ATI isn't working. (How's that for a general title?)

Teague, welcome to these public user forums.

If ATI 2018 has not been creating backups on your system for some months then I am not sure why you would want to delete any backups that you still have?

I would suggest doing a Repair Install of your ATI 2018 to start with - you do this by reinstalling the software over the top of what you already have without uninstalling first.

While it is not infallible, creating a global setting for email reports on backup activity can alert you to situations such as this. Open ATI, click on settings, then on the "change email notification settings" just below the Notifications.

The make the appropriate selection.

Ian

"If ATI 2018 has not been creating backups on your system for some months then I am not sure why you would want to delete any backups that you still have?"

...

"now the drive is full, new backups are not being saved, I've found no way to delete the old backups and make room for new ones"

In other words: among the tons of backups which are now clogging my storage archive, the oldest are not being automatically cleared away to make room for new ones to be added. I don't "want" to delete anything — I want the software to work — but failing that, I want to at least make room for current backups by deleting my most-outdated and thus least-vital backups manually, if necessary. (Although, again: 'automatically' would be the thing I thought I was paying for.)

Hopefully that clears it up.

I'm happy to re-install the software, but presumably this alone wouldn't magically change everything else about the situation — so, what would need to happen after the re-install? 

Thanks again.

You can manually delete any unwanted backup files via Windows Explorer provided you exercise care and select complete version chains, i.e. all those sharing the same _b?_ number in the file name.  The key proviso for doing this type of delete is to run a validation for the backup task that created the files afterwards.

As to why automatic cleanup for your backup tasks is not working - more information is needed about your backup scheme settings, what automatic cleanup settings you have, the average sizes of your backup chains and the size of your backup drive.

If the only reason your backups are failing is due to lack of space, then there should be no need to reinstall anything, as clearing space for new backups should resolve the main backup issue.

You, just now:

You can manually delete any unwanted backup files via Windows Explorer...

Me, original post:

...using Explorer doesn't work; it just throws an error saying "knock it off: let Acronis handle this"

...

You, just now:

As to why automatic cleanup for your backup tasks is not working - more information is needed about your backup scheme settings, what automatic cleanup settings you have...

Me, original post:

...I can't tell you the details of my initial backup scheme, because I've been trying to fix this problem for days and the only apparent avenue for doing so is by changing the backup scheme — which doesn't work — so at this point the current settings are unrelated to the initial settings anyway.

I appreciate your efforts to help me solve my problem, Steve — I truly do — but I'd appreciate it more if you gave any indication of having tried to understand my problem in the first place. I wrote down the problem. It's in the first post. I can't delete these files. Windows won't let me. That is the problem I'm having. It's been the same problem the whole time.

It doesn't matter which sub-groupings of individual files I select before attempting to delete them; and in fact, I just tried limiting my selection solely to a batch of the matching 'b's, like you just said, to double-check myself on this — and I still can't delete them. (Which doesn't surprise me, but I figured I'd take your advice seriously as an indication of good faith on my part.) No matter how I try to delete them, Windows throws an error saying I don't have permission to do so — and it throws this error subsequent to throwing the initial dialog which asks me to give my administrator-level permission to delete the files. I am the administrator; I give the permission; it throws an error saying the operation requires permission from SYSTEM — and nothing seems to free me from that impasse.

This brings us to the post I wrote in the first place, and to the questions I'm still trying to answer now: how do I delete these files, and how can I ensure this doesn't happen again?

You, just now:

[...more information is needed about] the average sizes of your backup chains and the size of your backup drive.

Me, original post:

Lemme know how I can explain my situation in greater detail.

Now we're onto something! This is the one thing I asked about in my original post for which I've been given anything to 'work with' since. I'm eager to share whatever possibly-helpful details I can in pursuit of a solution for this problem, so, thanks.

The size of my backup drive is 3.6 terabytes, and the average size of the 's1' chains is about 320 gigs. (The 's2' chains tend to be about 20 gigs; the 's3' chains tend to be about 5 gigs; the 's4' chains tend to be about 2 gigs.)

What other information can I give you?

Thanks again.

Do you have Acronis Active Protection enabled here?  If so, then this will prevent you from deleting any .tib files or other ATI files.  Turn off AAP via the icon in the system tray then retry deleting via Explorer.

Can you open the backup task settings? 

I have read / re-read your initial post for this topic, but to be totally honest, it doesn't actually tell me anything useful to be able to help you.  Yes, I understand that something doesn't work for you, but that is about all.

