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Delete old backup BEFORE creating new backup

DanTheManDanTheMan
in Storage Guides, Tricks and Tips
Hey,
Question: is there a way to configure AOMAI Backuper to delete old backups before creating new ones?

my situation:
  • full system backup ~100GB (growing)
  • max compression enabled
  • scheduled 2 backups / week
  • backup storage HDD (~250GB, second HDD, ~200GB left for backups)
The limited space of my second HDD, where my backups should be stored, is frequently running out of space. My drive has not enough space to store two of my full system backups. Backupper keeps aborting scheduled tasks, because of storage limitations. In my eyes the problem is, that Backupper is creating and saving new backups before deleting old ones. This is obviously by design and best practice, but in my specific case not really helping to get an automated backup process. Using incemental backups leeds to the same storage problems. It's annoying to delete old backups by hand and restart the backup task, after it failed. Backupper deletes old backups as expected, but after creating new ones. So again:

is there a way to configure AOMAI Backuper to delete old backups before creating new ones?

Thanks for your help guys,
Dan
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Comments

  • FlyerFlyer
    edited November 2018
    I'm assuming you are using the Pro version.
    Your problem is your backup destination is really too small to allow much flexibility. You are right, the new backup is made before the erase. Your best bet would be to get a larger HDD. If you're using a desktop, a 1G HDD is under $50. If you have a laptop, it may be more difficult. Erasing the old backup before a new one is made can be done manually by just going into the folder and deleting it. This should not require you to reset the task. I'm pretty sure any backup program would not want to erase a valid backup before it creates a new one if being done automatically.
    Although it's not much consolation for you, I was using a 500G HDD for backup destination and several months ago upgraded to a 1G HDD because I thought I was cutting it too close when the remaining space got under 150G in some cases. (I have some other things on the drive besides the Aomei backups.)
  • DanTheManDanTheMan
    Hey @Flyer,
    thx for your answer. I am using pro version on a laptop. You'r absolutely right, my HDD is too small. I was just wondering if there is this kind of config setting to delete valid backups upfront to sustain an automated backup process without switching hardware...
  • FlyerFlyer
    With the limited space, I would recommend just creating a Full backup set without any schedule. That way you could manually delete the old backup and just open Aomei and run the manual backup. I know it's a pain but don't know of any other way unless you can create some kind of macro that runs on a schedule that would delete the backup and have it set to run an hour or so before your Aomei scheduled backup. That's well beyond my computer knowledge. As a secondary backup set, I use a USB Seagate 1TB portable drive. Periodically, I plug it in and run a manual backup. I have it set to maintain 3 copies so when the backup is done it will erase the old one. I keep it separate from my computer so any computer failure or virus won't affect it. That may be another option that might work for you.

    * on the previous post I said 1G HDD... I meant 1 TB. 
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