fules in the backup folder (nas)

[artmusicstudio]

hello,
my veeam makes a backup of a laptop c+d
to a folder in a nas.

1. the last one was finished after 2 days completely.

are all previous files in the backup folder 'all together' one backup ?

2. will the next backup again need 2 days or will only changes be added
and older backup files removed to trash bin?

3. the nas moved many older backup files to the nad trash bin. can i delete them all?

thanx a lot - as soon as i understand the principles, i can be safe about the backup.

stan

[Mildur]

Hello Zdenek

1. the last one was finished after 2 days completely.
are all previous files in the backup folder 'all together' one backup ?

Backup files are in a single folder. There should be three different file types:
- VBK: a full backup
- VIB: incremental backup
- VBM: Metadata file

A VBK file contains a point in time state of your entire laptop. Incremental backup files contains the changes since the last backup session.
To restore "your files", you need to start the restore explorer:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agent ... tml?ver=60

2. will the next backup again need 2 days or will only changes be added
and older backup files removed to trash bin?

I assume your "2 days running" backup was the first full backup (VBK file). Next backup should be a incremental backup which normally only takes a few minutes.
But that depends on many things:
- Speed of your laptop disks/CPU
- Network connection to the NAS
- Speed of your NAS disks
Just let it run and you find out. It's recommended to have a fast connection to the NAS. Wired and at least 1 Gbit. Don't use WIFI to backup to the NAS. WIFI can be slow.

3. the nas moved many older backup files to the nad trash bin. can i delete them all?

I don't know what your NAS is doing with the recycle bin. It's not a "Veeam" feature. But I assume your NAS moves all files deleted on the share to a recycle bin.
I believe those files can be deleted safely. Because Veeam Agent is not aware of them anymore. And the files are not part of any backup chain.

Best,
Fabian

[artmusicstudio]

dear fabian,
thanx so much for your explanation.
especially "the 3 files" info is so important.

the rest in backup-folder seem to be "older trials" to create the first complete backup.

12.7.
"Z:\0 ADMIN\_0_VEEAM_BACKUPS\DELL\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG).vbm"
"Z:\0 ADMIN\_0_VEEAM_BACKUPS\DELL\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)2024-07-10T215152.vbk"
so the first incemental file is still to come...

older:
"Z:\0 ADMIN\_0_VEEAM_BACKUPS\DELL\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)2024-07-05T102241.vbk"
"Z:\0 ADMIN\_0_VEEAM_BACKUPS\DELL\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)2024-05-19T201619.vbk"
"Z:\0 ADMIN\_0_VEEAM_BACKUPS\DELL\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)2024-05-04T211551.vbk"
"Z:\0 ADMIN\_0_VEEAM_BACKUPS\DELL\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)\Job DELL (DESKTOP-7LNN2PG)2024-05-06T233621.vbk"

for the duration, yes, laptop is wired and nas also, thru the fritzbox. but ok, now it is going to work "incremental", i know this from old norton systems.

so now i understand, that i can remove the other vbk-files, they are older.

and also clear the garbage bin, those veeam-files are "offline".

my nas in deed does collect all deleted files in the garbage bin, i clear it from time to time,
but now i am also sure about veeam.

THANK YO VERY MUCH for all the useful informations.

regards
stan

[fethiye]

Hello Zdenek


Backup files are in a single folder. There should be three different file types:
- VBK: a full backup
- VIB: incremental backup
- VBM: Metadata file

A VBK file contains a point in time state of your entire laptop. Incremental backup files contains the changes since the last backup session.
To restore "your files", you need to start the restore explorer:
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agent ... tml?ver=60


I assume your "2 days running" backup was the first full backup (VBK file). Next backup should be a incremental backup which normally only takes a few minutes.
But that depends on many things:
- Speed of your laptop disks/CPU
- Network connection to the NAS
- Speed of your NAS disks
Just let it run and you find out. It's recommended to have a fast connection to the NAS. Wired and at least 1 Gbit. Don't use WIFI to backup to the NAS. WIFI can be slow.


I don't know what your NAS is doing with the recycle bin. It's not a "Veeam" feature. But I assume your NAS moves all files deleted on the share to a recycle bin.
I believe those files can be deleted safely. Because Veeam Agent is not aware of them anymore. And the files are not part of any backup chain.

Best,
Fabian

Thanks a lot for all these useful information Fabian

[Mildur]

Hi Stan

One of my team colleagues made me aware of this KB. Recycle bin should be disabled on your NAS:
https://www.veeam.com/kb4230

so now i understand, that i can remove the other vbk-files, they are older.

Please note, if you remove a VBK file from the live share, you won't be able to restore from the subsequent incremental backups.
If you need to clean up the storage, you can manually delete vbk/vib files. But don't forget to remove the entire backup chain (VBK + VIBs).

But we strongly recommend to let the retention of the backup job handle deleting vbk/vib files from the live share. Manually deleting backup files can lead to mistakes and therefore unwanted loss of backups.

Best,
Fabian