'Smart' Archiving - which file is retained ?

[Alice]

Hi,

'ViceVersa keeps one file version every five minutes for the last hour, one file version every hour during the last day, one file version every day for the last month plus one file version per month.'

which file is it retaining, is it the first archived file or the last in a given period ?

So for the guidance...

'one file version every hour during the last day'

the archive keeps only the first file created in the Archive in that hour, all other files created and archived later in the same hour are discarded by 'Smart' Archiving when it is run again and the time has moved at least one hour beyond the individual archived file time. Is that correct ?

[TGRMN Software]

Hi

[Alice]

Well ViceVersa Pro 3.0 - Build 3001 - (64-bit) with 'Smart Archiving' enabled for a profile on Windows 10 Pro for Workstations 1809, updating an archive stored on Server 2016 Standard 1607, this is what happens for us :

There are four files already in the archive :

Gym.txt_(2019-01-20_18-03-29_OVE_T).txt
Gym.txt_(2019-01-20_18-45-48_OVE_T).txt
Gym.txt_(2019-01-20_18-51-15_OVE_T).txt
Gym.txt_(2019-01-20_18-57-02_OVE_T).txt

so four updates (ie overwrites) added to the archive within the hour of 18:00hrs. That is the correct content based on what staff tell me, in other words there were four updates made by them to this file within that hour.

I ran the VV Profile locally manually at 19:25hrs and no files were deleted from the Archive, which is odd as the first one in the list should have been deleted I'd suggest.

I ran it again 19:50hrs and file :

Gym.txt_(2019-01-20_18-45-48_OVE_T).txt

was deleted.

I ran it again 19:59hrs and files :

Gym.txt_(2019-01-20_18-51-15_OVE_T).txt
Gym.txt_(2019-01-20_18-57-02_OVE_T).txt

were deleted, so that leaves file :

Gym.txt_(2019-01-20_18-03-29_OVE_T).txt

alone in the archive for the previous hour of 18:00hrs. This is not the correct/expected behaviour....as the most up-to-date changes made by staff will be in the last file saved that hour and those changes would be lost as VV is keeping only the first file saved that hour ie file :

Gym.txt_(2019-01-20_18-03-29_OVE_T).txt

the other three later updates have now been deleted from the archive...

[TGRMN Software]

Hi, yes, smart archiving keeps "one file version every five minutes for the last hour, one file version every hour during the last day, one file version every day for the last month plus one file version per month"

In the example above the above is satisfied, however you might have expected a more recent version to be kept, But it depends on how often you run the profile. If you had fewer profile runs you might have ended up with a different set but still satisfying the above.
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[Alice]

I guess the obvious question (using my example above as the basis) is 'under which VV conditions can I reliably and confidently ensure the Archive retains only the last 'gym_txt' file saved for each of the past hours, or is this just not possible' ?

Would you be able to help me with that question please ?

[TGRMN Software]

Hi, I will look at the source code and check the exact algorithm.
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TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

[Alice]

Thank you. I appreciate your help.

[TGRMN Software]

OK, sorry for delay.... here is what I found:

a) the newest (the latest) archived file is never removed.

b) for all the archived files within 1 hour from the time of the current profile run, one every 5 minutes is kept (per file).

c) for all the archived files within 24 hours from the time of the current profile run, one every 1 hour is kept (per file).

d) for all the archived files within 31 days from the time of the current profile run, one every 1 day is kept (per file).

e) for all the archived files > 31 days from the time of the current profile run, one per month is kept (per file).

The above on top of other backup restrictions e.g. max number of files per file to keep in the archive etc

hope this helps a bit...

thanks
_________________
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TGRMN Software Support
http://www.tgrmn.com
http://www.compareandmerge.com

[Alice]

Ok and thank you very much for your research.

I'll set up a very simple test tomorrow and let you know my findings

Thanks again.

[Alice]

Have been testing, will update shortly...

[Alice]

I have completed a test.

