Acronis not abiding by custom differential backup settings

Please post a screen capture of your each of the 3 backup schemes. The results are not matching your desciption of how the each scheme is configured. Whether they are performing incorrectly may be too soon to tell and will depend upon the results of the Sept 5 backup.

The most frequent cause for a scheme to NOT perform as expected is that the user will use the "edit settings" option and make changes to the settings after the backups have begun to be created. If that is true here, you will need to allow more time to pass to see if your changes will take affect at some point in the future. Hopefully, each of 3 schemes has their own individual storage folder or sub-folder so there is no mixing of backups. Rather than make changes to existing task, it is bettter to stop using the old task and create a new task with all new settings, new names and new storage folders. It is also best to have a specific task letter assigned (such as x or y or x) to the storage disk so the insertion of a flash drive or camera does not mess up the drive letter assignments for the backup tasks.

My example you referneced shows 1 full plus 2 diff; and store no more than 2 recent version chains. This would indicate that auto deletion would begin after backup #7 (full #3 has been completed after which chain 1 would be auto deleted. The program will always create the replacement full before deleting the oldest chain so always allow room for that temporary space need.

You wrote "After the fourth day of backups, for each backup set, I am expecting to see one full backup and 3 differential backups."
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To achieve such, each backup scheme should be set to "full after 3 differerentials" or 1 chain =4 files ( A new chain will begin on backup run # 5 whenver that occurs and it will be a full backup.)

If you set the "store no more than 1 recent version chains, deletion of chain 1 will occur after the Full B2 is created.
If you set the "store no more than 2 recent version chains, deletion of chain 1 will occur after the Full B3 is created.
If you set the "store no more than 3 recent version chains, deletion of chain 1 will occur after the Full B4 is created.
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Your posted Documents scheme:
The scheme appears that you have the option checked for "don't delete original"
which is not part of the "store no more than X count and basically ignored in the count.
Deletion of the chain 2 (b2) would be the first chain deleted as you are telling the program not to delete the original.
If you set the store to 3, deletion of chain 2 will occur after the Full B5 is created
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Whether they are performing incorrectly may be too soon to tell and will depend upon the results of the Sept 5 backup and how each backup scheme is actually set.

GroverH wrote:

Please post a screen capture of your each of the 3 backup schemes. The results are not matching your desciption of how the each scheme is configured.

I agree! See the attached screenshot. Each of the three backup sets have this identical setup.

GroverH wrote:

The most frequent cause for a scheme to NOT perform as expected is that the user will use the "edit settings" option and make changes to the settings after the backups have begun to be created. If that is true here, you will need to allow more time to pass to see if your changes will take affect at some point in the future.

I have not changed the settings since the backups were first defined, although when things weren't behaving as expected, I clicked into the settings to double, triple, quadruple check that everything was set up correctly.

GroverH wrote:

You wrote "After the fourth day of backups, for each backup set, I am expecting to see one full backup and 3 differential backups."
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To achieve such, each backup scheme should be set to "full after 3 differerentials" or 1 chain =4 files ( A new chain will begin on backup run # 5 whenver that occurs and it will be a full backup.)

I don't think I made myself clear here. These backup sets were defined for the first time only 4 days ago. Although my backups are set to create a full backup after 6 differentials, I have not waited an entire week yet since defining these backup sets. I was merely saying that, to date, 4 days in, I should be seeing the initial full backup followed by 3 differentials.

GroverH wrote:

If you set the "store no more than 1 recent version chains, deletion of chain 1 will occur after the Full B2 is created.
If you set the "store no more than 2 recent version chains, deletion of chain 1 will occur after the Full B3 is created.
If you set the "store no more than 3 recent version chains, deletion of chain 1 will occur after the Full B4 is created.
------------------------------------
Your posted Documents scheme:
The scheme appears that you have the option checked for "don't delete original"
which is not part of the "store no more than X count and basically ignored in the count.
Deletion of the chain 2 (b2) would be the first chain deleted as you are telling the program not to delete the original.
If you set the store to 3, deletion of chain 2 will occur after the Full B5 is created
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More confusion caused by me; sorry. When I posted my "results", I should have mentioned those were my daily results, as pulled from the Acronis log. I did not mean all those backup files still reside on my PC. The Acronis automatic cleanup is functioning well for me. Every time Acronis creates a new full backup, it cleans up and deletes the entire previous backup chain, just as it should.

