Switching backup type to Smart

[rgeis]

I have a current job as follows:
Every 1st Sat. of the month
type Incremental
limit number of backups 24
Merge backups yes

In other words it's an incremental forever job.

My question is what will happen if I change this job to type Smart?
Will I loose my 2 years of incremental backups?

[Adrian (Softland)]

Hi,

If you change the backup type to Smart, the existing backup versions will not be lost.
Probably they will be merged in order to save the space. That depends on the total destination size and so on.

[rgeis]

Ok.

I didn't think smart backup ever merges files... I thought it simply deletes the old ones to free up space for new. ref. http://www.backup4all.com/kb/backup-types-115.html

Does someone know for sure?
Like I stated above I have an incremental job with merge and limit 24 backups

My issue is I'm running out of space in my destination.
I guess my safest bet is to decrease the limit backup # to 20 or 16 and see how how long that lasts.

[Adrian (Softland)]

Hi,

Correction: the backup versions are not merged when you use Smart backup type. Old incremental versions will be deleted while running a differential which includes them.

[rgeis]

Ok, I think I understand. So it will delete all my incrementals and create a differential from the full backup when the destination is full.

I found this reference helpful: http://www.backup4all.com/kb/how-to-cre ... ackup.html