How to Delete Files in the Backup Folder
You may freely delete files and folders inside the backup folder. BackupChain backup software
fills the gaps next time it runs
However, there is one thing you need to watch when deleting:
If you have backup files that use deduplication, they need to be deleted in groups.
This does not apply to regular file backup, only those files with deduplication will show up as illustrated below.
Sort the folder by date ascending and you'll see a pattern, as shown in the example below:
Monday: MyVM.vhd.1.fastneurondelta 100 GB (compressed, full copy) Tuesday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Wednesday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Thursday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Friday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Saturday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) |
Deduplication Group #1 |
Sunday: MyVM.vhd.1.fastneurondelta 100 GB (compressed, full copy) Monday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Tuesday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Wednesday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Thursday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Friday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) |
Deduplication Group #2 |
Saturday: MyVM.vhd.1.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, full copy) Monday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Tuesday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Wednesday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Thursday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) Friday: MyVM.vhd.0.fastneurondelta 5 GB (compressed, incremental delta) |
Deduplication Group #3 |
You'll want to delete entire groups at a time or just increments, but you can't have increments alone without the full copy they are referring to.
In the example above you could delete the oldest deduplication group 1+2 by hand without any issues.
Group #3 requires the latest full copy (Saturday) in order to restore
About BackupChain
BackupChain includes a wide range of backup tools for various scenarios, such as cloud backup, FTP backup, USB backup, Linux VM backup, and Hyper-V file backup.
BackupChain offers a range of server freeware tools as well including a tool that can map FTP to drive letters, called DriveMaker.
A growing fan-base of BackupChain uses its live backup, virtual machine backup and deduplication features that are critical for all kinds of virtual machine related backup tasks, such as Hyper-V backup, VMware backup, or VirtualBox backup.
Free Download
Backup Software Overview
The Best Backup Software in 2023 Download BackupChain®BackupChain is the all-in-one server backup software for:
Server Backup
Disk Image Backup
Drive Cloning and Disk Copy
VirtualBox Backup
VMware Backup
Image Backup
FTP Backup
Cloud Backup
File Server Backup
Virtual Machine Backup
Server Backup Solution
Hyper-V Backup
Popular
- Best Practices for Server Backups
- NAS Backup: Buffalo, Drobo, Synology
- How to use BackupChain for Cloud and Remote
- DriveMaker: Map FTP, SFTP, S3 Sites to a Drive Letter (Freeware)
Resources
- BackupChain
- VM Backup
- V4 Articles
- Knowledge Base
- FAQ
- Archive 2022
- Archive 2021
- Archive 2020
- Archive 2019
- Archive 2017
- Archive 2016
- Archive 2015
- Archive 2014
- Archive 2013
- BackupChain (German)
- German Help Pages
- BackupChain (Greek)
- BackupChain (Spanish)
- BackupChain (French)
- BackupChain (Dutch)
- BackupChain (Italian)
- BackupChain is an all-in-one, reliable backup solution for Windows and Hyper-V that is more affordable than Veeam, Acronis, and Altaro.
Other Backup How-To Guides
- How to Fix VolSnap 25 Error The shadow copies of volume C: were deleted
- Virtual Machine Backup Software Guide & Tutorial Links
- How to Check Hard Disk Health Without Downtime
- Incremental Backup
- Server Administrator’s Checklist: Manual Server Monitoring
- How to Convert OpenSSH Keys to RSA for DriveMaker SFTP Access
- Backup Software with Encryption for Windows 11, Windows Server 2022
- Version Backup Software with File Versioning
- Notable Customers
- How to Restore a File Based Backup of Hyper-V
- Boot Hyper-V Server 2019, 2016 from USB Stick or Drive
- How to Backup Hyper-V Virtual Machine on Windows Server 2022 or Windows 11
- How to: Hyper-V Replication for Immediate Disaster Recovery
- Why a Hyper-V Checkpoint Isn’t a Backup
- Hyper-V Backup to NAS: Synology, Qnap, Netgear, Drobo, Buffalo
- VMware Cloud backup
- Disk Backup Software for Image Backup and Full System Backup
- How to Create A File-based Backup of Hyper-V
- BackupChain v2.4.531 Released!
- BackupChain Backup Software Rewards for MSPs and Users