AOMEI Backupper Help Guides

Backup Scheme in AOMEI Backupper | What Is It and How to Use It

As the backup task continues to run, more and more image files are generated and the storage space taken up becomes larger and larger. When the space for storing the image files is exhausted, the backup task will not be able to run. Therefore, we need to regularly clean up old image files to ensure that we have enough storage space.

In AOMEI Backupper, we can use Backup Scheme to clean up old backup files periodically.

What Backup Schemes are Available in AOMEI Backupper?

Backup Scheme (also called backup rotation scheme, backup rotation, and vaulting scheme) is a highlight feature in AOMEI Backupper that allows you to better organize your backup storage space with an efficient backup strategy. This software offers 3 common backup schemes, including the full backup scheme, the incremental backup scheme, and the differential backup scheme.

One of the most important points is that using a backup scheme will automatically delete backup image files based on the type of scheme you choose, which is quite helpful in saving disk space as well as keeping all backups up to date.

These 3 backup schemes will be detailed in the following paragraph. Let's take a closer look. Please download AOMEI Backupper Professional or other advanced versions first.

How to create a Backup Scheme task

Method 1. Create a New Backup Task with Backup Scheme

If you have not created a backup task yet, then click "Backup" and select the required backup type from the list presented (For example, File Backup).  Click the "Scheme" button to configure the backup rotation scheme and settings.

Method 2. Enable Backup Scheme in an Existing Backup Task

If you have created a file backup task but you have not enabled the "Scheme" feature, you can first click the three-line icon and then click the "Edit Backup" option to enable the backup rotation and vaulting scheme as shown in the picture below.

And then please click the "Scheme" button to configure the backup scheme and settings, you can use AOMEI Backupper incremental backup, AOMEI Backupper differential backup, and more. After the backup scheme is configured, please click the "Save" button to save the settings.

How to Configure Backup Scheme in AOMEI Backupper

Step 1: Configure Backup Method

In this section, please select a backup method to perform the backup. There are 3 backup methods available: full backup, incremental backup, and differential backup. The incremental backup is selected by default. For more about backup differential vs incremental, please check more details here.

If the incremental backup or differential backup scheme is selected, you also need to configure backup intervals so that after a certain number of incremental/differential backups, one full backup will be performed automatically. The full backup and these incremental/differential backups make up a backup cycle (group).

Full Backup: Perform a full backup every time.

Incremental Backup: Perform a full backup at first, and then perform an incremental backup each time.

You also need to check and set the option “After n incremental backups, perform one full backup”; that is, the set number of times plus one is used as a backup cycle (group), which includes one full backup and several incremental backups. It is necessary to enable incremental backup to perform the backup rotation scheme.

Differential Backup: Perform a full backup at first, and then perform a differential backup each time.

You also need to check and set the option “After n differential backups, perform one full backup”; that is, the set number of times plus one is used as a backup cycle (group), which includes one full backup and several differential backups. It is necessary to enable differential backup to perform the backup rotation scheme.

Note:

• Only configuring the backup method and backup interval will not enable the backup scheme. To enable the backup scheme, you also need to enable automatic backup cleanup.
• To enable automatic backup cleanup, you must configure backup intervals for incremental backup and differential backup. For full backup, there is no need to set the backup intervals.
• Once the backup method is configured, the program will run schedule backup and clean up backup images as per the backup method you select in this section. For example, if you configure incremental backup in this section, the program will always run full+incremental scheduled backups and will automatically clean up backup images as per the corresponding incremental backup cleanup rules.

Step 2: Enable Automatic Backup Cleanup

After the backup method and the backup interval are configured in above step 1, you still need another step to enable the backup scheme.

In this section, please also activate the option "Enable Automatic Backup Cleanup". Then, select one backup method as per your backup requirements.

Once the option “Enable Automatic Backup Cleanup” is activated, the backup scheme is activated so that the program will automatically clean up image files and save your disk space usage.

 

About Backup Cleanup Methods

There are 4 cleanup methods available in total. The cleanup methods include: by quantity, by time, by day/week/month, and by space. Combined with the different backup methods described above, the cleanup methods will be different.

