Acronis Tutorials - Keep Full Backups True Image Home 2009

How to keep previous set of full + incremental/differential backups with Acronis True Image Home 2009:

- Download the attached file removeold.vbs.txt to a directory in your computer
- Rename this script from removeold.vbs.txt into removeold.vbs
- Create a new and fresh backup task in Acronis 2009. You need at least build 9646.
- As backup method choose incremental or differential. Check the box Create a new full backup after n backups and choose something for n.
- Do not check the box Remove old archives - the script will do this in a more intelligent fashion
- In the backup options go to Pre-/Post commands. As pre command enter removeold.vbs, as working directory choose the directory where you stored the vbs-file. As parameter 1 type the directory which you specified in the backup task as target directory (for example K:\MyBackups). As parameter 2 set the amount of MBs this directory should not exceed.
- That's it. From now on before a backup task will be performed the script will check whether the folder which should receive the newest backup is exceeding the given size. If yes, it will delete the oldest series. It will not delete anything if there is only one series.

How to create X full backups, then delete oldest in Acronis True Image 2009:

1) At the "Backup method" step choose either "Incremental" or "Differential" method, select the "Create a new full backup after" checkbox and set "0" (zero) in the number of backups field. This will result in creating only full backups, but, in addition, will enable the "Automatic consolidation" step (disabled for the "Full" backup method), which will be needed for ensuring automatic deletion of the oldest backup.
2) At the "Automatic consolidation" step select the "Number of backups exceeds" checkbox and set a limit of 4 backups.
The program will create 4 full backups, then on the 5th run it will create a fifth backup thus exceeding the limit set on the number of backups. ATIH can't consolidate full backups, so it will simply delete the oldest one. This procedure will be repeated during the next task run, etc.
P.S. You must have space for at least 5 fulls. If there is not enough room for the 5th backup, the task run will be aborted, and the program will neither create a new backup, nor delete the oldest one.

How to automatically rename full backups, so that they do not overwrite each other (older versions of Acronis)

If you schedule a task to create a full backup on regular basis, every new backup will overwrite the previous one, as they will have the same file name.
Solution

If you want to have a new full backup created every time a scheduled task is run, so that there will be several full backups instead of one, you can use the following batch file:

* rename_backup.bat

This batch file renames a specified file, so that a new file with the same name will not overwrite it. If you schedule a task that regularly creates a full backup, you may use Acronis True Image pre/post commands or Windows Scheduled Task Wizard to run this batch file before or after the backup process.
More information

You should do the following to prevent Acronis True Image from overwriting a full backup under a scheduled task:

- Download rename_backup.bat
- Edit the file in Notepad or another word processor;
- Follow the instructions provided in the file to modify its contents according to the parameters of the task you scheduled in Acronis True Image;
- Use Acronis True Image pre/post commands or Windows Scheduler Task Manager (in Windows XP: Control Panel -> Scheduled Tasks -> Add Scheduled Task) to run the batch file before the backup process starts or after it is finished (thus, either renaming the previous backup or the newly created one).

Please note that Validate backup archive upon its completion cannot be used with putting batch file in the Pre/post commands -> After backup process, since the created batch file will have a changed name. You can still validate it manually.