Backup Scheme
Backup Scheme can help you manage your disk space when you have
created too many backup image files created by AOMEI Backupper So if you have enabled
"Backup Scheme", Backupper will delete old image files automatically so there is no need for
you to delete them manually. For "Backup Scheme", Backupper supports five backup schemes and
the following paragraphs will describe how they perform.
How to create a Backup Scheme task?
If you have not created any backup task, click "Backup", select "File Backup" ( you can select which backup type you are interested in), so it will jump to File Backup interface. At this interface, you can select which folder you want to back up to perform the backup process and you can see the " Scheme" option.
Detailed Introduction of the Backup Scheme
Aomei Backupper supports five backup schemes: Differential Backup Scheme, Incremental Backup Scheme, Space Management Scheme, Full Backup Scheme, and Other Backup Scheme.
For Differential Backup Scheme
1. Always retain the latest xxx versions of a backup image file. When it exceeds the number of versions, the older backup image files will be deleted automatically.
2. The Differential Backup Scheme will create a full backup and multiple differential backups as one group. It will first delete the differential backup one by one during one group, then delete the full backup of the group.
Example：
We assume that you have set “3”， and this means AOMEI Backupper will always retain the latest three versions of backup image file. When it exceeds 3 versions, the older backup image files will be deleted one by one. So if there are FULL1. adi, DIFF1. adi, DIFF2.adi and after creating backup FULL2.adi, then the older differential backup DIFF1.adi will be deleted automatically.
If you tick “Make a full backup before performing backup scheme” option, it will first create a FULL backup before backup scheme circular queue and the full backup will always be retained. The procedure is:
FULL(original)→FULL1→DIFF1→DIFF2→FULL2(deleteDIFF1)→DIFF3(deleteDIFF2)→DIFF4 (delete FULL1)→FULL2(delete DIFF3)
If you don't tick the option, the procedure is:
FULL(original)→DIFF1→DIFF2→FULL1(deleteDIFF1)→DIFF3(deleteDIFF2)→DIFF4(delete FULL)→FULL2(delete DIFF3)
Note: The minimum reserved version is 2, the maximum reserved version is 100.
Incremental Backup Scheme
1. Retain the latest xxx versions of backup image files. When the number of versions is exceeded, the previous xxx versions of the backup image file will be deleted automatically.
2. The Incremental Backup Scheme is like a group queue. The former group must be removed from the queue when the later group meets the requirement of joining the queue. A group is composed of a full backup and multiple incremental backups.
Example:
We assume that you have set “3”, and this means you have chosen to keep 3 latest versions of the image file. And 3 versions of image files will be regarded as a group. When the next group is created, the older group will be deleted automatically. So if there is a group of backup image files as FULL.adi, INC1.adi, INC2.adi and after creating a new group of backup as FULL1.adi, INC3.adi, INC4.adi, then the older backup group including FULL.adi, INC1.adi, INC2.adi will be deleted automatically.
If you tick “Make a full backup before performing backup scheme” option, it will first create a FULL backup before backup scheme circular queue and the full backup will always be retained. The procedure is:
FULL (original full backup)→FULL1→INC1→INC2→FULL2→INC3→INC4(delete FULL1, INC1, INC2) →FULL3→INC5→INC6 (delete FULL2, INC3, INC4)
If you don’t tick the option, the procedure will be:
FULL (original full backup)→INC1→INC2→FULL1→INC3→INC4(delete FULL, INC1, INC2) →FULL2→INC5→INC6 (delete FULL1, INC3, INC4)
Note: The minimum reserved version is 2, the maximum reserved version is 100.
Space Management Scheme
1. Please specify for the scheme that creates XXX backup versions as one group. It will run as the differential backup way and it is the extension of Differential Backup.
2. The Space Management Scheme will create a full backup and multiple differential backups as one group. When backup versions exceed one backup group and if the program detects insufficient space when performing the new backup, old backup image files will be deleted to free up disk space for storing the new backup image files.
3. The scheme will first delete the differential backup one by one during one group, then delete the full backup of the group.
Example:
We assume you set to create 3 versions as one group. So, it will generate FULL.adi, DIFF1.adi, DIFF2.adi, FULL1.adi, DIFF3.adi, DIFF4.adi. And when you create a new full backup FULL3.adi, the program detects that there is not enough space, then it will delete DIFF1.adi. And if there is still not enough space, it will continue to delete DIFF2.adi. And if space is still not enough, delete FULL.adi..... DIFF3.adi......until there is enough space for new backup.
