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ATI 2020 Store no more than X recent version chains - not working

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I have encountered this over the years with other versions also...

Problem: The "Store no more than X recent version chains" setting does not work for some backups.

I can specify the amount of version chains to keep, and any more than the setting are to be automatically deleted.

I use ATI 2020 v4 (WIN 10) on several of my computers, and have noticed that this setting works for some backups, and not for others. Where not working, I have to go to the backup storage and manually delete old backups.

The attached screen shot shows the settings.

I have even checked the backup script, and compared a working script (one that does delete recent version chains) to the script that does not delete recent version chains. Both contain the exact same code:

<quota chain_count="2" scheme_flags="18" type="8" />

Thoughts as to why this setting is ignored in some backups?

 

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ATI Backup Example.jpg 251.12 KB
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Roger, your settings should be fine provided that you have allowed sufficient free space on your storage drive / location to create a new Full backup image which is required before Acronis will action the automatic cleanup rules.

There can be lots of confusion around the topic of automatic cleanup which can be better understood if some basic concepts are known!

First:  automatic cleanup only works on complete(d) versions / version chains.  Do not expect individual elements of version chains to be cleaned up, such as incremental or differential files!

Second: automatic cleanup only runs after a new Full backup for the next version / version chain has been created successfully.  This means that there must be sufficient free space available on the storage drive / location to hold a new Full backup image file!

Third: counting of days does not start until after a new Full backup file has been created when using the option to ‘Delete versions / version chains older than X days.’  It does not start for the active backup version / version chain before that point!

Fourth: the simplest & easiest automatic cleanup option to use & understand is to ‘Store no more than X recent versions / version chains.’  The criteria here means that if you set X = 2, then when the X+1 (3rd) version / version chain is created successfully with a new Full backup file, then the oldest version / version chain will be deleted by automatic cleanup.

Example:

Incremental backup task, using Full plus 5 Incremental backups before next new Full backup.

Task scheduled to run daily with automatic cleanup set to ‘Store no more than 2 version chains.’

Day 1 – Full backup created.

Days 2 – 6 Incremental backups created.

Day 7 – Next new Full backup created. 

Days 8 – 12 Incremental backups created.

Day 13 – Next new Full backup created.  Automatic cleanup deletes files created on days 1 – 6.

If the same task used ‘Delete version chains older than 7 days’, then those 7 days wouldn’t start counting until day 7 for the first set of files (version chain 1) and not until day 13 for the second set etc.  So automatic cleanup wouldn’t delete the oldest chain until day 14 in the above example.

For others who run into this problem, here's the solution I found. (And thank you to Steve Smith for taking the time to answer.)

I used the log viewer tool to look at the backup logs, and found that the backup was looking for a non-existant file for consolidation (probably some long past backup).

So I deleted the backup plan, and created a new one from scratch.

Thank you also, Steve Smith, for your tutorial on how to change a TIBX backup scheme to a TIB backup scheme by editing the script. I'm sticking with TIB format.