How Much Disk Space Does Automatic Consolidation Really Require?

According to the TrueImage documentation, it requires an amount equal to the largest backup in the archive. But I didn't find this to be the case when my weekly backup ran yesterday. Instead, it seemed to require an amount much larger than that, perhaps equal to space taken by ALL of my backups in the archive. But I don't know for sure, because I ran out of disk space and the auto-consolidation never completed. Can anyone shed some insight into this process?

 

Hello blee,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

Could you please provide us with the exact title of your product? What is the exact option you use (do you use Backup Location, Backup Server, etc.)?

Also, please obtain the log file of the operation when the consolidation failed and attach to your post.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee

 

TrueImage Home 2009, build 9709.

Backup to network drive...incremental backup each week. Automatic consolidation when archive size > 150 GB.

Log is attached...thanks.

 

Hello blee,

Thank you for the log provided.

Is it possible for you to copy archives from your network drive to the local one and check whether the issue persists? It will help us to exclude network as the cause.

We are looking forward to hearing back from you at your earliest convenience.

Thank you.
--
Alexander Nikolsky

 

No, that is not possible given the size of the archive. Just fyi, the network drive points to a Netgear ReadyNAS device.

 

Hello blee,

If consolidation is chosen as a maintenance method, the program needs additional disk space to create the new archive that contains the data stored in the ones that are being consolidated. If there is not enough space available, it reports the "Disk is full" error in logs.

The amount of space necessary for consolidation is nearly equal to the size of the archives being consolidated. Acronis True Image Home consolidates only the full archive with the next incremental/differential one. Since the full archive requires approximately 50% of the original data size, the free space on the partition that has Backup Location must be nearly equal to this original data size (with ~5% extra space). With these conditions, the necessary amount of space will always be available even if full and differential backups need to be consolidated.

Thank you.
--
Alexander Nikolsky

 

So, by "original data size" you are referring to the uncompressed size of the archive...is that correct?

 

My own view of the consolidation process is that it is a waste of both time and space.
It takes additional time to run and to be sure that a backup will not fail through lack of space a lot of additional space must be kept available.

If I were forced into using the consolidation process I would set aside the equivalent of at least two full backup images or to be more sure space the size of of two uncompressed backups.
This is because one should allow for the fact that running a defrag can increase the size of the next incremental to almost the same size of a full image. One should also allow a good margin for growth of the drives through normal additions of programs and data.

I decided long ago that the best solution for me was to install a backup drive of sufficient size to satisfy my needs. This is big enough to currently store nine full images with no compression. Should my storage requirements grow so the number of images falls to seven or below I can use a degree of compression without purchasing an even bigger drive.

This all happens automatically to a simple schedule and thanks to the fact that a secure zone can be installed on a second internal drive the images are managed automatically on a true FIFO basis with a minimal waste of drive space.

I should mention that Version 10 does all this perfectly on my computer.
I believe there is the possibility to get the same sort of result using V2009 and a clever kludge to get full image FIFO to work.

Xpilot

 

I can second that consolidation is not usable.
Acronis offers a set of pre-backup batch files which move TIBs to a subfolder if a specified amount is reached. When a specified amount of subfolders is reached, it deletes the oldest subfolder.

I got these batch files from Arconis support by mail. Maybe they are available for official download?

Alexander, can you tell us? Thanks!

 

Yes, that would be a great solution for me. I don't really need to have my archives consolidated so much as I just need a way to rotate them so that I always have the last x number of backups available.

 

Hello all,

Thank you for using Acronis True Image

Please see the article Using Batch Files in Acronis True Image, you can find the instructions on how to use Pre/post commands and several samples of batch files.

I should mention that Acronis True Image Home 2009 allows you to delete the old backup archives without using batch files. Manage a new task and at Backup method window select "Create incremental backup", tick the box "Create a new full backup after", select the necessary the amount and check "Remove old archives" box.

Thank you.

--
Oleg Lee

 

But this doesn't allow you to keep x number of old archives, which the batch files allow you to do. Thanks for useful link!

 

The batch files I have posted at https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=245112 provide automatic rotation of both full and incremental backups and can be adapted to whatever frequency and schedule you wish.

TGT

 

I am still trying to get automatic consolidation working for me. Today my weekly backup ran, it determined that my file size limits were exceeded and successfully performed the consolidation. However...the temporary .tib files that were created were not deleted afterwards. Is this a known problem? If I can't get this resolved then I'm just going to give up on consolidation completely and implement the batch file approach listed above.

I've just edited this post to include some new info. It appears that the temporary files were supposed to replace 2 of the existing files, but somehow this process failed. I didn't realize this until I tried to mount one of the archives and received an error. I ended up renaming the two original files, then renamed the temporary files to the original file names, and this cleared up my problem.

Also...Doesn't using the batch file approach for managing your backups mess up the internal database that TI2009 uses to track the backup files?