If you tick “Make a full backup before performing backup scheme” option, it will first create a FULL backup before backup scheme circular queue and the full backup will always be retained. The procedure is:
FULL (original full backup)→FULL1→DIFF1→DIFF2→FULL2→DIFF3→DIFF4→FULL3→DIFF5→DIFF6→FULL4 (If there is not enough space when doing this backup, Backupper will delete DIFF1 and if space is still not enough, Backupper will delete DIFF2...FULL1...DIFF3)
If you do not tick “Make a full backup before performing backup scheme" option, the procedure is:
FULL→DIFF1→DIFF2→FULL1→DIFF3→DIFF4→FULL2→DIFF5→DIFF6→FULL3 (If there is not enough space when doing this backup, Backupper will delete DIFF1 and if space is still not enough, Backupper will delete DIFF2...FULL..DIFF3...)
Full Backup Scheme
1. Always retain the latest xxx versions of full backup image files. When it exceeds the number of versions, the older full backup image file will be deleted automatically.
2. The Full Backup Scheme is like a circular queue. When the queue is full, and as new members want to join the queue, then the oldest members will be removed from the queue.
Example:
It is assumed “3” is set, which means to always retain the latest 3 versions of full backup image files. When 3 versions are exceeded, the oldest version of the backup image file will be deleted automatically. So, if there are FULL.adi, FULL1.adi, FULL2.adi, and after creating a new full backup FULL3.adi, the older backup FULL.adi will be deleted automatically.
If you tick “Make a full backup before performing backup scheme” option, it will first create a FULL backup before backup scheme circular queue and the full backup will always be retained, the procedure is:
FULL→FULL1→FULL2→FULL3→FULL4 (delete FULL1)→FULL5 (delete FULL2)→FULL6 (delete FULL3)→FULL7 (delete FULL4)
If you don’t tick the option, the procedure will be:
FULL→FULL1→FULL2→FULL3(delete FULL)→FULL4 (delete FULL1)→FULL5(delete FULL2)→FULL6 (delete FULL3)
Note: The minimum reserved version is 1, the maximum reserved version is 10.
Other Backup Scheme
There are two ways to delete the previous versions of the backup image file as follows. And It will run as the incremental backup way and it is the extension of Incremental Backup.
1.By time. When it exceeds XXX Days/Weeks/Months/Years, it will create a new full backup, and then delete all previous backup files.
For example, it is assumed you set to create a new full backup when it exceeds “3 days”. If it has created FULL.adi, INC1.adi, INC2.adi, INC3.adi, and INC4.adi during three days, then creating FULL2.adi automatically on the fourth day, these previous versions (FULL1.adi, INC1.adi... INC4.adi) will be deleted.
If you tick “Do not delete the image file of the first backup during disk space management” option, the procedure is:
FULL(original Full Backup)→FULL1→INC1→INC2→INC3→INC4→FULL2 (delete FULL1, INC1, INC2, INC3, INC4) →INC5→INC6...→FULL3 (delete FULL2,INC5, INC6...)
2. By version. Automatically delete the previous XXX versions of backup image files after the next full backup finishes.
For example, it is assumed you set to delete previous “3 versions”, so it will create a full backup after 3 backup versions and then delete previous 3 older versions. If there are FULL1.adi, INC1.adi, and INC2.adi, then it will create FULL 2.adi, then delete FULL1.adi, INC1.adi and INC2.adi.
If you tick “Do not delete the image file of the first backup during disk space management” option, the procedure is:
FULL (original Full Backup)→FULL1→INC1→INC2→FULL2 (delete FULL1, INC1 and INC2) →INC3→INC4→FULL3 (delete FULL2, INC3 and INC4)
Notes:
If you have done several backups (Full, INC, DIF)) before enabling backup scheme via "Advanced" -> "Edit Backup" -> "Backup Scheme" for a task, then these backup files will not be deleted by the scheme.
If you have enabled different backup way through Schedule Settings and Backup Scheme, the backup will be performed as the way you set in the backup scheme. For example, if you set an incremental schedule backup and select the differential backup scheme, AOMEI Backupper will run the task as a differential backup.
If you have performed some backups with a backup scheme and later you have changed the backup scheme (for example, change Incremental Backup Scheme to Space Management Scheme) then AOMEI Backupper will restart the backup queue with the new backup scheme and these backup files generated using previous backup scheme won't be deleted.
For Space Management Scheme, if backup versions don't exceed the numbers as one backup group when the storage space is insufficient, AOMEI Backupper won't delete old backup files to free up space. So, please confirm that there is enough space to save backup versions for one group.