I have a problem that i imagine is fairly common in backup.
I currently backup data on a server to an external hdd using microsoft's built in backup utility. I have a differential backup job that backs up all changed files. It appends the data to the same file which is great. My problem is each time i append the file gets bigger and bigger filling up my hdd. Eventually I need to find a way to purge the old backups say after two weeks, or a month, three months whatever it ends up being. How can i do this? Do i need a different backup utility? Need some really good ideas from a backup expert.
This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.
Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.
If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.
Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.
Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.
Access the answers to your technology questions today.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.
Try it out and discover for yourself.
30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.
Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: davebytesPosted on 2007-06-14 at 20:21:12ID: 19288976
This is the same as rotating tapes -- there's TONS of discussions on the net. But basic answer is something like have TWO drives (so your backup drive is never a point of failure too!), do incrementals for a week at a time on one, then do a full backup onto the 'next' drive for the start of the next week. So each week, you have one drive that is last week's backup (never more than a week old...), and one drive that gets blasted at the start of the week as a 'new backup' step (which is up-to-date daily).
At least, that's the way I'd do it. Of course, it depends on the amount of data, length of time to do a full backup vs differential, amount of data changing each day, etc.
Yes, you can also look at other backup utilities. Even Ghost and TrueImage (disk imaging) can usually do differential backups these days, might be much better than ms backup if you need to restore! ;)
-d