Backup sets show differently than B2D location

[JustTryinToGetI]

I am looking at a Storage Group where I have several Servers writing jobs to.

When I look at the backup sets for this Storage Group, I see 25 "backup sets" that were created in May . But, when I go to Windows Explorer, I see 43 .bkf files with the month of May..Why is there a mismatch?

And...when I delete all the backup sets in the Storage Group, as expected...there remains 15 .bkf files.

Problem

Why is there a mismatch between the 2 locations?

And...is it safe to manually delete the .bkf files via Windows. (I also have many .bkf file for Mar and Apr although the most current backup set as seen in B. Exec is now June.

[Jaydeep_S]

I am assuming you are using BE 2012. The backup sets are automaticlly managed by DLM and ideally all expired and unprotected sets (including the corrwesponding .bkf files) are auto deleted.

There is a setting not recomended to keep enabled, but might help you.

http://www.symantec.com/docs/TECH179265 should help to see the details.

Also, by what you have posted, the older files may contain a backup set that is still retained as it probabely is the only backup set for that data or there are some other more recent backups that are dependent on it.

[Colin_Weaver · Accepted solution]

bkf files have a maximum size if the amount of data being backed up exceeds that size the multiple bkf files per set will be generated.

[lmosla · Accepted solution]

If you are sure that you (Backup Exec) no longer needs the old .bkf files then yes you can manually delete them via Windows Explorer.

[pkh · Accepted solution]

It is not wise to delete the .bkf files using Windows Explorer.  If you do so, you will leave ophan backup sets in BE, i.e., backup sets without any corresponding .bkf files.  You should always delete the backup sets in BE and BE will delete the corresponding .bkf files from disk.

[Colin_Weaver · Accepted solution]

Just to clarify this - BE 2012 deletes the backup sets for you (and I believe the OP is on 2012) but for the sake of anyone else reading this thread, in older versions of BE you needed to delete from the Backup Exec console and from Windows Explorer.

[JustTryinToGetI]

Thank you all for your reply.

PKH...I have deleted all the "backup sets" within B. Exec interface. Yet 15 .bkf files remain in windows explorer. I have since deleted them manually.

Jaydeep...are files deleted via DLM as needed...or is the space reclaimed automatically? For clarification, what I mean is based on following example.

Let's say I have a 5TB Storage Group. And lets say I have used 4TB.(1TB is now free)  If my retention set is configured for 6 weeks...does B. Exec look at the backup sets that have met/exceeded 6 weeks and automatically create space via DLM on the storage group? Thus providing me more then 1TB of free space even though I don't "need" the space per se to complete my next tiny backup job?

[Kunal_Mudliyar1 · Accepted solution]

Thats exactly how DLM works, once the backup set is expired(6 weeks in your case) it will groom it (delete it fom the actual location)

If this feature is not working you can try to update  to Backup exec 2012 Sp2

Backup Exec 2012 revision 1798 Service Pack 2