Backup Software - Retrospect has driven me crazy again.......

Author

Retrospect has driven me crazy again.......

louise

2007-12-29, 7:13 pm

I use Ghost for monthly image backups to one usb hard drive.
I only use it for full image backup.

I use Retrospect for daily file backups to a different usb
hard drive.

I run Win XP Pro, SP2 and my C drive is about 1/3rd full -
90 gig on a 300gig drive.

Retrospect is backing up to an external USB drive which is
also 300gig.

I had chosen the Retrospect default grooming options for my
backup script.

Today Retrospect stopped the backup partway through and said
that it had groomed, but it still couldn't fit everything.

I wont go into the details about how I couldn't get
Retrospect to let go of the 1/2 finished backup and to be
willing to begin again - but I eventually succeeded.

I did a Recycle backup, thereby wiping the backup disk and
beginning again.

I want to set my options so that grooming will be successful
and will happen automatically. From today's experience, I
gather the best bet is to keep a certain number of backups
rather than using the Retrospect default.

For those of you still "suffering" with Retrospect, how do
you have your grooming options set? And, perhaps the more
relevant question, given the numbers above as to size of
disks and data, how would you recommend I set my grooming
options?

Is there another FILE backup program which allows for
restoring a file from a specific date other than Acronis? I
want to have one image backup and one file backup and I'd
love not to have Retrospect :-)

TIA

Louise

David Arnstein

2007-12-30, 7:16 am

In regards to your grooming problem. I don't know how familiar you are
with Retrospect, so I'm going to offer a rather basic suggestion.

When you configure a backup set, you choose some options regarding
grooming. You have described this pretty well.

Another aspect of this configuration is for you to choose the maximum
size of your backup set. This maximum size could be much smaller than
the size of your backup disk. It is your choice.

My basic suggestion is to look at that maximum size option. You might
have set it to a small number.

From the way you describe the problem, I would guess that the size of
your backup set reached its maximum. Retrospect "wanted" you to manually
groom out some old snapshots to make room for one more snapshot.

I don't use Retrospect's "Groom to Retrospect defined policy" option.
It is too complicated for me to understand. I always choose "Groom to
remove backups older than" instead. I still encounter backup jobs that
prompt me to do some grooming. But in almost all cases, I can get the
job going again by manually grooming out one or two snapshots. The only
exception is when Retrospect actually crashes during the manual groom.
It hasn't done this to me for a long time, and it doesn't sound like
that is happening to you.
--
David Arnstein (00)
arnstein+usenet@pobox.com {{ }}
^^

louise

2007-12-30, 1:13 pm

David Arnstein wrote:
> In regards to your grooming problem. I don't know how familiar you are
> with Retrospect, so I'm going to offer a rather basic suggestion.
>
> When you configure a backup set, you choose some options regarding
> grooming. You have described this pretty well.
>
> Another aspect of this configuration is for you to choose the maximum
> size of your backup set. This maximum size could be much smaller than
> the size of your backup disk. It is your choice.
>
> My basic suggestion is to look at that maximum size option. You might
> have set it to a small number.
>
> From the way you describe the problem, I would guess that the size of
> your backup set reached its maximum. Retrospect "wanted" you to manually
> groom out some old snapshots to make room for one more snapshot.
>
> I don't use Retrospect's "Groom to Retrospect defined policy" option.
> It is too complicated for me to understand. I always choose "Groom to
> remove backups older than" instead. I still encounter backup jobs that
> prompt me to do some grooming. But in almost all cases, I can get the
> job going again by manually grooming out one or two snapshots. The only
> exception is when Retrospect actually crashes during the manual groom.
> It hasn't done this to me for a long time, and it doesn't sound like
> that is happening to you.
Hi,

Thanks for your thoughts.

My backup is set for 99% use of the disk.

However, I didn't think to manually try to remove snapshots
but if it happens again, I'll try removing them
individually. Retrospect didn't crash, it just wanted me to
feed it another disk and it didn't occur to me to remove
snapshots.

Having 85 gig to back up, but compressed by Retrospect, have
you any thoughts about how many snapshots I should keep - in
other words, what number should be inside the "groom to
remove backups older than"?

I also have a question: Last night, after doing a recycle
backup, I deliberately added one short Word file and ran
another backup to be sure it was working. It did work and I
was able to restore files. HOWEVER, while backing up, when
Retrospect gets to "building snapshot", it literally take
about 15 or 20 minutes before it actually completes. Is
this normal?

Have you ever used the tool called Repair Catalog - would
that do something about the 20 minutes to build a snapshot?

Thanks again.

Louise

David Arnstein

2007-12-31, 1:17 am

In article <5tq4guF1ephg1U1@mid.individual.net>,
louise <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>Having 85 gig to back up, but compressed by Retrospect, have
>you any thoughts about how many snapshots I should keep - in
>other words, what number should be inside the "groom to
>remove backups older than"?

My personal strategy is to keep as many snapshots as will fit on my
backup disk. Unfortunately, this has to be determined by trial and error.

>I also have a question: Last night, after doing a recycle
>backup, I deliberately added one short Word file and ran
>another backup to be sure it was working. It did work and I
>was able to restore files. HOWEVER, while backing up, when
>Retrospect gets to "building snapshot", it literally take
>about 15 or 20 minutes before it actually completes. Is
>this normal?

I don't know if this is reasonable or not. Retrospect is making a list
of every file on your system, whether that file needs backing up or not.
If you have a ton of files on your disk, then this is what you get. I
have seen a lot of complaints about this on the Retrospect forum web
pile though.

>Have you ever used the tool called Repair Catalog - would
>that do something about the 20 minutes to build a snapshot?

I doubt it. But I have not tried it myself.
--
David Arnstein (00)
arnstein+usenet@pobox.com {{ }}
^^

louise

2008-01-01, 7:15 am

David Arnstein wrote:
> In article <5tq4guF1ephg1U1@mid.individual.net>,
> louise <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>
> My personal strategy is to keep as many snapshots as will fit on my
> backup disk. Unfortunately, this has to be determined by trial and error.
>
>
> I don't know if this is reasonable or not. Retrospect is making a list
> of every file on your system, whether that file needs backing up or not.
> If you have a ton of files on your disk, then this is what you get. I
> have seen a lot of complaints about this on the Retrospect forum web
> pile though.
>
>
> I doubt it. But I have not tried it myself.

Thanks again. It does seem to be working so I guess I wont
try to fix what I already fixed successfully :-)

Most of the time I set it to backup before I go to sleep and
to turn off the computer when finished. So I guess in
practice, I don't really care if it takes 20 minutes to
build a snapshot. And yes, I do have a lot of files on my
computer.

Happy New Year.

Louise