Move backups to external device

[StephRu]

I use BA to do archives (System Protection) of my files, using the schedule Grandfather-Father-Son.

I'm running out of space and I would like to move all backups prior to a date to an external drive. How can I achieve this and how will restore work if one day I need to fetch a file that is in a backup that has been transferred on an other device ?

[Stuart]

Hi there,

It's Stuart here from the BackupAssist team.

Are you using a data container to back up to the current destination?
If so, then you can copy the data container to a different location and preserve all the backups from one to another (you don't have a choice of dates however).

If you're not using a data container, then there isn't any way to move existing shadow copies to another location (it's a limitation within using snapshot storage) because if you move the backup vhd(x) files, the shadow copies are lost (see the update on the bottom of the following blog): https://www.backupassist.com/blog/support/windows-image-recoveries-important-limitation/.

The only way you'd be able to do this is by removing the current physical media that the backups are stored on, and swapping them with brand new media.

[StephRu]

Hi Stuart,

I'm puzzled, and probably I'm doing something wrong.

I have about 10TB of data to backup and I would like a restore points following the grandfather - father - son schedule. A few months ago, I was using Zip archives, but it was killing my storage space. You then recommeded SIS, because of its capability of saving one file only once. I'm backuping on a ISCSI share.

I remember seeing once the "data container" option but I don't see it now in one of my tasks. Where can I find it ? Can i "convert" my actual backups ?

Would manually restoring a backup to an external drive would do the trick no ? But then i would have to do 13 restores if I want to restore every month and year of the past year, correct ?

I'm starting to get really afraid that I didn't pick the proper type of backup job. What happens if I loose my 2012 that has BA installed on it ? If I install a new OS, with BA on it, will it be able to restore all my restore point on my iscsi drives ?

[StephRu]

Ok, so Data Container would be available in "System Protection".

Now what is the difference between System Protection and File Protection if I'm only backuping Data ?

[Stuart]

Hi again,

The main difference is that System Protection is an imaged based backup, where File Protection is straight file level.

System Protection will provide the ability to perform a full bare metal recovery should the need arise, where a File Protection based backup will only allow you to restore the data and not actually recover Windows.

If you're using File Protection and enable Single Instance Store, should you copy the backups from one location to another then the hard links will not be preserved, meaning that the space saved will not be maintained and you'll need the physical space saved (as indicated on your backup report) to be able to copy the backups to another location.

More information on File Protection is located in our documentation (along with all other engines), which you can access from https://www.backupassist.com/support/documentation.html.

[StephRu]

Hi Stuart,

Thank you for your answer. Had a look at your documentation on File Protection, it doesn't answer two of my questions (that are also asked here) :

- What would happen if the machine on which BA is installed dies, but backuped data is on a scsi drive. Once BA is installed on a new machine, then what ?
- I still don't know what is my best solution between File Protection and File Archiving. What would you recommended if I want to have the following requirements :

• A lot of data to backup (> 10 TB)
• Grandfather-father-son schedule
• Fast backup
• Offline restore points (this can be done manually)

To be honest, as I'm typing this, I think I already answered my question: am I right by saying that if I want to have an application-less restore point, I should use File Archiving (zip folders).

Thanks for your input.

[Stuart]

Hi again,

The first question is a little open ended. If you're wanting to restore the data, then you're able to browse for the backups.
There are two catalogue files written for each backup:
- one locally on the machine BackupAssist is installed on
- one on the backup destination with the backup.

If you're wanting to back up to the drive and the configuration is the same as the job on the machine that's crashed, then it'll detect the files there and run incrementals against them if that's what you require.

For the second question, as you've mentioned - you're best option is to use File Archiving to achieve the requirements you've listed.