Okay to "forget" subvolume snapshots?

[Cygnis]

Hi all,

 

I am backing up an entire hard drive to tape. (Actually, this particular tape set backs up several drives from the local machine, but let's just consider one for the purpose of this thread.)

 

When I first created my tape backup set, I was backing up "subvolumes" within the hard drive, but have now switched to selecting the entire drive as my Source.

 

Can I safely "forget" the snapshots of the older subvolumes (hence removing them from my catalog), now that I have an up-to-date snapshot of the entire drive that includes the contents of those older subvolumes?

 

My assumption is yes, but I'm wondering if there's the possibility of side-effects that I haven't considered.

 

Thanks!

[Daniels]

I would say the best way to get rid of these snapshots is to do a recycle of the backup set. This would guarantee that the snapshots do not come back if you have to rebuild catalog from the tapes.

[Cygnis]

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

I actually wouldn't mind if the snapshots returned after a catalog rebuild. My main reasons for wanting to remove them are (a) to reduce the catalog size and ( to make the list of snapshots simpler/less cluttered (and therefore easier for co-workers to restore from, in case they ever need to while I am away).

 

As always, I guess some testing will be the best way to find out. Cheers!