Please understand that I and all the other MVP's here are volunteer users - we do not work for or get paid by Acronis for helping in these forums.  We do not have a crystal ball either, so please forgive us for having to ask questions that you believe you have already provided answers for.  It may be that I am having a senior moment, or simply that I am responding to many other forum topics along with yours.  Pictures or screen captures are always very helpful.

Reference the information of file sizes - that would seem to add up to about 350GB for a complete version chain of 1 x Full image plus 3 x Incremental image files, but how many chains are you telling ATI to keep before asking it to delete the oldest?  Your 3.6TB drive could potentially hold a maximum of 10 complete version chains if dedicated to this one backup task, but ATI should not be asked to store more than 9 such chains as nothing is ever deleted until after a new Full backup for the next chain has been created, so you need space for 10 chains for automatic cleanup to work in this scenario.

You, just now:

Do you have Acronis Active Protection enabled here?  If so, then this will prevent you from deleting any .tib files or other ATI files.  Turn off AAP via the icon in the system tray then retry deleting via Explorer.

Success!

Thank you. Your volunteered attention has been more than generous. I apologize for my tone throughout this thread.

That said:

You, just now, emphasis added:

I have read / re-read  your initial post  for this topic, but to be totally honest, it  doesn't actually tell me anything useful to be able to help you.  

Sir, you're generous with your time, and explain things to strangers who need help — and that's next to godliness, in my book — and beyond that, you seem like a nice guy.

But.

Do you see how poorly the claim above has instantly aged? Do you see how it becomes evidently wrong immediately, based on the very words in the first post, and what ultimately solved the problem it was describing? Do you see how little you would have had to have been engaged in what I've been saying this whole time in order to have made it this far without making that suggestion?

Me, original post:

I've found no way to delete the old backups and make room for new ones — using Explorer doesn't work; it just throws an error saying "knock it off: let Acronis handle this"

...

1) How do I delete my old backups?

You seem like a nice guy — and I'm not just saying that — but you typed your whole longsuffering explanation about how you couldn't possibly have helped me based on the scant information I provided in my first post, immediately after having articulated, for the first time, what may be preventing someone from deleting ATI backup files from Windows Explorer — which solved the problem. You've evidently been able to connect the dots between "inability to delete ATI files from Windows Explorer" and "the effects of Acronis Active Protection on .tib files" since the beginning... so, why didn't you connect those dots until now? Perhaps you missed it the first time; maybe you overlooked it the second time — but you were fully dug-in by the third. That's not a 'senior moment,' my respected elder: that's a normal human sticking to their guns and not revisiting their assumptions about what information they had been given by someone who needed help — even after being asked to revisit those exact assumptions.

(To wit: You still hadn't revisited them as of your last post — which we know, because after you solved the problem, you continued explaining how I could provide you with additional information in order to solve the problem.)

You, just now:

It may be that I am having a senior moment, or simply that I am responding to many other forum topics along with yours. 

Steve. Buddy.

I have absolutely no quarrel with you, and I truly appreciate your help — and anyway, you'll never see me again, nor is anyone else reading this — but 1) don't act like I'm over here punishing a senior citizen in bad faith for their perfectly good-faith efforts: yours weren't, QED; and furthermore, don't act like a simple momentary oversight [e.g. 'senior moment'] explains your repeated failures to engage with a specifically-outlined problem; and 2) as for the possibility that you were "simply responding to many other forum topics along with yours," I don't doubt that you bring good faith to other troubleshooting topics across this forum (good faith and even godliness), but in this topic, it's no more of a legitimate excuse than 'senior moment' was: your good faith with other strangers won't make a whit of difference to the next fresh stranger who walks in the door needing help — especially if that stranger should call attention to an apparent lack of good-faith engagement on your part; especially if you should respond by shirking responsibility for such a mistake; especially if you've accidentally proven the stranger's point in the process.

Accountability is a big thing with me, which is why I'm bummed by your lame attempts to avoid accountability for a specific complaint which had seemed reasonable all along — your first reply was pretty dumb, my friend; it was obvious you weren't paying attention — and which was proven reasonable by the end.

By default, I appreciate your efforts in this forum, because I appreciate people-who-help as a rule — I'm not kidding: I think it's next to godliness, and I think you qualify — but for what it's worth: if you want future strangers to account for your appreciable helpfulness, you'll have to either be appreciable in your helpfulness, or accountable to the stranger, in return.

We all need the occasional reminder.

Thanks again.

Respectfully and with gratitude,

    — Teague

Teague wrote:

Steve. Buddy.

I have absolutely no quarrel with you, and I truly appreciate your help — and anyway, you'll never see me again,

Farewell Teague!