How to start over a new BU for a client within an existing set?

[karma]

Let's say you have an existing Backup Set with a bunch of sessions in it, for several different clients.

 

For whatever reason, you decide that you'd like to "start over" one of the clients and BU every file, not just the changed ones. But you don't want to create a new Backup Set...

 

Can this be done? I'm not clear on what settings to use for this...

 

Thanks!

[rhwalker]

You might try forgetting the client and re-adding the client.

 

The problem is that you want to back up "every file, not just changed ones." Depending on your "matching" options that you choose, some files might not get backed up again if they are already present in the backup set.

 

Another option would be to create another backup set and "Transfer" the stuff from the old backup set to the new one, omitting the special client. Then change your backup script to point to the new backup set, do a backup. That would do what you want without changing your matching options.

 

Be aware, though, that the old files will remain in the old backup set. Retrospect 6.1 and earlier (you posted in the Retrospect 6.x forum and haven't said what version of Retrospect you have) do not do "grooming".

 

Russ

[twickland]

I'd recommend simply creating a special script for the desired client, backing up to your existing backup set. In this new script, deselect the matching options for "catalog" and "no duplicates." This should cause Retrospect to back up everything whenever that script is run.

 

[karma]

You might try forgetting the client and re-adding the client.

Thanks, but that doesn't do it.

 

Be aware, though, that the old files will remain in the old backup set. Retrospect 6.1 and earlier (you posted in the Retrospect 6.x forum and haven't said what version of Retrospect you have) do not do "grooming".

Yes, I'm using 6.1 and yes, that would be OK - I didn't expect it to, I just wanted to start one client over because I'm convinced that Retrospect screwed something up - I've been checking my last few incremental backups, and I know that I changed large chunks of files, and the only thing it seems to have backed up is .DSStore files.

[karma]

I'd recommend simply creating a special script for the desired client, backing up to your existing backup set. In this new script, deselect the matching options for "catalog" and "no duplicates." This should cause Retrospect to back up everything whenever that script is run.

Thanks - if I did that, the first time, and it backed up all the files, could I then turn it back on and it would continue matching from that set of files next time (i.e. from that starting point), or would it become confused with the older files?

[twickland]

In matching, Retrospect will look at the backup set's entire catalog and not just at the most recent backup. If you have selected the option "don't add duplicates," it will not copy files that it believes are already in the backup set regardless of when they were added, subject, of course, to any other selection criteria you have included in your backup script.

 

You mention that you believe Retrospect has been failing to back up files that have actually changed. How did you arrive at this conclusion? Did you attempt a Restore of a particular file? If so, did you use the snapshot method or the "search for files" method? Or did you examine a specific backup session via Reports> Contents?

 

If you examine a single backup session or if you search for files by a specific source volume, there is the possibility that the expected file won't appear. That's because when Retrospect backs up a file on one source volume and then encounters what it believes is the identical file on a second volume, it won't back up the second occurrence unless "Match only same location" has been selected. Thus, if the file in question resides on two or more source volumes, it will typically be listed only under the earliest backup session for that file. (It will, however, appear correctly when you use the "Restore from a backup" method which uses snapshots.)

 

If none of the above applies in your case, I would carefully examine the file selection criteria you have written into your backup script. You may inadvertently be excluding certain files from your backups.