Acronis Backup for Linux Server - User Guide - Manual (Page 73)

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This mode is not available for Acronis Cloud Storage when you copy or move backups there. In
the cloud storage, all backups are incremental except the first backup of an archive which is
always full. This chain cannot be entirely deleted because the most recent backup must always
be kept.

Consolidate these backups
The software will consolidate the backup that is subject to deletion or movement, with the next
dependent backup. For example, the retention rules require to delete a full backup but to retain
the next incremental one. The backups will be combined into a single full backup which will be
dated with the incremental backup date. When an incremental or differential backup from the
middle of the chain is deleted, the resulting backup type will be incremental.
This mode ensures that after each cleanup the archive size and the age or number of backups are
within the bounds you specify. The consolidation, however, may take a lot of time and system
resources. You still need some extra space in the vault for temporary files created during
consolidation.
This mode is not available if you selected the Archive size greater than rule for any archive
location except for Acronis Cloud Storage.
What you need to know about consolidation
Please be aware that consolidation is just a method of deletion but not an alternative to deletion.
The resulting backup will not contain data that was present in the deleted backup and was
absent from the retained incremental or differential backup.
4.5.5 Usage examples
This section provides examples of how you can replicate backups and set up retention rules for them.
4.5.5.1 Example 1. Replicating backups to a network folder
Consider the following scenario:

You want to perform a full backup of your machine manually.

You want to store the backups in Acronis Secure Zone (p. 131) on the machine.

You want to store a copy of the backups in a network folder.
In this scenario, create a backup plan with the Manual start scheme. When creating the backup plan,
specify Acronis Secure Zone in the Location field, select Full in the Backup type field, select the
Replicate newly created backup to another location check box, and then specify the network folder
in the 2nd location field.
Result:

You can recover the machine’s volumes or files from a readily available local backup, which is
stored in a dedicated area of the hard disk.

You can recover the machine from the network folder if the machine’s hard disk drive fails.
4.5.5.2 Example 2. Limiting the age and total size of stored backups
Consider the following scenario:

You want to perform a weekly full backup of your machine.

You want to keep all backups that are younger than a month.

You want to keep even older backups, as long as the total size of all backups stays below 200 GB.