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Ascend_Internet's avatar
Ascend_Internet
Level 2
15 years ago

Backup to USB Drive not overwriting

This is my first post here as well as me being new / inexperienced with Backup Exec ... so please be gentle! ;-)

I have Backup Exec 2010 which is backing up MS Exchange, SQL Server, System State and general files to one of 2 USB Drives nightly. The drives are 150Gb and the nightly backup (Byte Count) is roughtly 50Gb.

The problem is that the USB drives fill up but Backup Exec does not then overwrite old data, instead it requests a new drive / more space. I want it to just overwrite the oldest data on the drive.


The Media Set has Overwrite Protection Period = 8 hours, Appendable Period = Infinite - Allow Append.

Device Settings -

Max size for backup-to-disk files = 4Gb
Allocate max size for backup-to-disk files = Disabled
Max no of backup sets per backup-to-disk file = 100
Low disk space threshold: Disabled

Job Settings -

Device and Media: originally set to "Append to media, overwrite if no appendable media is available"
also tried "Overwrite media"


2010
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec

5 Replies

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  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    Moderator
    15 years ago
    Go to Tools ---> Options ----> Media Management and set the Media Overwrite Option to Overwrite recycleable media in the targeted media set before overwriting scratch media.
  • RahulG's avatar
    RahulG
    Level 6
    15 years ago

    As suggested by Pkh  Go to Tools ---> Options ----> Media Management and set the Media Overwrite Option to Overwrite recycleable media in the targeted media set before overwriting scratch media.--- This should resolve the issue but in case if it does not Have look on the media set properties and see if there is any recycleable media (whoes overwrite protection period is over) and set the option to overwrite media in the device and media section ...

  • Ken_Putnam's avatar
    Ken_Putnam
    Level 6
    15 years ago
    In addition th the Overwrite setting mentioned by the other posters, I would suggest changing the APP (Append period) to "0 - never allow"  and ensuring that your jobs are all Overwrite (IMHO, all B2D should be only Overwrite)
  • Ascend_Internet's avatar
    Ascend_Internet
    Level 2
    15 years ago
    Thanks pkh and RahulG - I will change that setting ready for tonight's backup ... !

    Ken - Can you tell me where the "APP" setting is please. Also, why do you think that B2D should only be Overwrite?
  • Ken_Putnam's avatar
    Ken_Putnam
    Level 6
    15 years ago


    From the Media Tab

    Right click the media set / properties


    Append makes sense for Tapes, since if you write 50 MB onto a DLT3 or DLT4 volume, if you do not use append, you have basically wasted the rest of the space on that volume

    For B2D, leave the default size (4 GB?) and even if you only write that same 50MB, yo only lose the rest of that 4GB. It also makes managing BKF files easier, since all members of an "Appen Family" share the same OPP, which is reset each time a BKF file in that family is closed