SQL Directory

Once you have created a backup job, you can modify its settings using the Manage screen's Edit option.

This allows you to change selections that were made when the job was created. There are also options that are not available when you create a backup job.

To modify a backup job:

1. Select BackupAssist's Backup tab
2. Select Manage Backup Jobs
3. Select the backup job that you want to change.
4. Select Edit from the top menu
5. Select the part of the job you want to change from the list on the left
6. Once you have made the required changes, select Apply changes

There are 8 standard Edit options, similar to the steps completed during the backup job creation. There may also be backup specific options.

This location is used for both Basic and Transaction backups of the local SQL Server, as well as any remote SQL servers that were selected. The files are saved locally because the scheduling is tied to the Basic and Transactional backup types, rather than different destinations and media rotations

Directory path

You can also customize the SQL backup path by inserting unique variables.

Insert Variable

Click Insert variable and choose a variable from the list.

The variable will now be inserted into the SQL backup path enclosed with percentage signs (eg. %JOB_NAME%). You can insert as many additional variables as required. You can also order the variables as you like.

An example backup path:

User input: C:\SQL_Temp\%JOB_NAME%\

Example path: C:\SQL_Temp\SQL Backup\

There are a number of ways in which disk space can be managed through BackupAssist on your external hard disks:

Use all available space (recommended)

BackupAssist will check the backup drive for free disk space while a backup is in progress. If the drive is running low on disk space and cannot accommodate the new backup file, the oldest backup file on the drive will be removed. BackupAssist will continue to remove backup files in age order (oldest to newest) as required to ensure that enough disk space is free to store the latest backup file. If your entire external drive is dedicated to backup storage this option is recommended.

Use available space but always leave X Gb of free space

Here you can define an amount of disk space to always leave free on the drive. BackupAssist will check the backup drive for free disk space while a backup is in progress and if the drive's free space goes below this value, the oldest backup file will be removed from the drive. BackupAssist will continue to remove backup files in age order as required to ensure that this amount of free space is always maintained on the drive.

Use a maximum size of X Gb for backups

Here you can define a maximum amount of disk space that should be used for backup storage on the drive. BackupAssist will scan the backup drive for backup files while a backup is in progress and if the amount of disk space used for backup files goes above this value, the oldest backup file will be removed from the drive. BackupAssist will continue to remove backup files in age order as required to ensure that backup storage does not exceed this value of disk space.

Keep the last X backups

Here you can determine the number of backup files that should be constantly maintained on the drive. BackupAssist will delete the oldest backup on the drive if this number of backup files is ever exceeded.

Keep backups from the last X days

Here you can choose to have BackupAssist remove any backup files on your backup drive that are older than a specified number of days. For example: you may like to set this value to "14" to always have the last two week's worth of backups on the drive.

Unmanaged

Here BackupAssist will continue to fill your backup drive with backup files. You will need to manually manage the disk space yourself. If the drive ever runs out of space and a backup cannot complete you will receive an error in your backup report alerting you to this fact.