next biggest single file on your system - even a blu-ray backup is only roughly 30GB. I limit mine to 4GB as it speeds up the process, is easier to push across a network, easier to restore across a network, and less susceptible to corruption since a lot can happen during the time span it takes to create a single 1TB file that eeds a lot of memory and caching to be created. I would imagine that are large file of that size would be more susceptible to corruption during the backup creation process. Plus, if ever needing to backup/restore across a network, if your link drops at any point, the entire process ends and starts from scratch on that single file. With smaller files, it will pick up where the last .tib completed and continue on from there.
Thanks! I took your advice and created a new backup - deleted all the files except the one full from session 5.
Question about the backup size. It's 2 TB drive that I'm backing up that has about 1.1 TB filled. If I limit the backup size to 4 GB how would that work? Would it create many 4 GB files?
I have had to restored a file like this (not one of these backups, but a similar one) and (fingers crossed) didn't have any issues.
Yes, if you set the backup size to 4GB that's just the maximum size per .tib that Acronis will create so you would have a ton of 4GB files instead of as single 1TB file. I have to use 4GB because my router SMB share only works with FAT32 formatted drives, but I also it find it to be faster and more reliable for recoveries in general.
For me, it's not that bad either because my main OS and profile backup is only like 45GB with Acronis Comporession. I also store all of my other data on other disks/paritions and back those up seperately - one for music, one for software, one for pictures, etc. That way, my OS restore is fast and simple and I'm up and running again in no time. I can basically restore my OS from SSD to SSD in about 8 minutes and then worry about recovering the other types of data in specific blocks after that, all I'm still able to work on my fully restored Windows machine. Just a personal preference though.
Thanks!
Appreciate the advice/opinion!
You're welcome. Glad to be able to help out!