Archive and recycle with full drive

[DigitalDomain]

I'm currently using an archive function to backup the mail folders on the clients computers. However, what I'm looking for is a way to use a single disk backup drive that will recycle once it's full. I.e. 500 GB that will backup the clients for say 30 days until the drive is full, then it will delete the latest backups and keep running with the single drive, is this possible?

[twickland]

...then it will delete the latest backups...

Did you mean oldest backups? If so, you are talking about a grooming function. For this you would need to upgrade to Retrospect 8.

 

If you really meant latest (i.e., most recent), you could just create a file backup set and run a recycle backup when the volume was close to full. This would wipe out all your previous backup data in the process of writing new data to the disk volume.

[DigitalDomain]

Hi, yes I was indeed talking about the oldest backups. So for that I would have to upgrade to Retrospect 8?

[rhwalker]

what I'm looking for is a way to use a single disk backup drive that will recycle once it's full. I.e. 500 GB that will backup the clients for say 30 days until the drive is full

Your problem statement is inconsistent. Do you:

(1) want to back up until the drive is full?

(2) want to back up until 30 days have passed?

 

What do you want to do if the drive is full after 10 days?

 

What do you want to do if the drive is not full after 30 days?

 

It does seem that you may want to "groom" out older backup sets. For that you need Retrospect 8, once it stabilizes, and if / when your hardware architecture (PPC, Intel) and Mac OS Software version is supported by Retrospect 8.

 

Russ

[DigitalDomain]

Sorry to be inconsistent here. Either of the 2 options would actually work for me (either based on time frame or based on storage size).

 

It seems that I need the grooming function for the "storage based elimination". Is there a way in version 6 to do it based on the time frame?

[rhwalker]

Sorry to be inconsistent here. Either of the 2 options would actually work for me (either based on time frame or based on storage size).

 

It seems that I need the grooming function for the "storage based elimination". Is there a way in version 6 to do it based on the time frame?

Yes. It takes twice the storage, but avoids the substantial time that has to be dedicated to grooming (when that occurs) and the reported occasional fragility of grooming (good when it works, bad if the backup set - "media set" in Retrospect 8 newspeak - becomes corrupted, thereby making the whole set useless).

 

Solution:

 

Set up two backup sets with a schedule. Back up to one for the first month, then move to the next, repeat. When starting on each new (alternate) set, schedule a "recycle" on the new set, wiping out the set from two months ago. That preserves the previous month, and you always have at least a month of backup.

 

Note that neither of these solutions address the need for an offsite backup. Been there, done that, and Retrospect's offsite backup saved all of our data when our floor of our office building burned down a few years back.

 

Russ

[steffi]

Would you be so kind to provide an example for how this works?

 

Imagine I have backup sets A, B and I have them laid out like

 

Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov -> A

 

Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oc, Dec -> B

 

So you're saying

 

A, B

 

then

 

recycle A

 

if a problem happens when you recycle A what do u do? All u have is the incremental for B. Does the beginning of the month always begin with a recycle backup?

Edited July 8, 2009 by Guest

[rhwalker]

Would you be so kind to provide an example for how this works?

 

Imagine I have backup sets A, B and I have them laid out like

 

Jan, Mar, May, Jul, Sep, Nov -> A

 

Feb, Apr, Jun, Aug, Oc, Dec -> B

 

Perhaps I don't understand how you "alternate"

Well, yours is a bad example. Consider what happens if your site burns down the last week in January - you lose an entire month's worth of data because your alternate backup set (you are keeping the alternate backup set offsite, aren't you?) is a month old.

 

I've been through a fire at our office, and Retrospect meant that we didn't lose any data even though all computers were destroyed. But I'll leave that to you to ponder.

 

I'll use a different example, with tape. Modification for your case is left as an exercise for the reader.

 

Name one backup set "A [001]" and the other backup set "B [001]". This is a convention that Retrospect likes and supports.

 

Retrospect will name the tape members thus:

1-A [001]

2-A [001]

3-A [001] etc.

 

and

1-B [001]

2-B [001]

3-B [001] etc.

 

(as needed as the backup set expands past the capacity of a tape).

 

Set up a backup script (single script) with your sources, whatever they are:

 

client groups:

Macintosh Intel clients

Macintosh PPC clients

Windows XP clients

Windows Vista clients

etc., and local volumes:

Macintosh HD

RAID Volume

etc., whatever.

 

Set up your alternating destination schedule:

Mon, Wed, Fri at some time : destination of "A [001]", normal backup

Tue, Thu, Sat at some time : destination of "B [001]", normal backup

 

Every 4 weeks on Friday: destination of "A [001]", new media backup (or recycle, if you want)

Every 4 weeks on Saturday: destination of "B [001]", new media backup (or recycle, if you want)

 

Fill the autoloader with barcoded tapes, let it rip.

 

Retrospect will alternate backup sets between A and B on alternate days. Each morning, bring one set back onsite, swap with the set that was backed up the previous night. Because each set only gets written every two days, each set gets two days of backups during its window. It's as if, for each set, you only backed up every other day, alternating between sets.

 

Every 4 weeks, if you have it set up for "New Media" backups, Retrospect will increment the destination set names (e.g., "A [002]" and "B [002]", etc.) and will change all of the scripts that contain "A [001]" and "B [001]" to the new backup set names, so that you can archive a set of tapes and put in new ones.

 

Clear? It's all in the manual, which would be worth your while to study. This is really basic stuff.

 

Russ

[rhwalker]

So you're saying

 

A, B

 

then

 

recycle A

 

... Does the beginning of the month always begin with a recycle backup?

No, that's not what I wrote. I wrote "New Media", both sets - not just one, and put in new tapes.

 

If you choose to "Recycle" (not wise with tapes), then your tapes will wear out.

 

Note also that I had "New Media" backups on both sets on following days, not just recycling of one set.

 

If you are going to recycle, as might happen with a disk set, then what you probably want to do is to recycle one set at the beginning of the month and the other near the middle of the month (adjust by adjusting the starting dates, give both the same "Every 4 weeks" (or whatever) cycle).

 

Your backup needs may be different from ours. Our needs are such that we must use tape, and never recycle, just archive the tape set when it fills up. That way, we have snapshots for every day back to the epoch.

 

if a problem happens when you recycle A what do u do? All u have is the incremental for B.

You misunderstand the Retrospect paradigm. Each of the two sets has an initial "full" backup followed by incrementals. That's how "Normal" backup works under the hood. Each of the two sets (A, are independent.

 

Please carefully re-read my post and study the manual.

 

Russ

Edited July 8, 2009 by Guest