Notes: 

• In the following article, the "n" refers to the value you set in the backup cleanup methods.
• All examples are based on the case where this option "Create one full backup and always retain it before performing the scheme" is unchecked. If the option is ticked, an additional full backup will be created first as the original version, and it will not be deleted automatically. Other images after the original version will follow the cleanup methods below.

1) By quantity

Full Backup: Only keep the last "n" backups. When the number of backups exceeds the set value, the old backups will be automatically deleted.

For example, we select a full backup method and keep the latest 3 backups. It will create Full1+Full2+Full3+Full4+Full5+... After the Full4 is created, the oldest Full1 will be deleted. After Full5 is created, Full2 will be deleted.

Incremental Backup: Only the most recent "n" groups of backups are kept. A backup group includes a full backup and multiple incremental backups. When the number of groups exceeds the set value, the old backup group will be automatically deleted.

For example, we select an incremental backup method, run 1 full backup after 6 incremental backups, and keep the latest 1 set of backups. It will create Full1+Inc1+Inc2+...+Inc6+Full2+Inc7+Inc8+...+Inc12+Full3+Inc13+... Only after the Inc12 is created, the whole old backup set (Full1+Inc1+Inc2+...+Inc6) will be deleted.

Differential Backup: Only keep the last "n" backups. When the number of backups exceeds the set value, the old backups will be automatically deleted. The differential backup is deleted first, and the full backup is deleted at last.

For example, we select a differential backup method, run 1 full backup after 6 differential backups, and keep the latest 7 backups. It will create Full1+Diff1+Diff2+...+Diff6+Full2+Diff7+... After the next Full2 is created, the Diff1 will be deleted. After the Diff7 is created, Diff2 will be deleted.

2) By time 

Full Backup: Only keep backups of the last "n" days/weeks/months. When the backup time exceeds the set value, the old backup will be deleted automatically.

For example, we select a full backup method and keep the latest 7 days of backups. It will create Full1+Full2+Full3+Full4+Full5...After Full1 is created and exceeds 7 days, and at least another Full2 is created, Full2 will be deleted. (For backup security, there must be at least one valid version remaining after the deletion. Otherwise, the single version will not be deleted even though it exceeds 7 days.)

Incremental Backup: Only keep backups of the last "n" days/weeks/months. When the backup time exceeds the set value, the old backup group will be deleted automatically. A backup group includes a full backup and multiple incremental backups. When the last backup in the group exceeds the set value, the old backup group will be automatically deleted.

For example, we select an incremental backup method, run 1 full backup after 6 incremental backups, and keep the latest 7 days of backups. It will create Full1+Inc1+Inc2+...+Inc6+Full2+Inc7+Inc8+...+Inc12+Full3+... Only after the Inc6 is created and exceeds 7 days, and at least another Full2 is created, the whole old backup set (Full1+Inc1+Inc2+...+Inc6) will be deleted. (For backup security, there must be at least one valid version remaining after the deletion. Otherwise, the single version will not be deleted even though it exceeds 7 days.)

Differential Backup: Only keep backups of the last "n" days/weeks/months. When the backup time exceeds the set value, the old backup will be deleted automatically. The differential backup is deleted first, and the full backup is deleted at last.

For example, we select a differential backup method, run 1 full backup after 6 differential backups, and keep the latest 7 backups. It will create Full1+Diff1+Diff2+...+Diff6+Full2+Diff7+... After Diff1 is created and exceeds 7 days, Diff1 will be deleted. After the last Diff6 in the group is deleted after 7 days, and at least another Full2 is created, Full 1 will be deleted. (For backup security, there must be at least one valid version remaining after the deletion. Otherwise, the single version will not be deleted even though it exceeds 7 days.)

3) By daily/weekly/monthly

Full Backup:  In the last "n" days, keep all backups; When the set number of days is exceeded, the old backups will be automatically deleted according to the weekly method.

In the last "n" weeks, a full backup will be kept every week, and when the set number of weeks is exceeded, the old backups will be automatically deleted according to the monthly method.

In the last "n" months, a full backup is kept every month. When the set number of months is exceeded, the old backup will be automatically deleted.

Incremental Backup: In the last "n" days, all backups are kept every day. When the set number of days is exceeded, the old backups will be automatically deleted according to the weekly method.

