Switch backup versioning method with existing backup?

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GoldbergLab
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:53 pm

Switch backup versioning method with existing backup?

Post by GoldbergLab »

I have one 120 TB disk array backed up using Syncovery as an "Exact Mirror" to another 120 TB disk array (working great!). At the moment, I have file versioning turned on with the option to keep timestamped older versions within the same file hierarchy as the latest version.

However, it occurred to me that if I switch this to "Recreate tree below one Older folder", then if my disk ever fails, I can just delete the "Older" folder in the backup, physically swap the backup array with the original, and just keep working!

My question is this: If I switch the versioning type to "Recreate tree below one Older folder", what will Syncovery do with existing older file versions?

I can think of some likely possibilities - will it:
1. Seamlessly move the existing older file versions to a separate "Older" folder? (this would be ideal)
2. Delete all existing older file versions, and moving forward store new file versions in a separate "Older" folder? (this would be ok)
3. Keep the existing older file versions, and moving forward store new file versions in a separate "Older" folder? (this would be a bit problematic)

I don't really want to just try it and find out, as it's a very large backup, and doing anything takes significant amount of time, disk IO, and network usage.

Thank you for any help anyone can offer!

GoldbergLab
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:53 pm

Re: Switch backup versioning method with existing backup?

Post by GoldbergLab »

Oh, I should mention, I'm using Windows 2012 Server (similar to Windows 8), with Syncovery 9.08.

tobias
Posts: 1603
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2020 7:37 pm

Re: Switch backup versioning method with existing backup?

Post by tobias »

Hello,
I just tested it. You can safely change the setting. When you run the job in attended mode, you will see that Syncovery marks all the "Older" folders and files as to be deleted (if you are using Exact Mirror Mode).

What happens with deleted files is your choice. You can:

a) have them be moved into a "folder for deleted files" (specified under Files->Deletions).

b) have them be moved into the new "Older" folder (via the checkmark "Keep one version of deleted files").

c) have them be deleted directly or to the Windows Recycle Bin (if neither a) nor b) are chosen).

a) takes precedence over b) if both are chosen.

The result for b) is close to your number 1 (Seamless), with the exception that additional "Older" subfolders are created within the main "Older" folder. I think for your use case this little drawback isn't serious.

You can actually test this with a small subset of your data. Just switch the setting and run the job in Attended Mode. Using collapse / expand, and the F5 key to remove folders from the Preview, you can leave only a small number of files and folders in the preview and only these will be processed.

GoldbergLab
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2021 7:53 pm

Re: Switch backup versioning method with existing backup?

Post by GoldbergLab »

That's amazing, thank you! Option (b) is indeed pretty close to ideal - that should work fine for me.

I didn't think of testing it with a subset - that's a good idea too!

Thanks for the quick and detailed help!

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