Strategy for Backup to Hard Disk

[rcleyton]

I am new-ish to Retrospect on XP. I have an Iomega USB 120GB HD for backup (yes, I am aware that is not a perfect solution).

 

I have been running progressive backup for a good few weeks to a single backup set. Now I am running out of space. I had assumed that there would be a way to "compress" the backup set to give me, say, just the last week's increments. That does not seem to be possible.

 

Therefore I assume that I will have to clear enough space on the disk to start again (I can do that as there are some files from a previous backup system I can delete) but what would be the best strategy for the future. I thought of a cycle of backup sets on the single disk, but there would not be enough space. The next best thing might be to run progressive backups for, say, two weeks before starting a new backup set. I could probably keep three such sets.

 

Ideally I want the system automated, so that it does not rely on me having time or remembering. Obviously I do not want to do full backups too frequently because of the several hours they take.

 

I hope that makes sense and that someone knowledgeable can advise.

 

Thanks

[pvsurfer]

Hi Richard~ With the caveat that I've only been using Retrospect for about a month, based on my understanding a backup set continues growing until you either recycle (or abandon) it. I'm sure you are aware that you can choose to compress the backup (via Options). This saves considerable space, but takes longer. I'm backing up to a removable hard-drive and having just recently learned that some very experienced users here have reason not to trust Retrospect's Disaster Recovery methodology, this is now my backup strategy:

 

 

 

1. I do Retrospect daily-basis Progressive Backups over a 2-week time-frame. I then start another backup set (backing up on a daily-basis for another 2-weeks), etc. Every 3 months, I will recycle the oldest backup set (I guess I could copy it to DVD before recycling it, but right now I'm not planning on it). Btw, I am compressing my Retrospect backups!

 

 

 

2. Contrary to my initial belief, I have learned that Retrospect's Duplicate function is not the same as an image/clone copy, so in addition to Retrospect I'm also using Norton Ghost for purposes of disaster recovery. Using Ghost, I'm imaging my OS + Apps partition to my removable HDD once/month. I am also compressing the image.

 

 

 

There you have it... I'm sure that my strategy is far from ideal, but it works for me and I can sleep nights with it in place! ~pv

[natew]

Pvsurfer

 

Your backup rotation is a good one and works well with Retrospect. I often recommend a similar two set rotation. Recycle one while keeping the other one in tact.

 

Recycle backups take a while which is a bummer. One thing you can do is use a selector to break up the size of the initial recycle backup.

 

For example:

Set a seperate script to run your recycle backups. In that script use the documents selector.

Then use the all files selector on your regular proactive backups.

 

When the recycle runs on the first day only documents (the things most important to you) will be backed up. Then in the next normal backup Retrospect will do an all files backup. This will mop up anything that didn't get backed up the first day. Its one way to numb the pain of Recycle backups...

 

Nate

[pvsurfer]

Thanks for that recycle-tip Nate!