Deleting old backups

[AnthonyMA]

I understand that Windows Server Backup is supposed to do this. We run a Windows Server 2012 Essentials domain. I have had to move (using the dashboard wizard) the "Server Folders", which contain the backups, to a new location. There are two backups: "Drive Image" backing up drive C (50GB) and "Files and Folders" backing up drive C and D (500GB). The backup destination is 2TB. I cannot tell you how much of the drive is currently devoted to the BackupAssist folder because "Properties" indicates over 4TB and counting!! Clearly, either I, or Windows Server Backup, has got to delete some old backups (we use the intermediate set) because all backups are currently failing through lack of disk space. Please advise how I should proceed?

Best - Anthony

[casey.burns]

Hi there,

My name is Casey, and I'm with the BackupAssist team. Thanks for posting on our forum.

You may need to manually remove older backups if you've changed where the backups were initially sent to. To remove older backups manually, you'll need to use the vssadmin list shadows (to give you a list of the backups) and vssadmin delete shadows (to actually remove the backups) commands.

For more information on using both of these commands, check out this link: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lib ... 54968.aspx

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have anything further to add.
Kind regards,

Casey Burns
BackupAssist Support

[AnthonyMA]

Thank you very much Casey. I will try that and post again if I have any problems. Once I have done this, and the new backups start to operate, will the automatic deletions resume or should I delete the jobs and redefine them?

[AnthonyMA]

Actually, that doesn't seem to help. I've deleted all the shadow copies on the drive in question (only two) with no appreciable gain in free space. It's the BackupAssist Backups folder (with the intermediate set of sub-folders) that needs pruning. Can I do it via Windows Explorer?

[AnthonyMA]

I need to get the backups running again. I'd be grateful for any advice, please. Otherwise, I think I'm going to have to format the destination drive and start again.

[casey.burns]

Hi there,

My name is Casey, and I'm with the BackupAssist team. Thanks for posting on our forum.

Would it be possible for you to send in a set of diagnostic information from BackupAssist? We'll need this information to properly troubleshoot your issue. To send us diagnostic information please follow these steps:

1) Go to Help (from the top-right corner of the console) -> Contact Support
2) Fill out the form and ensure that the Submit system diagnostics checkbox at the bottom is checked.

If you have any issues using our automated support tool please follow these steps to manually send in your diagnostics file:

1. Go to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data (server 2003/XP) or C:\ProgramData\ (server 2008/Vista/Win7)
2. Find the BackupAssist folder, zip up the version of the following folder: BackupAssist vX (Where X is the version that you are running)
3. Once you've zipped up all the folders needed please go to our manual submission website that will collect the data and send to us: http://www.backupassist.com/BackupAssis ... submit.php.

If you find this file is too large to e-mail send us, you can trim down the size of the logs by removing anything older than a week within the following folders under the BackupAssist folder
- Summaries
- History
- Reports
- Temp

I hope this helps, please let me know if you have anything further to add.

Kind regards,

Casey Burns
BackupAssist Support

[AnthonyMA]

Hello Casey

As I hadn't heard anything, I formatted the drive in question and started again. All the backups are taking place properly now.

Many thanks for your help.

Best - Anthony