Incremental deletion to save space

[Midnight Rambler]

I have multiple Incremental image backup archives. Can I delete all but the newest to save backup disk space or is this more suited for differential archives?
Thanks.

[MudCrab]

All Incremental images must be present up to (and including) the one you want to Validate or Restore the set. They also need to be present to add any future Incremental backups. If you do what you propose, you won't be able to restore the Incremental. You could still restore the Full "base" image if you "detached" it from the remaining Incremental image.

Differential images can be deleted, though you won't be able to Validate the images after you do. So you can create a Full, several Differentials and then delete all but the last Differential image and still restore. However, I would test this out and make sure you don't have any problems. There's been a recent post of one person that needed to keep the Full and the first Differential in order for it to work.

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If the newest Incremental image is close to the present time and there's not another specific reason to use it, you'd probably be better off to just create a new Full backup image. Or, if space is not available, delete all the Incrementals and then create a new Incremental based on the same Full image file. This lets you keep your original Full image and have only one current Incremental image attached to it.

[Midnight Rambler]

-{ Quote: "Or, if space is not available, delete all the Incrementals and then create a new Incremental based on the same Full image file. This lets you keep your original Full image and have only one current Incremental image attached to it." }-

Outstanding answer, MudCrab. Thank you. :)

Since disk space is at a premium, the above alternative seems the best. It's a simple operation to delete an old incremental image and replace it with a fresh, validated one. Frankly, don't see why one would choose any other.

[jmk94903]

-{ Quote: "Outstanding answer, MudCrab. Thank you. :)

Since disk space is at a premium, the above alternative seems the best. It's a simple operation to delete an old incremental image and replace it with a fresh, validated one. Frankly, don't see why one would choose any other." }-Well, a new full backup would take up less space than the original backup and a single new incremental based on that old backup.

Is there something in the original backup that you don't want to lose or may need to revert to? If not, then a new full backup should be the best answer. New incrementals will be small.