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Old Versioning files from non-existing Source files

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Cloo
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Old Versioning files from non-existing Source files

Post by Cloo »

I've noticed that i have a bunch versioning files stuck in the $SBV$ directory from files that no longer exist on the Source. Some files are years old.

My Versioning is set to 2 versions, maximum of 0 days (ignoring the max setting).
I've been playing around with the number of versions to keep, coming down from 4 to 3 to 2.

Strange part is that the versioning *is* working for still existing files on Source, because I've seen the kept versions drop to 3 and 2 each manual run I do. But it completely ignores the versions (inside $SBV$) from non-existing source files. It seems as if these files are not registered in 'the system' ?! (not sure how SyncBackPro does its magic :P).

Is there a way to do an automated clean up of the $SBV$ Versioning directories [if the source file doesn't exist, than delete the versioning file too] ?
Or make the system aware that these files are there and can be processed by the system ?

ps: running V7.12.12.0 (downloaded & installed today)

Thanks for the help.
Regards,
Steve
Swapna
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Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2015 6:22 am

Re: Old Versioning files from non-existing Source files

Post by Swapna »

Hi,

SyncBack deletes version files of an ‘existing or non-existing’ source file based on the ‘max number of versions’ and ‘age’ rules set in the Versioning settings page. First, SyncBack checks to see if the total number of version files (of a source/destination file) exceeds the ‘maximum versions to keep’. If so, it will delete excess version files starting with the oldest version. If a ‘maximum age’ is set, then any versions over that age are deleted next from $SBV$ folder. This logic applies to both existing or non-existing files on source/destination.
Is there a way to do an automated clean-up of the $SBV$ Versioning directories [if the source file doesn't exist, than delete the versioning file too] ?
There is no option to automatically delete version files if the source/destination file is deleted. However, I will pass your request to the relevant department.

Thank you.
Cloo
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Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:51 pm

Re: Old Versioning files from non-existing Source files

Post by Cloo »

Hi Swapna,

Thanks for the info. That's pretty much how I pictured the procedure would be. But it doesn't seem to work for me in this case.
I'm going to play around with the 'maximum age' (or "Keep versions for a maximum of xx days") as this is not set atm.

In the online help, I read :
When a version of a file is made the date & time when the version was made is recorded. Note that this is not the last modification date & time of the file, nor is it the creation date & time of the file, it is the date & time when the version was made
I wonder what happens if files in the $SBV$ directory somehow where not recorded by the program. Could that be an explanation why some files are not processed by the 'maximum versions' and 'maximum age' filter of existing or non-existing source files and be deleted ?!
Are these recordings kept in an index file ? Perhaps I could thy to recreate this index ? (Just guessing here..)

Thanks again
Steve
Cloo
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Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:51 pm

Re: Old Versioning files from non-existing Source files

Post by Cloo »

It seems fidling around with the maximum age ("Keep versions for a maximum of xx days") did the trick to let SyncBackPro delete versioning files (in $SBV$) of non-existing source files.

I put it as 365 days and after the manual run, some checks revealed that those redundant files were no longer present. I also gained 600gb of backup space. I probably lost a lot of non-redundant old versioning files, but that's no problem.
If I wanted to be more carefull, I probably could have put the age as 3year and work my way up.

So yeah ... that did the trick.
I have to assume that by putting the maximum age as zero, ignores the fact that source files are existing or not to determine to delete the versioning file or not ?!
I have some other backup profiles running. I will test this assumption by putting the maximum age for 20 years (this should not delete any files) and see if still files get deleted or I gain storage.

Regards,
Steve
Cloo
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Re: Old Versioning files from non-existing Source files

Post by Cloo »

Update :

Putting the maximum age to 20 years, to see if the profile would pick up old versioning files of non-existing source-files did not help.
Apparently, my previous statement only worked because I put it the maximum age as a year ?!

While checking the backup files, I noticed a LOT of orphaned backup files (normal & versioned) that weren't deleted because the source file was deleted ?! I'm at a loss here...

Any way to check the SyncBackPro records & dates ?

S.
Swapna
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Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2015 6:22 am

Re: Old Versioning files from non-existing Source files

Post by Swapna »

Hi,

Can you please submit a support ticket to [email protected] with your profile configuration and a screenshot showing the orphaned version files for investigation.

Thank you.
Cloo
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Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2015 12:51 pm

Re: Old Versioning files from non-existing Source files

Post by Cloo »

Swapna,

Will do.
Thank you for the help.

Regards,
Steve
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