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Consolidating backups ?

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Aloha Acronis Experts! I'm trying to free up some space on a NAS device I use for backups. I have several backups (both full images and incremental) from a machine that no longer exists. But, I do want to save the last full image + incrementals in the most compact format possible.  Here are the files in the backup directory:

11/22/2016  12:44 AM   340,860,238,848 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_full_b1_s1_v1.tib
11/28/2016  05:43 PM     1,904,707,584 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s2_v1.tib
12/05/2016  05:55 PM    32,692,592,128 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s3_v1.tib
12/12/2016  05:46 PM     7,972,170,752 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s4_v1.tib
12/19/2016  05:45 PM     3,001,414,144 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s5_v1.tib
12/26/2016  05:45 PM     2,217,474,560 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s6_v1.tib
01/02/2017  06:17 PM   204,448,762,368 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_full_b2_s1_v1.tib
01/09/2017  05:45 PM     1,777,147,904 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b2_s2_v1.tib
01/16/2017  05:46 PM     2,962,616,832 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b2_s3_v1.tib

First, the last full image was taken on 01/02/2017, so I'm assuming I can delete all the older files.

What I would really like to do is somehow combine the full backup taken on 01/02/2017 and the two newer increcmentals info a single file. Is this called Consolidation? If so, then from what I've been able to find, this function no longer exists in TI2017. Can someone here please assist me with how to do this? (And don't forget, the machine that these backups are for no longer exists, so I have to have a procedure I can run from a different machine with TI2017 installed).

Mahalo! (Thank you)

Harry Z.

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Hello Harry,

There is no consolidation available in 2015 to the current version of 2017.  YOu can't combine any backup pieces from version chain A with B (in this case B1 and B2) as incrementals are only dependent upon the original full with that chain.  You also can't delete some of the incrmentals and just keep others since incrementals rely on each incremental that came before it, as well as the original full associated with that backup chain.

The best way to keep your backup size manageable is to use automated cleanup settings in your task.  You can go in and set that up to keep only X number of version chains - in your case, that would probably be 1.  Acronis will create your original full and 5 incrementals.  It will then complete the next full so that you have that and then if only 1 version chain is kept, it will delete the full and all incrementals that came before the new full. 

For now, you could manually delete the following from your NAS.. since they are all from an older backup and not part of the current full and incremental version chain

11/22/2016  12:44 AM   340,860,238,848 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_full_b1_s1_v1.tib
11/28/2016  05:43 PM     1,904,707,584 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s2_v1.tib
12/05/2016  05:55 PM    32,692,592,128 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s3_v1.tib
12/12/2016  05:46 PM     7,972,170,752 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s4_v1.tib
12/19/2016  05:45 PM     3,001,414,144 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s5_v1.tib
12/26/2016  05:45 PM     2,217,474,560 Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB_inc_b1_s6_v1.tib

Immediately, after manually deleting them, run a validation on your backup job in Acronis (little \/ carror to thr right of the backup name in the console) and press "validate". Acronis will prompt you that files are missing and ask you to locate them or forget them.  Choose to forget them since you have deleted them.  That will update the database to tell it they no longer exist.  You'll have to "forget" each of the manually delted files so should get prompted 6 times if you delete the 6 backups listed above.  

 

Aloha Bobbo_3C0X1. Mahalo for the reply.

Can I run the validation for these backups on a different machine than where the backups were created?

Harry Z

Harry, the point of doing the validation is to reconcile the Acronis Database files information for the backup task that created the backups with the status of the files that are still present after deleting files manually outside of Acronis.

So if you run a validation on a different machine, all that you will achieve is the basic function of validation, which is to recalculate the checksum for the backup file(s) and compare this to the value stored within the backup file to prove that they have not been changed or corrupted.

Aloha Steve Smith. Thanx for the reply. Unfortunately, not the answer I was hoping for.  :-)