I have set my RDX backups for full backup only.  I have also stipulated that I want each backup on my external Tandberg RDX (USB 3.0 ported) to add to what is present if and only if 200GB or more is available.  This is suppose to allow me to have a minimum of 2 full backups on each RDX drive.
However, each time I run my backup, it eliminates any previous backup present regardless of the amount of space available.  I have it set for 200GB or more, else erase the older backup.  However., it erases that older backup and replaces it with the newer backup everytime and even with more than 300GB or free space left!  See my dialog below:



Am I missing something here?
CT

Christopher Tocci, Ph.D.
ALFA Engineering Design
http://www.alfaengdesign.com

Can you post the logs from a job that deleted an older backup when you didn't want it to?  Also, just to be clear, that 200GB purge option will delete entire sets, not just older backups -- a set being defined as a Full and any of its children.  If you only ever capture Full backups, then this distinction doesn't matter, but if you capture Diff and/or Inc backups, then when your 200GB threshold is reached, the oldest Full and all of its children will be deleted in one fell swoop.

One further thought in addition to the above: As described in the documentation, the free space remaining is evaluated continuously while the backup is running, which means that if you drop below 200GB partway through a running job, Reflect will pause the job, delete the oldest set, and then resume.  If you fall below 200GB again during that same job, the next oldest set will be deleted, and so on.

+x

 

jphughan - 21 November 2017 8:59 PM

Can you post the logs from a job that deleted an older backup when you didn't want it to?  Also, just to be clear, that 200GB purge option will delete entire sets, not just older backups -- a set being defined as a Full and any of its children.  If you only ever capture Full backups, then this distinction doesn't matter, but if you capture Diff and/or Inc backups, then when your 200GB threshold is reached, the oldest Full and all of its children will be deleted in one fell swoop.

Hi Jphughan,

I do not know where the log is, but a more direct question might be if all I want is full backups, then if I remove that dialog discussing the 200GB space and purging, will it simply backup a second full backup provided I look first myself and then just backup?

CT



Christopher Tocci, Ph.D.
ALFA Engineering Design
http://www.alfaengdesign.com

+x

 

jphughan - 21 November 2017 9:05 PM

One further thought in addition to the above: As described in the documentation, the free space remaining is evaluated continuously while the backup is running, which means that if you drop below 200GB partway through a running job, Reflect will pause the job, delete the oldest set, and then resume.  If you fall below 200GB again during that same job, the next oldest set will be deleted, and so on.

Hi,
Then one possible answer would be to reduce the 200GB to say 100GB and see what happens.
CT

Christopher Tocci, Ph.D.
ALFA Engineering Design
http://www.alfaengdesign.com

See the screenshot below for how to access the logs.  They're indispensable for troubleshooting things like this, so it's good to know how to get to them.



If you disable the disk space purge option but keep the Full retention policy checked, then Reflect will only make sure that no more than 3 Full backups are retained -- although if you run out of space on disk in the middle of a job, then it will just fail rather than automatically deleting anything.  If you uncheck BOTH of those options, then Reflect will not perform any automatic management of your backups at all, i.e. Full backups would technically be allowed to accumulate as much as you allowed, but once again, Reflect won't automatically take any action if it runs out of space either.

+x

 

jphughan - 21 November 2017 9:12 PM

See the screenshot below for how to access the logs.  They're indispensable for troubleshooting things like this, so it's good to know how to get to them.



If you disable the disk space purge option but keep the Full retention policy checked, then Reflect will only make sure that no more than 3 Full backups are retained -- although if you run out of space on disk in the middle of a job, then it will just fail rather than automatically deleting anything.  If you uncheck BOTH of those options, then Reflect will not perform any automatic management of your backups at all, i.e. Full backups would technically be allowed to accumulate as much as you allowed, but once again, Reflect won't automatically take any action if it runs out of space either.

Hi,
I have inserted that log file.  Thanks for showingme.  I have used it before, but forgot about it now...strange!

CT

Christopher Tocci, Ph.D.
ALFA Engineering Design
http://www.alfaengdesign.com

That's the VSS log, not the backup job log.  The latter is found by clicking the time stamp heading, and you can just right-click in the it main viewer window, choose Select All, then copy/paste it into a post.  Remember to remove your license key at the bottom.

+x

 

jphughan - 21 November 2017 9:36 PM

That's the VSS log, not the backup job log.  The latter is found by clicking the time stamp heading, and you can just right-click in the it main viewer window, choose Select All, then copy/paste it into a post.  Remember to remove your license key at the bottom.

Sorry about that!  I removed the license key also:
CT

Christopher Tocci, Ph.D.
ALFA Engineering Design
http://www.alfaengdesign.com

Ok, so if you start looking at the line beginning "Starting Image", you'll see that your destination starts out with 280GB free -- so far so good.  Then a few lines down, while Reflect is backing up your J drive, the destination dropped below 200GB free, so Reflect deleted one Full backup file (G:\029B09BC7344B1A3-00-00.mrimg), which brought the destination to almost 385GB free, and then the job completed without need for any further deletions.  The log indicates that Reflect is behaving as you've configured it to.