Change location and compact incremental backups

[Leonito]

Hi,
I recently had to reinstall windows on my main PC, so I made a full backup with the free edition of Veeam Agent. However, some last-minute changes on my original install forced me to make a few incremental restore points on top of the full backup before reinstalling.
I've been using veeam for a while, so my total backup chain is ~40 restore points, but I only want to keep the last four (1 full + 3 incremental) in case I need to access my old files. I'd also like to be able to move the files to another location, I managed to do it by editing the different paths in the .vbm file, but I doubt it's the optimal and safest way of doing it.
Following this post's advice : veeam-agent-for-windows-f33/reducing-th ... 74907.html I installed the full B&R server and console to try and export my backup. However, after importing it and providing the password, I can't export it. When opening the "export backup" menu item, my backup doesn't appear in the wizard, and the context menu option to do it is greyed out.
Did I miss a step, or is there another way of compacting and moving Veeam Agent backups ?
Thanks in advance for your help !

[Gostev]

Hi, you can NOT perform export on imported backups. However, if you say you did an active full recently, then you can safely delete all backup files prior to that active full backup file (VBK). Thanks!

[Leonito]

Hi, I already tried to export the backup, but the option is greyed out in the right click menu, and the export wizard doesn't show my backup when opened from the menu bar.

As for deleting the old files, I did that already when I copied the files to my NAS to test, but even though it reduces the amount of space used, the restore agent still shows the 38 backups, with 34 of them actually being invalid since the files are missing. And I'm still left with five different files, which is not ideal.
Thanks !

[Gostev]

Wow, apologies as I meant to write "you can NOT"... which is why I continued with "however".

Unfortunately, I'm afraid the current situation is the best you can get. The proper way to do this would be to reduce the retention policy to the minimum and let the agent process it, leaving you with just a few files. I don't know if it's still an option as it sounds like you already did some manual "housekeeping" with those backup files.

[Leonito]

No worries, typos happen all the time !
I only did some testing on copies of my original files, so I still have the entire chain intact on my external drive.
If I understand it correctly, changing this policy would mean that only the most recent chain would be kept (so still multiple files, just fewer of them) ? What would the steps for this be, knowing that I do not have access to the « original » agent and OS on which the backups were made ?
Thanks !

[Gostev]

The "original" agent and OS are required. Basically, in the ideal world you should have reduced the retention policy prior to making those last few backup runs.

[Leonito]

Oh I see, thanks anyway ! I'll live with a few different files, it's not that bad.