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Client turned off Mac near end of recycle...what happens next backup session?


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When a client Mac is turned off (inadvertently!) during a recycle backup, what happens the next time the regular backup is scheduled?

 

A) The remaining items not backed up on the client will be added to the regular backup so there will be a "complete" backup on record of everything (that's supposed to back up) on the client computer, OR

 

B) Only those items "changed" on the computer since the recycle backup will be backed up in the regular backup. If this is the case, does it mean that if files were not backed up on the recycle because it was turned off too soon to get to them *and* that those files were not changed between the recycle and the follow-up regular backup that they will not be backed up at that time???

 

If only files changed since the last backup are targeted in the backup process, doesn't it leave those files vulnerable that are not changed but didn't make it in the aborted recycle backup? If so, what do I do (short of redoing the entire recycle backup, which takes 14 hours and spans four client machines)?

 

I'm in need of reassurance (and knowledge!)

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Recycle does two things, in sequence:

 

(1) resets the backup set to empty; and

 

(2) does a normal backup (which, since the backup set is empty, backs up everything).

 

It all depends on where the shutdown occurred.

 

Retrospect will do the right thing next time it goes to back things up from that client. It will first see what is in the backup set, then match that against what is on the client. Anything not in the backup set will be backed up.

 

That's why the scanning/matching phase takes so long.

 

What you will have lost is the comparison / verify phase.

 

Russ

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Thank you for the very clear answer, Russ. It leaves me feeling quite relieved.

 

Although we're just a small business, I'm a real stickler for backing up; everyone here laughs at me for my "checking the backup status" rigidity (daily alternating backups; one stored on site, one off)--but I'm the one who is able to find and save their files when something goes wrong (and yes, it does). So there!

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Thank you for the very clear answer, Russ. It leaves me feeling quite relieved.

 

Although we're just a small business, I'm a real stickler for backing up; everyone here laughs at me for my "checking the backup status" rigidity (daily alternating backups; one stored on site, one off)--but I'm the one who is able to find and save their files when something goes wrong (and yes, it does). So there!

You and I are in complete agreement. We are a very small business, and Retrospect saved our butt a few years ago when our floor of our building caught fire and burned down on a Friday night. We lost our computers and furniture, but were back up and running in temporary quarters on Monday using new computers, restored with data from our offsite backups. We didn't lose any data thanks to Retrospect, and our filing cabinets saved all of the papers.

 

But that's not something that you want a small business to go through. Make sure you have a contingency plan, including setting up phones and data service.

 

See my earlier post here, with its picture of my burned out office:

Post with picture of burned out office. My office is just to the left of the hole knocked in the windows by the fire department.

 

Russ

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