The only problem I am having is the premature creation of full backups. It should create a full backup only after the sixth differential. Instead, it is creating full backups after zero, one, or two differentials. Randomly.

I would concur that based on your custom backup scheme settings of full + 6 diff and keept 1 chain,
what you should see is the the addition of each diff daily so that you have accumulated the
1 full plus 6 diff files.
On the next backup after the 7 files of chain 1 has been created,
the backup should be a new full and the 7 files of oldest chain should be immediately (within seconds) deleted leaving only the recent full to remain.
No manual deletion should be needed or performed.

If this is not what is happening, usual causes have been settings have been edited or changes.
Or, a restore has been made.

Question: Are all these tib files going into one folder, or does each task have its own individual storage folder. My recommendation is that each task has its own individualo storage folder and its own individual unique backup name so as to avoid any possible confusion on the part of the program or the user.

If by chance all files are stored in the same folder, the task "Move" option is available to force the task to change the storage location so each task can have its own folder.

GH6. How to use the MOVE backup option to relocate storage folder.

When using the edit setting to view existing settings, do be sure and "back out" or Cancel out so nothing is saved as part of your inspectionn of settings.

Summary:

If after a little time, your tasks are not performing as indicated above, I would stop using them and start with all new tasks.

You can also delete the Database files so ALL TASKS are deleted and new tasks required.

GH55. Delete Database History Archives.xml.

I'm having a very similar problem. My settings are the same: Differential, Create full version after 6 differential versions, Daily.

This far there are 1 full version + 32 differential versions. The first backup is named xxx_full_b5_s1_v1.tib, the diffs are xxx_diff_b5_s2_v1.tib to xxx_diff_b5_s32_v1.tib. A new differential version appears each day.

There is NEVER a new full backup.

I haven't changed the settings. I've been waiting for 32 days, but no new full backup appears. The backup goes to its own folder, so there is no possibility another backup is making things go wrong.

We need a fix for the bug.

GroverH, thanks for the advice. I am avoiding going into settings for any reason until a week has passed, as I suspect this is what is causing my seemingly odd results. If this turns out not to be the issue, I will delete all my defined backups and create new ones.

Awazz, I am certain the helpers here will want to see a screenshot of your settings.

Awazz,

Yes, a capture of your current backup scheme might help. As previously mentioned, the most frequent cause to a malfunction of expectations is user making changes to the task configuration after the task has started being used.

What happened to backups B1, B2, B3, B4 and you mention you are on B5. Were these deleted by you or by the program or??? If deleted by you, did you use perform the deleted from within True Image or was the delete performed via Windows Explorer?

Have you made changes to the original backup task since its creation?

After we see you current settings, we have have an idea as to the cause.

Most likely, as the program is not doing what you expect it to do, you may want to stop using the existing task and start over with a completely new task and make sure the new task has cleanup settings included. A custom task is needed. Here is an example of a custom differential backup scheme with cleanup. Use a new new task name and point the storage to a new storage folder or sub-folder. The old backups are still good and can be retained as long as you have the space for them. Once you need to create more storage space, from within the program, you can begin deletion of some of the oldest diff.

Here is an example you can use except change the keep diff from 2 to your 6, and change the store 2 chains to whatever number of chains you wish to keep.

GH13. Create Custom Differential Backup Scheme. 2 Diff, Keep 2 chains. The 2-2 is user choice. GH13. Create Custom Differential Backup Scheme. 2 Diff, Keep 2 chains. The 2-2 is user choice.

As in the example, the cleanup settings I recommend would be the "Store no more than [n] recent version chains "
As you want a new full after every 6 diff, your chain length is 7 files.

