"Recycle media" script isn't recycling

[Dogwood]

I have a script to copy most recent backups to an external hard drive. 

 

There exists a media set for the drive, with one member: the external drive. 

 

The script is supposed to recycle the external drive media set before beginning the copy, with my intention being that the external drive holds a complete up to date copy of all backup sources, without older versions of files taking up space.

 

When the script runs, it goes straight to "Matching" and then "Copying", with no recycle process. 

 

Note: below it indicates the option "Match source Media Set to Destination Media Set" is checked; I have just tried running the script with this option unchecked, and it exhibits the same behavior. Old backups are still on the drive while new files are being created.

 

Essentially, Retrospect doesn't appear to be respecting the "Media action: Recycle Media Set" setting. Is the problem that this is a disk media set, rather than tape drive?

 

The script is set up as follows:

 

Summary

Status: Scheduled

Type: Copy Backup

Rule: All files

Options: Data compression off

Backups (my main media set)

Media sets (the External Drive Media Set)

The Schedule detail shows the recycle icon

 

Sources

Copy most recent backups for each source

Main Media Set selected

 

Destinations

External Drive Media Set selected

 

Rules

All Files

 

Schedule

Destination: External Drive selected. 

Media Action: Recycle Media Set

Start: 11PM 

Repeat: Weekly

Every [1] week on [Friday]

Stop: when done

 

Options

Copy Backup

Media Verification checked

Match source Media Set to Destination Media Set checked

Don't add duplicates to the Media Set checked

 

 

 

 

[twickland]

Which media set are you wanting to recycle? Checking the recycle option in the script will cause the source media set to be recycled after a successful copy operation. If you're trying to recycle the destination media set before the copy is performed, you can do this by running a recycle backup script to back up "No files."

[Dogwood]

Thank-you for your reply. I want to recycle the destination before copying existing backups.

 

I created a new Copy Backups script, with the Rule No Files, and otherwise same settings as above. The schedule Media Action option is set to Recycle Media Set.

 

The test script *does* recycle when running as scheduled. 

 

I just set my normal script (set to actually do backups) to do a scheduled run just now, and it correctly recycled, which is interesting. 

 

However, when running normally on a Friday night, these scripts frequently aren't recycling, as the drive will fill up and many of the .rdb files are dated from 3 weeks prior. 

 

The only thing I can think is that, despite the schedule showing that it is set to recycle, because I use the "Disable all schedules" checkbox to disable the two scripts for drives that are currently off-site, that may be interfering with the setting? I uncheck that, and the scripts normally run as scheduled, but like I said, aren't recycling consistently.