Automatic Backups vs. Space

ATIH v11.0 (build 8,101)

I've setup a scheduled backup, but naturally my space isn't unlimited.

In the setup of space for a backup scheduled task, a mention was made of keeping the target destination as close to the root of the target drive as possible so as to allow the backups to work together (I can't for the life of me find the page to give an exact quote). Basically the Help/How To/Tooltip said that as long as the backup target(s) were all in the root of th etarget drive (I'm using a connected USB drive), that somehow the backups would be aware of each other. Very mysterious, never mentioned again.

I guess this must mean for incrementals? Anyway...

I want full backups, and I have a 500GB external drive doing nothing but. I have a weekly full backup selected, and want to have Acronis delete the oldest backup to make room for the newer.

So...

Q: "How can I have Acronis automatically backup to a designated drive in such a fashion that it will create the room it needs automatically by deleting the oldest backup first, if not enough room, delete the next oldest backup, etc.?" (Basically an unattended backup)

TIA

 

You would need to setup a Backup Location with the options you want and then setup the task to backup to it.

Your backups do not need to be in the root directory. You can using any normal folder. Any Incremental or Differential backup "sets" just need to have all their "parts" in the same folder in order for TI to use them.

 

MudCrab,

Thanks for writing. I'm not sure if you answered the question, though:

Does ATI have a way/option to delete older (oldest) backups to make room for newer?

Thanks!

 

ATI has two built in methods to do exactly what you require.
One, the Secure zone, is completely automated, the other is called Backup locations which allows the user more flexibility.
They both have advantages and disadvantages due to their different features. It is up to the user to decide which one they want to use or indeed use both because more than one basket in which to keep your eggs is is always a good scheme.

Xpilot

 

I am interested in the answer to your question about the procedure for deleting a previous backup to make room for the latest backup in limited space HD's. I don't believe your question was answered yet.

 

ATI provides more automated management of backups than any other product out there currently -- it's one of its strong points.

YOur response to the answers you've been given indicates that you haven't done your work yet -- read the manual.
You can find it here:

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/docs/index.html

Or, if that's too much, you can take a look at the links at the bottom of any post by GloverH.

If then you still don't understand, then come back with specific questions about how to use Backup Locations or how to create Tasks.

It's not fair to ask the folks on the forum to take the time and effort to keep answering basic questions if you aren't meeting them halfway.

 

Xpilot & shieber,

Thanks for writing. I had indicated that I read the manual (PDF won't download, but online/included/.chm does work), and you can assume that I did a feature/option crawl. In the first post I mentioned the "consolidation" option for backups, and that they weren't explained. Since that post, I went back (incented by your email, no doubt) and found the page/sheet/item I saw:

http://atcp.us/random/atis/Screenshot_10.jpg

The portion I referred to is:

When I said that there was reference to using the top level, or root, directory, it is this passage that I meant:

So the question isn't whether it can be done, but how. One thing left outstanding after RTFM is what, exactly, consolidation means. For example:

- Am I required to do a full backup each and every time in order to allow consolidation?
- If I can do incrementals on top of a full backup in the same directory, then is the full backup (being the oldest, after all) consolidated in some fashion?
- If so, how does that impact my quota settings, and should I allow for a full or incremental when considering this passage from the manual:

- What is the difference in quota settings for a full vs. an incremental backup?

The question doesn't appear to be as simple as an RTFM answer would indicate-at least based on the documentation available. True, all of these options are there, and can be adjusted, but this user is curious how precisely they could be used to their fullest potential.

If there is documentation available that this user hasn't found, documentation that deals with use cases and scenarios that take advantage of these features, then forgive me and I will seek them out. At the moment, though, I am drawn to these forums as a result of exhausting any options I am aware of.

TIA!

 

maybe this batch job can help you (think you need VIsta for it):
http://winhlp.com/node/180

of course you have to adapt it for your intention.

 

Hello Bogus Exception,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are sorry for delayed response.

Consolidation of a full backup and following incremental (differential) backups is creation of a new full backup that would restore same data as if you chose to restore the original full + incremental (differential) backups. The two original backups are then deleted. If there were any subsequent incremental (differential) backups, they will now depend on the new full backup, created by consolidation process.

The consolidation process will be repeated for the oldest full and incremental (differential) backups till there is no quota violation detected. If there are no incremental (differential) backups associated with the oldest full backup, and the quotas are still broken, the oldest full backup will be deleted.

Please also have a look at this post.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov