Standalone backup agent for Microsoft Windows servers and workstations (formerly Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE)
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Psychor
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"Backups to retain" question

Post by Psychor »

I set up Veeam to backup my workstation each Sunday. I have "Backups to retain" set to:

Image

Does this mean that 8 Sundays of backups will be stored before overwriting the oldest backup?

Thanks.
Vitaliy S.
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Re: "Backups to retain" question

Post by Vitaliy S. »

Yes, that's correct.
Psychor
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Re: "Backups to retain" question

Post by Psychor »

Thanks.
GaryM
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Re: "Backups to retain" question

Post by GaryM »

The number of backups you ask for has nothing to do with the number of days of retention.
Whether you choose 1 or 100 backups, the retention factor is the number of days. (according to menu wording)
If you choose one backup on a specific day with a retention of 8 days you should only have 1 or 2 incr. at the most. If this is not the case, Veeam should look at the wording in the selection menu again.
Mike Resseler
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Re: "Backups to retain" question

Post by Mike Resseler »

From our user guide: For retention policy settings, Veeam Endpoint Backup takes into account not calendar days but days on which backup files were successfully created
That means, if you have a retention of 8 like in the example above, you will need 8 backups before the oldest one gets merged. So in the above case, since he only takes a backup on Sunday, it will actually store 8 Sundays of backups as Vitaliy says. (and even if you would take 3 times every Sunday, it will still stay the same 8 Sundays since those 3 are taken the same day and therefore considered 1 day)

When you mention that we should look at the wording, what part do you see as confusing? Always happy to hear this feedback

Thanks
Mike
GaryM
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Re: "Backups to retain" question

Post by GaryM »

If the menu option, Keep restore points for the last (8) days when the computer was used is not a problem, the question would not have been asked.
If the option stated Keep restore points for the last 8 backups, or last 8 weeks or ....., leaving out "when the computer was last used". The computer last used statement is the part that causes confusion. I'm sure that the computer was used each day, but not backed up each day, only on a Sunday.
A nice easy to use and setup backup program like Veeam Endpoint should have an easy to understand menu that doesn't require a manual in order to use it.
Just because it's in the users guide doesn't mean that is the way it should be.
That's the way I see it. Thanks.
Mike Resseler
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Re: "Backups to retain" question

Post by Mike Resseler »

Gary,

Good feedback. Thank you for this. I will pass it to the DEV team

Thanks

Mike
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