Best way to remove old backup files?

Optimist . Given the pain we users went through with TI 9.0 - I would say "masochist" is more apt .

Kind regards

 

Hello there Menorcaman,

Yes, I did miss the impact of the smilie ...

But you gave me a welcome opportunity to criticise the multi-differential approach I never really liked.

 

Tabvla,

Remember... be careful what you wish for!

 

How true.... how true.... previous post is hereby retracted

 

That's always been so.

 

. What has, and for whom - that there has never been a contradiction between Acronis Support statements, or that users have always been clear on the logic behind TI's differential imaging? Either way I think you're wrong, as you would see if you trawled back through posts on the subject over the past 12 months.

 

Neither.

 

O.K. So your point is?

 

I agree, follow the norms. Or, make it very clear what TI's norms are. How else are we to know how to manage our archives? So, we can't replace any differential, or delete it? That completely defeats the point of differential backups, as I understand them. Since Acronis Support has weighed in on this topic, perhaps they will be so kind as to offer us hope that, indeed, this significant bug (linking all differential backups for an archive to verify) will be resolved in TIv10. Or, when? If bugs like this compromise the security of this program, and our backup schemes, please fix them. ASAP.

I'm pleased overall to have TI, but issues like this give me pause when I consider how reliable my TI archives really are. If bugs like this can cause an otherwise intact Full/Differential Backup to become unusable, I have been wondering recently just how many other things might also compromise my TI archives. Perhaps TI's strength is in quickly restoring system and program drives. But, some things cannot be left to chance.

I've begun saving my most precious data--original photographs--as duplicate Windows XP native Files and Folders, on internal and external hard drives and DVDs, rather than relying on TI proprietary Archive files to work at some point in the future. I'd rather have the convenience of most of TI's features, but am begining to question whether TI really offers the security I need when backing up critical data. If one corrupt byte can spoil an entire .tib Archive, then what are the chances that they will be 100% intact when I need them?

Note: I made the following statement without testing first, and was wrong: Please see post #38 for details. Seems that TI compression leaves photographs intact. Another plus for Acronis TI!

Please ignore this warning - Christopher_NC: "By the way, while most users and photographers likely know this, I do think Acronis would do well to clearly warn users NOT to compress their important photographs or videos. Saving space when making archives is nice, but not at the expense of losing irreplaceable data in important photographs."

 

Christopher,

This is a very important point for everyone, not only professional photographers.

If you have a moment could you please put this advice in a a new thread with an appropriate Title otherwise it will become lost in this thread.

TiA

 

Is this just speculation that TI compression actually corrupts data be it pictures or anything else ? I have never come across it as a problem myself nor have I seen any examples quoted.
There are still some bugs in in the TI imaging process in particular Differentials and to a lesser extent Incrementals. As I am very risk averse by nature my solution is to make full normally compressed images every time. Thus completely avoiding any possible problems. Moreover I do not rely on unproven archive images for my backups.
I have posted on several occasions that the ONLY way to be 100% sure of an archive is to restore it to a spare hard drive. I have developed this idea and actually restore the latest image to a swapped hard drive immediately after its creation. Thus I have a separate hard drive in its caddy and an identical hard drive mounted in the computer. Both the drives contain all my data,irreplaceable photos...,the lot. I also have a series of backup images, which have been proved rather than just validated. This is one of the reasons for using the image/restore process rather than cloning. I have always thought that the cloning process, not just TI's, carries a greater element of risk particularly as both drives are connected at the same time.

I will get my coat!

Xpilot

 

That is exactly why I asked Christopher_NC to start a new thread. The subject is lost in this thread. I, like you, have no idea if this is speculation or hard-tested fact, but would certainly like to monitor a discussion around the subject......

 

Tabvla, Xpilot, and all,

T'was but speculation...

I started to post a new thread, but, while doing so, realized that it would be a fairly simple and prudent matter to test my assumptions first. So I just ran 3 tests, using TI 9.3677, Files and Folders Backup of one Folder containing 313 files, RAW and JPG photos, original size 906 MB.

With no compression, the resulting Archive is 906 MB.

With normal compression, the Archive is 873 MB.

With maximum compression, the Archive is 874 MB.

I then restored the Archive with maximum compression to a new location, and checked it against the original.
Every file is the same size as the original, and CheckSum confirms that the files are identical.
I happily stand corrected! No point starting a new thread. I'll correct my earlier post to reflect these results.

Could Acronis support please clarify to what extent the compression used by TI is lossy, or lossless, and what files are left intact?

Note, it did take longer to create the compressed file, but from my tests I assume that only some details such as file attributes were compressed, not the actual photographs, which came thru intact. Thanks to all. Now we can get on with discussing and solving the real bugs and issues, and leave off at least one imaginary one.

 

Hi Christopher,

As you probably know, TI merely backs up the data contained on the in-use sectors. It doesn't work at the file level and therefore can't distinguish between media files, data files or any other type of files - it's all just pure data as far as TI is concerned. Clearly, if it's all just treated as data, there can be no use of lossy compression; only varying degrees of lossless compression, depending on whether you select Normal, High or Maximum. Hence, if you ignore image corruption caused by other factors P), all data will be imaged and restored intact.

Regards

 

Thanks for clarifying that Menorcaman. Good info