Differential Backup: Many huge files

Each night's run of the differential backup produces a 6gB file.

I have several questions about this:

1) is this "normal"? My computer is not THAT much used and I doubt I'm getting big updates from Microsoft, so is 6gB expected? My settings are include hidden and system files (which I assume means, include the registry and everything in system32) and exclude temporary files.

2) when I run out of space on my backup drive (which has 250gB), what do I do? Delete all and begin again?

Eventually, whatever size I have, I'll run out of space.

Thanks
RON

 

If it is a differential backup - not an incremental one - you only need the last one and the original complete image. In fact, I delete each previous differential before making a new one.

Martin

 

How would I script that in Acronis?

 

And one more question: After deleting all but the last backup, I have two backups now:

Mybackup.tib 41gB
MyBackup15.tib 6.6gB

Can I simply rename MybackUp15.tib to MyBackup1.tib?

 

Hello RonNYC,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

You can create a batch file which allows you to delete previous differential images automatically.

You can find more information on how to use Acronis True Image 9.0 Home in the respective User's Guide.

Please take a look at the articles below to find the information of how to create batch files:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/batch.mspx?mfr=true
http://www.computerhope.com/batch.htm#3

I'm afraid no. If you rename the differential image, Acronis True Image will not recognize this file. We recommend you to recreate the full image and then create the new differential one.

Thank you.
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Tatyana Tsyngaeva

 

As I say, if you delete your previous differential file(s) (with a batch script if you like) before creating a new one, you'll never have the problem of renaming because there will always be just the main image plus one differential.

M.

 

Hello RonNYC,

Just to say that Build 3567 still contains a known bug whereby you can mount or restore an archive consisting only of MyBackup.tib and MyBackup15.tib but you cannot validate (verify) it without all the intermediate .tib files. Hopefully Acronis will fix this in the next build.

Regards

 

Hi - Below Tatyana wrote "You can create a batch file which allows you to delete previous differential images automatically."

I love this idea, and I'd love it even more if someone has done this and can provide it as template.

Has anyone created a batch file that deletes previous differential images automatically?

Thanks for any replies.

Eliot

 

Hello Eliot,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please accept our apologies for the delay with the response.

I'm afraid that there is no "official" template available at the moment. Probably some of the forum members will share their experience on this matter. The only thing I can suggest you is to take a look at this previous post of mine providing the example of a batch file automatically renaming backups in accordance with the current date. Please also read this Microsoft Knowledge Base Article describing standard Windows scripting rules. You can find more information on how to use scripts\batch files as a pre\post backup commands in section 5.3.3 of Acronis True Image 9.0 Home User's Guide.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
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Alexey Popov

 

Alexey - Thank you very much. I think your suggestions will be very helpful. It sounds like the renaming script is what I need as a model. I was mainly concerned about how to identify and specify the backups to be deleted.

I have been a computer programmer for several years so I am sure I will be able to figure it out. I am just trying to be as "lazy" about it as possible.

And 3 days on the response is hardly a delay.

Take care,

Eliot