KNOWLEDGE BASE
BackupAssist Backup Software > Knowledge Base > HardDriveBackupStrategies

Backing up with limited file space - potential solutions

Example 1:


You want to schedule daily backups as separate .bkf files to the same directory or drive (USB, REV, Network, etc) but have limited file space on the drive/directory

Possible Resolution:

When backing up to file, in the 'Options' tab, select 'Use Tape Label' as the backup filename.
Note: you can customise your own tape label names - go to 'Schedule Tab' and select 'Customise Tape Labels'


Next ensure that 'Delete all backup files (*.bkf) is UNCHECKED to ensure that there is no unwanted data loss. Now each daily backup you make will be labelled according to the day of the week (unless customised labels are implemented).

For example - the drive you backup to will have the following files at the end of the week if using a 5 day backup schedule:


Monday.bkf
Tuesdayay.bkf
Wednesday.bkf
Thursday.bkf
Friday.bkf

When the following week begins: Monday's backup will backup to the same directory as 'Monday.bkf' and overwrite the previous weeks backup. Similalrly, each subsequent days backup will overwrite the previous weeks backup.

This solution ensures that you will not run out of space and always have at least 4 days' worth of recent backups.

Example 2:


You want to implement a rolling 'two day' backup scheme (ie "data1.bkf" and "data2.bkf") and store these backups in the one directory with limited file space

Possible Resolution:

When backing up to file, in the 'Options' tab, select 'Use Tape Label' as the backup filename. Next ensure that 'Delete all backup files (*.bkf) is UNCHECKED to ensure there is no data loss.


In order to implement a rolling 'two day' backup scheme you will need to customise your tape labels by using the 'Schedule Tab' and selecting 'Customise tape labels' From here you will need to re-label the days of the week that you perform the backups.

For example - if you want to perform backups 5 days a week (Mon-Fri) then rename the labels as follows:


Monday -> Data1
Tuesday -> Data2
Wednesday -> Data1
Thursday -> Data2
Friday -> Data1

This method ensures that there are only ever two backup files stored in the drive/directory you have selected for your backup jobs - "data1.bkf" and "data2.bkf"


On Monday: "data1.bkf" will be backed up to the backup directory.
On Tuesday: "data2.bkf" will be backed up to the same directory.
On Wednesday: "data1.bkf" in the backup directory will be overwritten with a backup of Wednesday's data and the same process will occur on Thursday for the "data2.bkf" file.

This process will continually cycle, with each data backup file being overwritten every second day.

Page last modified on February 03, 2005, at 12:54 AM