e7452d1f-f3c7-4328-bb9a-1992bf2370c8 Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 Can anyone explain what's deleted when I "groom" a disk backup set? Here's what the manual says: "Groom to keep this number of backups: Specify the number of backups you want to preserve for each source when the backup drive fills up, or when you run a scripted or manual groom operation. Retrospect then automatically “grooms” (i.e., deletes) all the other, older backups on the hard drive to make room for new data." However, I can think of at least two ways that can be interpreted. Suppose I ask it to preserve the 10 most recent backups. One interpretation is that grooming will keep the 10 most recent versions of each FILE. If I have 100 backup sessions, and a file was updated in each session, grooming will remove that file from the 90 earliest sessions. But if I have a file that wasn't touched since the initial backup, so it's only in the first session, grooming will NOT remove that file. The other interpretation is that if I have 100 sessions, grooming deletes the 90 earliest SESSIONS. Period. If a file hasn't been touched since the initial backup, so it's only in the first session ... tough luck, Charlie. It's gone. So once the backup set has been groomed, I can restore recently updated files, but I cannot restore the full disk. The first option is the one I'd like, and frankly, the second option seems almost useless. But from the manual, it sounds like Retrospect uses the second interpretation. Can someone give me a definitive answer on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lennart_T Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 Grooming never deletes any file that still resides on the source. Grooming only deletes files that no longer existed 11 (or more) backups ago. Think of the backups as "snapshots". You keep the last 10 snapshots. Which means that even files older than the first snapshot is retained, because it's needed to make up the files present at that time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve Maser Posted April 26, 2011 Report Share Posted April 26, 2011 Your first interpretation is correct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
e7452d1f-f3c7-4328-bb9a-1992bf2370c8 Posted April 29, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2011 Your first interpretation is correct. Thank you very much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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