If you set "n" to 1, the program would retain 1 chain (full + 6 diff) or 7 files. Deletion of oldest chain would occur after full backup b2
If you set "n" to 2, the program would retain 2 chain of 7 files or 14 files. Deletion of oldest chain would occur after full backup b3
If you set "n" to 3, the program would retain 3 chain of 7 files or 21 files. Deletion of oldest chain would occur after full backup b4
If you set "n" to 4, the program would retain 4 chain of 7 files or 28 files. Deletion of oldest chain would occur after full backup b5

Remember that the program will not perform the delete until it has first created the full replacement.

Here is another example of how the storage folder might appear after a few weeks use. This example is keeping 4 chains plus the original.
GH14. Custom Differential Backup Scheme . 6 Diff, Keep 4 chains. & folder

Here is the user help page:
http://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATIH2014/index.html#…

GroverH, please find my settings in the screenshot attached.

I haven't changed (edited) the settings for 32 days. I've been sitting and waiting for the full backup to happen, but it never does. Even if I had edited the settings, it shouldn't cause the "Create full version after every 6 differential versions" setting to be totally ignored.

I have already created another task with similar settings (Custom: Differential + full every x versions) but the same problem occurs. No full backup ever happens after the initial full backup.

Is there a button to force a full backup?

(Auto-cleanup is not part of this bug. All backups are still on the disk.)

Awazz,
At this much elapsed time, I have no explantion as to why the program is doing what it is doing. My suggestion, as a fellow user, is to uninstall, run the cleanup utility (my signature item #4) and then reinstall the most currect version #6688 released Aug 20.

This will necessitate all new backup tasks but the old tib files are still usable and can be retained.. Create new backup tasks fresh with the desired settings/scheme and then do not edit further. Each new task should have its own unique name and its own individual storage folder. If your storage disk does not have a unique drive letter (such as X or Y or Z), I would recommend that you do so before creating the new tasks.

Based on your example of
...full every 6 diff
...retain 8 chains(chain = 1 full plus 6 diff or 7 total files)
...Do not delete original

What the program should do is to create full B1 and full B2
and create the six difff and continue on into B3, etc.

Your settings are asking it to retain 8 chains of 7 files plus the original B1 so deletion of oldest chain (B2) will NOT occur until after 8 chains of 7 each plus the orignal B1 which is exempt from deletion, have been completed. The full B10 (backup #58) will be created and then the deletion will happen of chain B2 (7 files) should occur. If you wish it to retain fewer than 56 files, reduce the new task number of "store x number of recent chains".

I make it a practice of using "_@exec@_" as part of the tib file name so my backup runs will be numbered.

GroverH,
thank you for your kind reply. I'm amazed that Acronis don't support their own product, even if it's about bugs.

Would you please clarify where I can get the August version? My download area only shows Acronis True Image 2014 Premium Latest Build: #6673 (272.43 MB2014-02-22 00:00:00).

(I do not have any bug with auto-cleanup. Just the missing full version.)

If yours is the standard version, perhaps there was no new release. Mine is the premium vesion with Universal restore and this Aug release removed the integrated Universal Restore which is now a separate CD build. If your personal account does not show a new release, then you may not have one. You can also use your program check for updates option. A capture of my downloads is attached.

Awazz wrote:

I do not have any bug with auto-cleanup. Just the missing full version.

I'm curious as to the appearance of your storage folder. Would you mind posting a capture of your storage folder showing your backup sorted in date/time order such as this example listed in link GH14 in my previous posting #6.

I don't know what it would show but if you wish also to post your log file (upper right corner gear wheel), I would examine it for any clues as to what is happening to the missing files. The log file is saved as a zip file for attachment.

Are you doing any manual consolidation where data is being merged which is not part of your normal backup scheme?

Acronis standard support is for first 30 days and then after that, they support via user going onliine via LIVE CHAT or filling out a support ticket. This procedure is documented along the left margin and in the forum eula agreement. Any posting in the forum is you asking the user community for volunteer assistance--such as my response. I have no association with Acronis. I am a user just as you attemping to help another user.