Problem creating Grandfather, Father, Son backups

[RobLatour]

Much like the post here:
https://www.easyuefi.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1158
which unfortunately does not appear to be responded to, I wanted to create a Grandfather, Father, Son backup scheme.

However, I started with trying Father Son first.

For clarity, Grandfather, Father, Son backs are something like this:
   1 full back up monthly
   differential backups weekly
   incremental backups daily

What I tried to start with was:
   1 full backup weekly
   incremental backups daily

What I got however was:
   1 full backup on day 1 (as expected)
   1 incremental backup, slightly larger than the prior days full backup, on day 2 (not as expected)

Of note, I did this with two schedules, one for the full backup weekly on Sundays, and one for the daily backups on (Monday - Saturday)

Also, the two schedules result in backups going to separate sub-directories, as I can't seem to specify the same directory for both in the settings.

A solution might be to do a post backup move, but it appears that is what @Dinar did in the post referenced above, but to no avail.

Any help would be appreciated

[Froggie]

The current scheduling System is not designed for a GFS type of backup in any form.  The Devs have said that this will be looked at in the future.

What I do is set up an Inc backup on a DAILY basis, and a Powershell script which deletes all image entries when I want the next image chain to begin.  When the chain is empty, Hasleo Backup Suite (HBS) will always create the needed FULL on the day the repository is found empty.

I'm currently using HBS only as a backup to my main imaging application (it works very well, BTW)... mainly due to the lack of certain features in the current version.

[Froggie]

You may also use the "Command" function under "Backup Options" to perform the image chain cleanup mentioned in the above post.  That way HBS can do this "pruning" all by itself and at the proper time.

[RobLatour]

@Froggie thanks very much for the explanation

[admin]

Much like the post here:
https://www.easyuefi.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1158
which unfortunately does not appear to be responded to, I wanted to create a Grandfather, Father, Son backup scheme.

However, I started with trying Father Son first.

For clarity, Grandfather, Father, Son backs are something like this:
   1 full back up monthly
   differential backups weekly
   incremental backups daily

What I tried to start with was:
   1 full backup weekly
   incremental backups daily

What I got however was:
   1 full backup on day 1 (as expected)
   1 incremental backup, slightly larger than the prior days full backup, on day 2 (not as expected)

Of note, I did this with two schedules, one for the full backup weekly on Sundays, and one for the daily backups on (Monday - Saturday)

Also, the two schedules result in backups going to separate sub-directories, as I can't seem to specify the same directory for both in the settings.

A solution might be to do a post backup move, but it appears that is what @Dinar did in the post referenced above, but to no avail.

Any help would be appreciated

I'm sorry, the backup schedule provided by Hasleo Backup Suite is still very simple, and we'll improve it in future releases.

[Froggie]

@RobLatour, I have successfully created a somewhat GFS image chain using the CLI (Command Line Interface) of v3.5 in Powershell, running under the Windows Scheduler.  Some basics are in the following POST, if interested.

[RobLatour]

@RobLatour, I have successfully created a somewhat GFS image chain using the CLI (Command Line Interface) of v3.5 in Powershell, running under the Windows Scheduler.  Some basics are in the following POST, if interested.

Thanks @Froggie

I end-up up putting my own work around in until, hopefully sometime in the future, Hasleo is able to provide for a more elegant solution.

In short, I have created a daily incremental backup in Hasleo which stores the results in a folder called "Q:\Backups\W11 Server\Incremental backup week 0".

Also, I created this windows .bat file:

Q:
cd "Q:\Backups\W11 Server\"
rd /S /Q "Incremental backup week -3"
ren "Incremental backup week -2"  "Incremental backup week -3" 
ren "Incremental backup week -1"  "Incremental backup week -2"
ren "Incremental backup week 0"  "Incremental backup week -1"
md  "Incremental backup week 0"

The above .bat file runs weekly via task scheduler, a few minutes before the daily Hasleo backup process runs.

The results are that daily my current backup files get stored in a the folder "Q:\Backups\W11 Server\Incremental backup week 0"

and weekly the files get effectively moved to an incremental backup weekly directory for the prior set of weeks up to 3 prior weeks.

Also, backups over 3 prior weeks are deleted.

Then a few minutes after the above .bat file runs, the daily Hasleo incremental backup process runs.

