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Disk Storage doesn't properly empty, fills up and no backup sets are detected

ispurchase_mgro
Level 3

I've been fighting Backup Exec since version 10.  I'm on 2012 now with the all the latest service packs and updates installed.  All of my backup jobs that write to disk storage are set to be retained for 2 weeks.  I keep having to provision more space because, as time goes on, these disk storage volumes don't clear expired backup sets as they should.  For example:

bu1.jpg

Weekly_2 shows around 900GB used, but there are no backup sets:

bu2.jpg

I've enabled the reg hack that shows the Media sets in the storage view, and when I look at those, I see a bunch of media:

bu3.jpg

All of them were last accessed in April of last year:

bu4.jpg

So, how do I go about getting rid of these?

I did try to import my old backup-to-disk folders, foolishly thinking that the "Import from legacy backup-to-disk folders" tool would work like it said.  It didn't.  I distinctly remember losing everything and having to start over.  This wasn't a huge deal as we duplicate to tape every weekend.

Please help!  Thanks!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

If there is nothing that you want on the disk, do this

1) delete the disk storage on that disk from the BE console.

2) delete any legacy disk storage on that disk from BE console

3) use Windows Explorer and format the disk.

4) define a new disk storage on that disk.

View solution in original post

4 REPLIES 4

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

For disk storage in BE 2012, it is managed by DLM and it would not delete the last recovery point of a server.  See this blog for an explanation.

https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/blogs/data-lifecycle-management-be-2012

According to the Symantec people, there are also cases where the backup sets are not deleted when they should, e.g. when you are using USB disks which are not online when the DLM grooming cycle starts.  If you have determined that these old backup sets should have been deleted, then you can right-click on them in the BE console and select delete.  This will also delete them from the disk storage.  Don't delete them from the disk using Windows Explorer as this will leave orphaned entries in the BE console.

ispurchase_mgro
Level 3

@pkh:  The problem is that there are no backup sets showing anywhere in the console for that disk storage (See the second screenshot in my original post).  There aren't even any backup sets shown when I go into the Media view and look.  Where am I supposed to right-click to delete them?

I've found and read that blog entry many times, and it was very helpful in getting DLM to start cleaning one of my other disk storage volumes, but the same techniques I used there are not working for the rest of them.

I know there's nothing on one of those disk storage volumes that I need.  Can I somehow remove it from Backup Exec, then delete all the files from within Explorer, then start over and convince BE that it's a brand new disk to do it's disk storage and DLM stuff with?  How would I go about applying that technique to a disk storage volume that some of the storage is still being taken up by backup sets that don't show in the console anywhere?  Remove it from the resource pool, wait for all sets to expire, then remove it from BE and manually delete the files and start over?

Thanks!

pkh
Moderator
Moderator
   VIP    Certified

If there is nothing that you want on the disk, do this

1) delete the disk storage on that disk from the BE console.

2) delete any legacy disk storage on that disk from BE console

3) use Windows Explorer and format the disk.

4) define a new disk storage on that disk.

ispurchase_mgro
Level 3

I figured as much.  I use it as temporary storage, basically.  I go disk to disk, then duplicate the backup disk to tape.  It lets me deal with errors more effectively (backup exec server processes randomly freezing up, agents crashing, goofy storage errors where it starts writing a 300+ GB backup to a disk that's nearly full, etc.)  I've just recently had a disk that was new since I moved to 2012 (so no legacy storage has ever been on it) start doing this.  I guess whatever storage space culling process is supposed to clear that space just plain doesn't work at all.  I don't know what I expected, it's backup exec, after all.  I'm going to mark your answer as the solution, as it's what I'm going to do, but I'm really not looking forward to all the babysitting of this software I'm going to have to do in the future.