Best method for reducing disk footprint and VBK size

[revotan]

I would like to free up disk space and decided I don't need to backup 2/3 targets in a backup job, so I followed these steps:

• Changed job targets from all three to just one
• Waited for the nightly backup to run
• Observed that the disk-footprint did not change
• Carried out an Active Full backup
• Observed now, that there are two VBK files, granted the new one is much smaller

So far I haven't freed up any space on the disk.

I know what most people are thinking now, throttle the retention time to 1 day and let the software clean it up.

This is just a me thing, but I don't want to do it that way because that is not a "one touch" solution and I'd have to go back into the job and change the retention time. Is there such a method that will gracefully allow an administer to efficiently free up disk space while changing a backup job? I'm thinking some sort of reset button, to put some vague term to it.

Thanks in advance.

[Gostev]

Do you use reverse incremental backup mode?

[revotan]

Yes, that is correct.

[veremin]

Actually, since you have now the necessary full backup, you can manually delete unneeded restore points smoothly. Though, they will still be reflected in GUI, until retention policy reaches them. Thanks.