A 'Backup (Mirror Source to Target)' Profile was created with : FOLDER A (src) / FOLDER B (dest) plus Smart Archiving to a folder.

A file 'vv.txt' in FOLDER A was created and 'mirror copied' to Folder B by running the Profile.

Humour me by imagining I am writing a book into the file 'vv.txt', Chapter One has already been written and is now in the file within folders A (src) and B (dest). As I write Chapter Two of the book I save the file and then run the Profile to ensure the previous version is archived. I then write Chapters Three and Four repeating that process.

I end up with three archived files :

VV.txt_(2019-02-16_12-16-34_OVE_T).txt (contains Chapter One)
VV.txt_(2019-02-16_12-45-08_OVE_T).txt (contains Chapters One and Two)
VV.txt_(2019-02-16_12-55-39_OVE_T).txt (contains Chapters One, Two and Three)

So the archived file 'VV.txt_(2019-02-16_12-55-39_OVE_T).txt ' will contain Chapters One to Three, and the 'live' file in Folders A and B has Chapters One to Four within the file stored there, no issue with that, totally predictable and helpful.

Then at 4pm on the same day I decide to make changes to the various Chapters' text, which I do, save the 'vv.txt' and run the Profile.

BUT then I decide I want to reverse the changes I made to the Chapters. So I go back to the VV archive folder to recover the file I need (ie the last/oldest set of changes I made at that time), but the Archive contains just two files (due to 'Smart' archiving) :

VV.txt_(2019-02-16_12-16-34_OVE_T).txt (only contains Chapter One)
VV.txt_(2019-02-16_16-30-00_OVE_T).txt (which has the amendments that I now wish to reverse, so is of limited use)

Ooops!

This is what my staff have been telling me for a while, the 'archive' doesn't have the most up-to-date copy in it for previous hours.

I publish the VV Smart Archive folder to staff via a read-only DFS link which allows them to 'view/restore' their own files simply by using edit/copy then edit/paste back into the 'live' data folder.

This is great because staff don't need to call the ServiceDesk to effect a restore...saving us all time ! However it isn't working in any logical way that I understand.

Yes it keeps 'a' copy for previous hours (my test shows the 'oldest' not the newest file created in previous hours) is retained, but you will seldom want that…. this behaviour seems peculiar and not something I can easily explain to staff, so I'm considering cancelling their access to 'archive' folders, which would be a shame.

[TGRMN Software]

Hi, we were reviewing this issue for the new ViceVersa version, but we believe that the current behavior is OK, because out of the 4 files:

VV.txt_(2019-02-16_12-16-34_OVE_T).txt (contains Chapter One)
VV.txt_(2019-02-16_12-45-08_OVE_T).txt (contains Chapters One and Two)
VV.txt_(2019-02-16_12-55-39_OVE_T).txt (contains Chapters One, Two and Three)

One is kept per hour for the last 24h.... in this case

VV.txt_(2019-02-16_12-16-34_OVE_T).txt (contains Chapter One)

was kept, but we think ViceVersa has not way to decide which one is the best to keep, and 2019-02-16_12-16-34 could be better than 2019-02-16_12-55-39 ?

thanks

[Alice]

Ok thank you and noted.

We removed the VV Archive feature for staff and instead applied system Shadow Copies / Snapshots which run weekdays on the hour of 7am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm.

Snapshots are kept for one week and then overwritten. Staff have access via the 'Previous Versions' tab in Windows.

As this is a 'point in time' event it backs up the last saved version of a given file, not a 'version' saved previous to that in the time frame. If the contents are wrong, staff have to revert 4 hours back in the Shadow Copy schedule.

[TGRMN Software]

Hi, yes, that is a good option/setup!

[Alice]

So the reason we deployed Shadow Copies / Snapshots is that it provides the last saved/available 'version' of a file in a time frame (theoretically the most up-to-date at that time).

VV Smart Archiving does not necessarily do that - per my example above.

In my experience, staff only ever ask for the last copy they saved in the time frame, not the first one saved per hour or any other combination...