Automatic Backup Rotation?

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bmcginnis
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:59 pm

Automatic Backup Rotation?

Post by bmcginnis »

Hi,
I'd like to have IFW make a full backup, then make a differential daily until the differential is around 80% or so in size to the full.

At that point it would create another full and once again start making daily differentials using the same logic as above.

Finally, full backups along with their corresponding differentials would be automatically purged after 45 days.

The general idea is that I would have at least 45 days of daily backups on hand at any given time, and the process would be automatic.

I was thinking of writing a small program to do something like this with IFW, but thought I would check here first to see if something similar is already available.

Thanks,
-Brian
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: Automatic Backup Rotation?

Post by TeraByte Support »

There are a couple of batch scripts at
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/downloads-image-for-windows.htm you could
use as a starting point.


"bmcginnis" wrote in message news:433@public.image...

Hi,
I'd like to have IFW make a full backup, then make a differential daily
until the differential is around 80% or so in size to the full.

At that point it would create another full and once again start making daily
differentials using the same logic as above.

Finally, full backups along with their corresponding differentials would be
automatically purged after 45 days.

The general idea is that I would have at least 45 days of daily backups on
hand at any given time, and the process would be automatic.

I was thinking of writing a small program to do something like this with
IFW, but thought I would check here first to see if something similar is
already available.

Thanks,
-Brian

bmcginnis
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:59 pm

Re: Automatic Backup Rotation?

Post by bmcginnis »

Thanks for the tip! I think the script that rotates by count would be close enough to what I'm looking for without much modification.

Thanks,
-Brian
TAC109
Posts: 273
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:41 pm

Re: Automatic Backup Rotation?

Post by TAC109 »

On Wed, 5 Oct 2011 08:08:33 PDT, bmcginnis wrote:

>Hi,
>I'd like to have IFW make a full backup, then make a differential daily until the differential is around 80% or so in size to the full.
>
>At that point it would create another full and once again start making daily differentials using the same logic as above.
>
>Finally, full backups along with their corresponding differentials would be automatically purged after 45 days.
>
>The general idea is that I would have at least 45 days of daily backups on hand at any given time, and the process would be automatic.
>
>I was thinking of writing a small program to do something like this with IFW, but thought I would check here first to see if something similar is already available.
>
>Thanks,
>-Brian

I have recently written a batch file (IFW_Backup) that is vaguely
similar to what you are asking.

After a full backup, it takes successive differential backups until
the *total* Mb of all the diff's become greater than 3/4 of the size
of the full. The next backup is then a 'full' and the cycle repeats.

My simulations have shown that when backup space is limited, this
strategy seems to utilise the space the best to hold the most backups
on average.

Deletion of old backups is automated as well. When the backup space is
nearly full, my script will delete the oldest full backup plus its
diff's. It can do this repeatedly to make enough room for the next
backup.

This script can be used where one external drive partition is used to
backup a number of different computers. It also handles the case where
you want to do different backups on the same computer - e.g. you might
have one partition that you backup occasionally, and you want this
separated out from your main backup sequence.

To this end you can specify, for each backup definition, the minimum
number of full backups to keep and the maximum amount of space that
can used for this backup definition, if required.

Backups are coordinated with defragging using 'MyDefrag' (a free
defragging and optimising utility). Before a full backup an 'optimise'
defrag is done, and before a diff backup a simple defrag is done.

The script also cleans out the computer's 'temp' directories at the
start.

The script allows for running in automatic mode (which is the usual
mode) or manual. mode, where you can supply these options:
Run a different backup definition
Supply a comment for backup
Free space by deleting old backups
Force a Full backup
Force a Diff backup
Suppress defrag
Suppress Temp cleanup
Incorporate old backups

I used to have a much simpler batch file which I used with IFW version
1, which was designed to coordinate defragging with backups. This is a
new version which I have recently completed to handle IFW V2.
bmcginnis
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Oct 05, 2011 2:59 pm

Re: Automatic Backup Rotation?

Post by bmcginnis »

TAC109 wrote: I have recently written a batch file (IFW_Backup) that is vaguely
similar to what you are asking.
Sounds interesting. Have you made it available to others?
TAC109
Posts: 273
Joined: Tue Sep 06, 2011 10:41 pm

Re: Automatic Backup Rotation?

Post by TAC109 »

On Wed, 5 Oct 2011 15:10:39 PDT, bmcginnis wrote:

>>I have recently written a batch file (IFW_Backup) that is vaguely
>>similar to what you are asking.
>
>Sounds interesting. Have you made it available to others?

No. I have used it for a few weeks on our own home computers, and am
about to deploy on a friend's two machines.

I have in mind one or two minor enhancements to make as well.
DrTeeth
Posts: 1289
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:58 pm

Re: Automatic Backup Rotation?

Post by DrTeeth »

On Wed, 5 Oct 2011 15:25:34 PDT, just as I was about to take a herb,
Tom Cole disturbed my reverie and wrote:

>I have in mind one or two minor enhancements to make as well.

Please keep me/us posted. Sounds useful if you would not mind sharing.
--

Cheers

DrT
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