In the last "n" weeks, all full backups will be kept every week. When the set number of weeks is exceeded, the old backups will be automatically deleted according to the monthly method.

In the last "n" recent months, keep a full backup every month. When the set number of months is exceeded, the old backup will be automatically deleted.

Differential Backup: In the last "n" days, keep all backups. When the set number of days is exceeded, the old backups will be automatically deleted according to the weekly method.

In the last "n" weeks, all full backups will be kept every week, and when the set number of weeks is exceeded, the old ones will be automatically deleted according to the monthly method.

In the last "n" months, a full backup is kept every month. When the set number of months is exceeded, the old backup will be automatically deleted.

Example:

If your settings are: full backup method, 7 days + 4 weeks + 6 months.

The cleanup methods will be: Delete all backups made 6 months ago; keep one full backup every month during the last 4 weeks to 6 months; keep one full backup every week from the last 7 days to 4 weeks; keep all backups for the last 7 days.

4) By space

Only differential backup supports backup cleanup by space. It will automatically delete old backups when the storage space is insufficient until enough space is available to store the new backup.

A backup group includes a full backup and several differential backups. The program will first delete the differential backups one by one in a backup group, and then delete the full backup of the group.

For example, we select a differential backup method, run 1 full backup after 6 differential backups, and select the cleanup By Space method, it will create Full1+Diff1+Diff2+...+Diff6+Full2+...

After the creation of Diff2, if the destination drive space is not enough to save another backup when trying to create the next Diff3, it will delete the oldest Diff1 in the group and then create the next Diff3. If the deletion of Diff1 still does not free up enough space to save Diff3, it will continue to delete Diff2 and then create Diff3.

 

Notes:

• When the option "Create one full backup and always retain it before performing the scheme" is ticked, an additional full backup will be created as the original version, and the original full version will never be cleaned up. In this case, it will create 2 full backup versions before it run the incremental/differential backup.
• If you have performed several backups (full, incremental, differential) before enabling the backup scheme through “Advanced” -> “Edit Backup” -> “Backup Scheme” on the task, these backup files will not be deleted automatically by the scheme.
• After the option “Enable Automatic Backup Cleanup” is enabled, the backup scheme is activated, and the backup task can only be executed in accordance with the set backup method in the backup scheme. It means if you set the incremental backup scheme, it will be unable to manually run a differential backup.

Conclusion

Using the backup scheme feature will automatically delete backup image files based on the backup method and cleanup method you choose, which is quite helpful in saving disk space as well as keeping all backups up to date. In this way, data security can be better ensured.

 

FAQs

Q: For incremental backup+cleanup by quantity method, why are the old backup images not deleted even though it reaches the set quantity value? 

A: The incremental backup is always based on the full or last incremental backup. Based on this logic, the incremental backup can only be deleted as a whole set (full+multiple incremental backups) otherwise the incremental backup would be invalid. 

So the program will actually create another valid incremental backup set before the old set is deleted.

Q: Why are there 2 full backups created even though you set to run only 1 full backup after "n" incremental/differential backups?

A: The possible reason is that you tick the option "Create one full backup and always retain it before performing the scheme". In this case, another full backup will be created before the backup scheme and this full backup will always be kept.

Q: Why are the old backup files not deleted even though I have enabled the backup scheme?

A: Please first check if the current number and status of backup files have reached the deletion condition of the backup scheme. 

If the deletion condition has been met but the old backup files are not deleted, please contact our support team and offer the following info for further analysis and assistance:

1. Please run AOMEI Backupper, click the task, then click the three-line button, then click "Edit Backup", open Backup Scheme, and then take a screenshot so that we can check the backup scheme settings.

2. Click "Properties"--"Versions", and then take screenshots of backup versions.

3. Click "Advanced"---"Locate Image", and take screenshots of backup versions in the destination. Please also confirm if you manually deleted some backup versions before contacting us. If yes, the existing backups before the deletion would not be deleted automatically. 

4. Please confirm if the backup destination is multiple external drives(alternate rotation). If yes, the backup cleanup will not work.

5. Please confirm if you modified the backup scheme or cleanup plan after the task was created. If yes, the backup cleanup will not work.