Need help creating single-chain weekly backups
I'm using Acronis 2011. This is my goal:
- Make a full backup of all my photos each Sunday night
- Each week night, make a differential backup of the photos
- On the following Sunday night, make a full backup of all my photos once again
- After completing the backup, delete all prior backups
I want to do this because I don't have enough hard drive space to handle multiple backup chains.
These are my settings:
- Custom scheme
- Differential
- Create a full version every 6 differential versions
- Delete version chains older than 1 day
- Error handling: when not enough space, delete the oldest backup
My results are perplexing. It doesn't appear any backups are being deleted. My hard drive is filling up, and the scheduled backups are failing for this reason.
Here is the strangest part. The backup name is "pictures". Here is what is in my backup folder (all created by this single backup task):
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(4).tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(4)2.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(4)3.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(4)4.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(4)5.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(4)6.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(4)7.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(5).tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(5)2.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(5)3.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(5)4.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(5)5.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(5)6.tib
E:\backups\media\current\pictures(5)7.tib
Why is this happening?
Thanks!
What a thoughtful reply to my question. Thank you.
I am using ATI in this same way to backup my personal documents and music as well as the photos. The documents are similarly irreplaceable but highly compressible, while the music is already compressed but comparatively easy to replace. What would you recommend for these backup jobs?
To ask the larger question, to what types of backups would you say ATI is suited? I purchased it specifically to backup these three types of media, as I don't have too much interest in backing up my drivers or installed program files (these things are easy to reinstall in an evening). But perhaps I'm missing the point of the software.
To be clear, ATI is a great backup product. The core value is disk imaging: that allows you to restore a working system to its state after a complete system disk crash. The image backup can contain any content, it doesn't matter, since the core value here is to restore the OS and apps as they were.
Restore an OS and apps is not a big deal, but it takes time. Restoring an image takes a few mn.
That said, you actually can buy/reinstall the OS and apps, but you cannot do this with certain documents and pictures.
So you get into backup strategy and risk mitigation: backup type (full, incremental, differential), location (onsite, offsite), backup vendor (ATI, Windows, etc.), backup technology (imaging, file backup, app specific backup - ie email, quickbooks, etc., sync), backup frequency and backup history.
My strategy is to have redundant backups, in different locations with different technologies. I backup all personal content with sync software on a local eSata disk (I use SyncBack SE) because I have a lot of pictures, music and videos. I backup all irreplaceable content (documents, pictures, home videos) online (I use iDrive) in addition to that. I keep versions and deleted files in the backup as long as I can. I image the system (which is a partition separated from content) regularly with ATI 2012, and daily with Windows backup. I keep image history to about 6-8 months. Finally, I rotate backup disks (onsite, offsite). I pay attention to what needs to be encrypted in the backup process. It might look crazy, but I got there after several years of optimization and losses with various degrees of gravity on the professional and personal side :-)