TI10: delete differential files?

I have made a full disk backup and 2 differential backups but just want to keep the original. Can I delete the differential files?

Second question: Can I delete at least the intermediate (middle) differential file if I don't need to restore to that time point?

I saw some threads on similar topics, but did not find clear answers to these questions.

Thanks.

 

Take a look at this thread: Full Backup with differential backup

Basically, if you want to be able to verify the backup+differentials, don't delete any of the differential backups.

 

Thanks, MudCrab. It looks as though I can't safely delete any differential backups at all.
Even if this is not a bug (as someone else suggested) it's certainly something that could be improved.

I think what I'll do is restore the original backup and then make a new full backup from that without the differentials, which I no longer need. It's a long way round but then the situation should be clear.

I guess what I should have done was to make a copy of the original with a different name, before I started adding differentials to it.

 

You should not need to restore the original "full" backup if you just want the file. Just copy the original "full" backup .TIB file somewhere else (give it a different name). It should be fine. You can mount it and run a verify to check it.

On tests I've run, the original full backup file is not modified when differential backups are made. It's still the same file it was when it was first created.

If you delete the differentials then you'll be left with the original full backup image. Deleting the differentials will not "corrupt" or "invalidate" the original full backup image.

 

OK. I'll try that and post again to give the results.
Thanks for the help.

 

Hello Linco,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please notice that MudCrab is correct. The original full backup archive is not affected by subsequent differential/incremental backups. The backup archives are normal files and can be deleted like any other. To restore from a differential backup you need only that differential and the original full. Therefore deleting previous differential backups will not prevent from restoring the chosen one.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Hello Marat,

Yes, this is true but how do you then validate the image, or are you suggesting there is no need to validate an image before carrying out a restore? Please reconsider and suitably qualify your answer.

Regards

Menorcaman

 

I've now tried this out. It does indeed do what I wanted (keep the unmodified original) and answers my first question.

I'll still be interested to see any further comment on the validation question, when intermediate differentials have been deleted.

 

As I understand it, if any differentials have been deleted from the Full/Differential backup set, you will not be able to verify the image. TI treats differentials just like incrementals. They all have to be present to do a verify.

 

Exactly right MudCrab, and hence reason I've pointed out to Marat that the info provided needs to be qualified as per the final paragraph in this previous Acronis Support reply.

Regards

Menorcaman