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Archive/Delete Files Older Than XX Days

TheB
Level 2

Created a new backup job, goal to archive files older than 999 days(maximum amount I could select), job ran and backed up files in my test directory but the job archived all files then deleted all files. Below is the procedure I used to create the job.

 

Select New Backup Job.

Selected the data to be archived.

Click the Include/Exclude button and check the Files not accessed in X days and entered the number of days, 999.

Checked the Include radio button.

Click OK

Click General.

In the Backup method for files field, selected Full-Archive the files (delete files after successful copy)

Complete the backup job options

Question what file attribute does BE look at to determine what files to archive then delete?

4 REPLIES 4

w-d
Level 4
Employee Accredited Certified

Archiving files / creating placeholders:
 

  • User mode Placeholder service archives the file
  • User mode Placeholder service opens the file handle and sends it to the mini-filter driver evmf.sys as part of the message to the mini-filter
  • Mini-filter driver uses this handle to get the file object and performs following operations:
  • Mini-filter sets the reparse point on the file
  • Mini-filter sets the offline attribute on the file
  • Mini-filter makes the file sparse
  • Mini-filter zeroes the data allocation of the file


 

Recalling the placeholder:

On file data access operation the mini-filter recalls files on read, write, set info, memory map operations
 

  • Mini-filter requests the data from the Placeholder service
  • Mini-filter sends non-cached paging i/o write requests to NTFS to recall the file
  • When it is done it deletes the reparse point and clears the offline attribute

 

More information is here: http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH68784

Kunal_Mudliyar1
Level 6
Employee Accredited

Hi TheB,

BE will look into the modified date to decide this.

If the file is not modified in x no of days it becomes a candidate to get deleted.

 

TheB
Level 2

Further testing have found the following. When I set "Files not accessed in XX" under Include\Exclude, the setting is not being applied. If I select the Apply button both the Apply and OK button gray out, only button left is Cancel. When I go back into the job and select Include/Exclude agian I cannot tell it was ever selected and based on the results of my test runs it would appear this is indeed true.

TheB
Level 2

No further help on this problem?