Valid to move old VRB files to different storage?

[cparker4486]

I hope I haven't made a big mistake but recently I reduced the number of restore points on a job and moved all the points outside of that retention to a different location. Going forward I have been copying all new VRB files to this other location. This effectively leaves me with a long tail of VRB files. My intention is to put all the backup files in a single place (temporarily) and import them should I ever need to go that far back in history.

I was talking with a tech support rep yesterday about a different topic and what I'm doing came up. He said he wasn't sure if that would even work. He basically said that the backups go only as far back as the retention period and even though I had VRB files that went further back they are useless.

I really hope this isn't true but if it is it doesn't make sense. To me the retention period seemed only as a means for B&R to manage storage. Since all the VRBs point to their next of kin it seems silly to artificially block the chain from continuing beyond the retention period even if the old files are presented to the B&R server.

[tsightler]

As long as you have the entire chain, from current VBK until the point you want to reach, an import should be able to find them all. I'd suggest you just test it.

[Vitaliy S.]

He basically said that the backups go only as far back as the retention period and even though I had VRB files that went further back they are useless.

This is simply not true, there must be some sort of misunderstanding between you and our tech rep. The scenario you're currently using is one of the most popular approaches of offloading backup files offsite/to another storage device.

[cparker4486]

This is simply not true, there must be some sort of misunderstanding between you and our tech rep.

Possibly... but I'm pretty certain I understood him. He also stated that he wasn't sure. I was fairly confident that what I had done was sound (it just makes sense) but questioned it once he did.

Anyway, thanks for the confirmation.