How to delete file / folder backups in Ghost 15

I can't figure out how to delete old file/folder backups in Ghost 15.  I see how to consolidate recovery points, but there is no way I see to get rid of file/folders jobs.  I want to clear out old ones to free up disk space.  Thoughts?

Hi pittghost,

 

Welcome to the Norton Community.

 

Yes, regarding the recovery point consolidation, we had recently discussed that in this other thread.

 

Recovery point consolidation applies to image backups (Backup My Computer) only. Are you in fact also doing file and folder backups? Or are you trying to fully remove recovery point sets?

 

These are a completely different thing so I need know for sure which you are wanting to do.  I think you are really wanting to know how to remove (delete) recovery point sets (image backup). To do this it would be almost identical to what I posted here but instead of choosing Automatic you would choose the option to Delete All recovery points in the set.


 

The above is for recovery points which are part of image backup. For file and folder backups you would delete individual file versions through the Tasks > Recover My Files link.

 

Please let me know if this does not fully address what you want to do.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks

Allen

 

Thanks again Allen.  I was trying to figure out how to delete old file/folder backups becuase, as you know from the other thread, I have been running them every night. 

 

I understand how to consolidate recovery points.  What I don't understand is the architecture around file/folder backups.  ARe they incremental as well (i.e. like incremental recovery points)? 

Hi pittghost,

 

The architecture of file and folder backups is not Ghost's strong suite, so to speak. This is why I suggested that you might want to consider doing only image based backups instead of file and folder backups.

 

File and folder backups are based on the archive bit of the file's attributes and when that bit is set Ghost will back up that file again. Ghost will keep multiple versions of the file based on how you configure it. More on automatic file and folder backup management in a bit.

 

To manually delete file and folder versions, you must do so through the Ghost interface. It cannot be done safely from Windows Explorer, since as you've probably noticed Ghost uses very cryptic filenames. Deleting file versions is done through Tasks > Recover my files and doing an appropriate search (note that search results are limited to display 10,0001 files). When the search results comes up you can right click any that you want to remove and click Delete. You can use the typical tricks of using combination of Ctrl and Shift keys to highlight multiple entries for deletion.


The best way to manage file and folder backups is to configure Ghost to do it automatically.  From Tools click on Manage Backup Destination. Then click Edit Settings. At the top of this window is a setting that says Limit file versions for file and folder backups. You want to set this to the desired number.

 

This tells Ghost that if file A has been backed up X amount of times then delete the oldest one automatically.

 

Hope this helps.

Allen

Thanks Allen. 

HI pittghost,

 

You are very welcome. :smileyhappy:

 

Best wishes.
Allen