Simple backup with 2 removable media discs in rotation - confused!

[whitegate_it]

Would some kind soul please point me in the right direction to achieve, what I would deem a very simple backup solution.

 

Using an 2x RDX cartridge media, I am looking to perform daily full backups regardless of which one of the two cartridges is in the drive - ideally, the carts would be rotated daily. One query is I would prefer the data on the carts to be updated (via progressive backup) rather than simply erased and copied, a rather lengthy process. 

 

It would seem all my attempts to achieve successful daily backups with 1 script using recycle backups and 1 backup set have gone awry. I fully appreciate I may not understand the nuances of Retrospect, but this is fully achievable in BackupExec (with standard erase media and backup) and would hope it is here too. 

 

Any guidance or explanation would be greatly and warmly appreciated.

 

Kind regards,

Gary

[Lennart_T]

What kind of backup set (media set) are you using? Tape or Disk? Or anything else?

[whitegate_it]

I've tried with both "Disk" backup set and "Removable Disks" backup set. Neither has worked correctly.

[Lennart_T]

Retrospect goes a long way to avoid removing backups in error, so the idea to "recycle whatever media is available" isn't really suitable.

 

Have you thought about archiving old backups? Do you really only want to keep the very latest backups?

 

OK, if you really want that, here's what I would do:

Create two backup sets (=media sets), one having one member disk each.

Set grooming to keep the last five backups (for instance).

Use two proactive scripts, one for each backup set. Proactive will use whatever backup set that is available.

Use two groom scripts, one for each backup set, to groom every Saturday.

On Monday, one of these scripts will be "Waiting for media", so you should cancel (stop) that script.

[whitegate_it]

Thanks very much for the exceptional advice and completely understand Retrospect doesn't want to start overwriting backups - very sensible! 

 

It does seem though there is no automated way (without manual intervention) to achieve my goal of an automated backup routine.