Also, of note, the first day of the week that the incremental backup process runs the "Incremental backup week 0" directory is empty.  

As such, what Haselo does is create a full backup for that day.

After that, thru the week, what I get is the incremental backups.

So generally, after these routines have run. I have three directories from prior weeks each with one full backup and six incremental backups; as well as the current week's full backup and incremental backups to the current day.

Its not exactly GFS; but functions as a work around that I can live with for now.

[admin]

The version below has improved backup schedule and image retention policy, which allow us to create GFS backups, please download and try:
https://www.easyuefi.com/backup-software...Beta_3.exe

IMPORTANT: This is a beta release only and not the final release!!!

For more information about the new backup schedule:
1. If multiple schedules of a task are set to generate backups at the same time, Hasleo Backup Suite will only generate one backup, because it does not make much sense to generate multiple backups continuously in a short period of time.

For more information about the new image retention policy:
1. Since it usually takes a long time to merge image files, Hasleo Backup Suite now uses both image deletion and image merge methods to implement image retention policies to improve efficiency.
2. When deleting full backups, all differential and incremental backups linked to those full backups are also deleted.
3. When deleting differential backups, all incremental backups linked to those differential backups are also deleted.
4. When deleting incremental backups, use both image deletion and image merge methods to ensure that the backup chain is not broken. Please note that in the examples below, F refers to full backup, D refers to differential backup, and I refers to incremental backup.
    (4.1) Example 1, before retention, there is a backup chain F I I F I I I, and the image retention policy is set to retain three incremental backups, we only need to delete the first two incremental backups, because there are no other backups linked to these incremental backups, and deleting them will not cause the backup chain to break.
    (4.2) Example 2, before retention, there is a backup chain F I I F I I I, and the image retention policy is set to retain two incremental backups, we can safely delete the first two incremental backups, but we cannot delete the third incremental backup, because the last two incremental backups are linked to the third incremental backup. The solution is to merge the third incremental backup with the fourth incremental backup to produce a new incremental backup.
5. Since the image files are deleted directly, it is normal to warn that the image files have been deleted or lost when checking the integrity of the image.

[RobLatour]

Thank you that is great news.

I've just installed the beta version, and have set it up to do a full backup on the first Sunday of the month, differential backups on the other Sundays, and incremental backups every day.

Luckily, tomorrow is the first Sunday of the month - so it should start off tomorrow!

I'll keep you posted on progress.

[Froggie]

The version below has improved backup schedule and image retention policy, which allow us to create GFS backups, please download and try:
https://www.easyuefi.com/backup-software...Beta_3.exe

IMPORTANT: This is a beta release only and not the final release!!!

For more information about the new backup schedule:
1. If multiple schedules of a task are set to generate backups at the same time, Hasleo Backup Suite will only generate one backup, because it does not make much sense to generate multiple backups continuously in a short period of time.

For more information about the new image retention policy:
1. Since it usually takes a long time to merge image files, Hasleo Backup Suite now uses both image deletion and image merge methods to implement image retention policies to improve efficiency.
2. When deleting full backups, all differential and incremental backups linked to those full backups are also deleted.
3. When deleting differential backups, all incremental backups linked to those differential backups are also deleted.
4. When deleting incremental backups, use both image deletion and image merge methods to ensure that the backup chain is not broken. Please note that in the examples below, F refers to full backup, D refers to differential backup, and I refers to incremental backup.
    (4.1) Example 1, before retention, there is a backup chain F I I F I I I, and the image retention policy is set to retain three incremental backups, we only need to delete the first two incremental backups, because there are no other backups linked to these incremental backups, and deleting them will not cause the backup chain to break.
    (4.2) Example 2, before retention, there is a backup chain F I I F I I I, and the image retention policy is set to retain two incremental backups, we can safely delete the first two incremental backups, but we cannot delete the third incremental backup, because the last two incremental backups are linked to the third incremental backup. The solution is to merge the third incremental backup with the fourth incremental backup to produce a new incremental backup.
5. Since the image files are deleted directly, it is normal to warn that the image files have been deleted or lost when checking the integrity of the image.

Fantastic news, thank you very much!!  Like @RobLatour, I have also started a BETA test TODAY using the following specs... (2) FULLs on the 1st of each month, Differentials weekly at 10pm on Sundays & 7-days of daily Incrementals at 10pm (hoping to merge forward as needed).