Copying a retrospect hard disk backup

[pls2000]

One of my hard disc backup sets has grown beyond its drive. The previous backups still have value so I want to copy the set to a larger drive and continue with it.

The last time I had this problem I copied the drive partition with a partition manager. This didn't work because Retrospect didn't recognize the copied backup set. I seem to recall that the size of the drive matters.

Ok, so what is the right way to do this?

  Thanks

[Lennart_T]

From the top of my head (as I don't have Retrospect for Windows where I am at the moment):

(I assume you have already copied the backup set files (.rdb files etc) to their new location.)

Go to Configure and then Backup Sets.

Select the backup set in question.

Go to the pane Members. There should be a button the select the new location of the backup set files.

[jotrago]

OR

Create a new Backupset on the new drive

Then transfer the snapshots from the old backupset to the new one, you have the choice of transferring the entire backupset, or just the latest or selected snapshots.

Update your scripts etc with the new BackupSet name.

The advantage of this approach is that the entire process is done under Retrospect’s, control with logging and reporting.

[capun]

I am creating a new back-set but it's a bit slow and it has not complete the new set yet. At the completion, does the old backup set gets deleted? If not it is safe to delete it manually and also remove the entry from the catalog?

 

Thanks

[cfieldgate]

I guess you could have just added a new drive to your backup set. Retrospect would then just start backing up to the new drive when the old one was full. If the old drive is fine (as in reliable and not obsolete / giving concern) there is no need to replace it with a bigger one. I have several large (>1TB) backup sets across several drives / devices. Perhaps not ideal, but I re-use old hardware where I can.

[capun]

That is an option, but I just don't like to span backups across physical drives. I use a backup set per drive, then backup those folder to another drive (backup of a backup). And I try to keep the drives to a max of 4GB, I haven't had good luck with drives over 4GB.

I am a bit paranoid after all of these years and losing data so I do multiple back-ups including offsite backups.

[DavidHertzberg]

On 7/6/2018 at 10:57 AM, capun said:

That is an option, but I just don't like to span backups across physical drives. I use a backup set per drive, then backup those folder to another drive (backup of a backup). And I try to keep the drives to a max of 4GB, I haven't had good luck with drives over 4GB.

I am a bit paranoid after all of these years and losing data so I do multiple back-ups including offsite backups.

capun,

I just realized that you may be mentally back in the "oughties".  You posted here in 2012 "I have Retrospect Pro 7.7"; has that changed?  Also where can one find 4GB drives these days; do you instead mean 4TB drives?

But what also just occurred to me is that you may be using File Backup Sets instead of Disk Backup Sets.  Disk Backup Sets were introduced in Retrospect Windows 7.5; their advantages are described here on pages 37-38.  But maybe Disk Backup Sets still had bugs in Retrospect Windows 7.7, which would explain why you might be still using File Backup Sets.  As to "I haven't had good luck with drives over 4GB", I have a faint recollection that there used to be some size limitation on File Backup Sets.  Here's a 2002 post that may shed some light on that, especially if you really means 4GB.