Deleting old backups

[stevenc7]

Hey All,

So a basic Windows server setup, MDT / AD / WSUS etc.

Given it's a small setup and forced to use free version of ESX, I decided to use Veeam Agent which works perfectly.

Although i'm a bit confused how to delete older points.

I deleted an incremental backup and I think I broke the chain as as soon I ran the backup it did a full backup instead of incrementals. So is it possible to cleanup very old incrementals without breaking the chain? Is there a best practices way of doing this?

[Dima P.]

Hello Steven,

It's not recommended to manually delete restore point from disk. To instantly remove some restore points you can set retention to a lower value and start a full backup. Cheers!

[nonobio]

Hello

My destination disk is full (completly !) and even after reducing the retention days, it's seems that Veeam can't work on the backup chain because my disk is too full.

I tried to delete the last incremental file and restarted the backup but it is a new full being created.

My questions :
Does deleting the last incremental file break the chain too ?
What is the solution when a destination disk is completly full (apart of changing for a bigger or deleting all exsting backups) ?

Thanks

[stevenc7]

Glad to see i'm not the only one with issues. I'd like to reduce the amount of incrementals for sure I only need backups dating back a month or so. Have about 15TB free but the NAS is being used for other things as well. I already have 600GB+ for a few VMs.

[nonobio]

Hi

Any news ?

[Dima P.]

Does deleting the last incremental file break the chain too ?

Yes. It's safe to delete the entire backup chain, so if you have multiple backup chains stored on the hard drive - you can remove the oldest.

What is the solution when a destination disk is completly full (apart of changing for a bigger or deleting all exsting backups) ?

To perform the retention free space is required anyway, so you should either move existing backup files to another location or delete those and start a new backup chain.

[nonobio]

Hi

Yes. It's safe to delete the entire backup chain, so if you have multiple backup chains stored on the hard drive - you can remove the oldest.

I don't want, if possible, to delete the entire backup chain and i don't have multiple backup chains but only one.

To perform the retention free space is required anyway,

Ok, so if i understand, it is important to not wait too long when free space become limited, to have the possibility to apply new retention setting.

so you should either move existing backup files to another location or delete those and start a new backup chain.

When you say "those", you mean "the entire backup chain" ? So in my case (with not enought free space), if i don't want to change the location, i don't have other solution than delete all the backup chain ?

I deleted the more recent incremental file with my file explorer, so my backup chain is breaked without possibility to repair it ?

Sorry, a lot of questions

Thanks

[nonobio]

Hi

Can you confirm that by deleting the more recent incremental file, i breaked all the chain and so, i have no more choice than to delete all the chain and recreate a new one ?

Thanks

[Dima P.]

Can you confirm that by deleting the more recent incremental file, i breaked all the chain and so, i have no more choice than to delete all the chain and recreate a new one ?

Yes, you can delete the last increment and it should not break the remaining increments on the disk but please keep it mind that this is not recommended. Cheers!

[nonobio]

Hi,

I'm a little lost. Anyway, i have not managed to keep my chain. I transfered all my Veeam backup to a bigger disk, edited my job setting to point on this new disk, started the backup and a new chain has been created and the old full backup deleted ! I give up for this time : i deleted my old orphans incremental backup.

Bye

[Dima P.]

Hello Bruno,

Thanks for the update and sorry for the confusion. I confirmed with QA team that it is safe to delete the latest increment in the backup chain, so you can use this hack next time you face this issue. Cheers!

[nonobio]

Hello,

I will make noew tests soon (before my destination disk become full ).

Thanks.
Bye