Deleted files are not removed from backup!

[dmacin]

Adrian: Now I see I don 't have to wait. I can send you a recent backup log and the catalog file from my AppData\Roaming\Softland\FBackup 9. I will sent them to the email address you gave. Looking forward to your reply.

[Adrian (Softland)]

Hi,

We will continue the conversation by email, to investigate what caused the situation.

[Vennpaul]

I had the same problem;slope Thanks!

[Adrian (Softland)]

@Vennpaul please send us the backup log and the .fkc catalog file for that job, to info[at]fbackup[dot]com, to see what the problem is.

[AndWin]

I've also started running into this problem after upgrading, and think I may have found the underlying issue for this seeming regression bug. For these tests, I created 2 new backups in the latest versions of FBackup 8 and 9 to test it.

It seems like in FBackup 8, when "Fast Mirror" and "Remove excluded or deleted files from backup" are both checked, and a file is removed from the source, then the backup will also have the file removed. In my head, this is the expected result based on the configuration.

In FBackup 9, I'm seeing that files will not be removed from the backup unless "Fast Mirror" is unchecked and a full backup takes place.

My best bet is that the Fast Mirror logic was potentially updated at some point in 9 and now it doesn't check/see deleted files anymore for some reason? I guess it does say "copy only new or modified files", but I feel like deleting a file counts as a modification.

For some log comparisons, here's the main differences between the two logs. 9's log

Code: Select all

Opening file ".\AppData\Roaming\Softland\FBackup 9\Catalogs\Test Back uper.fkc"
Checking if the drives of the sources exist
Opening file ":memory:"
Creating the list of files to backup
Closing file ":memory:"
Folders found to backup: 0
Files found to backup: 0 (0 KB)

   Next scheduled backup: Not scheduled

And here's 8's

Code: Select all

Opening file ".\AppData\Roaming\Softland\FBackup 8\Catalogs\New Backup.fkc"
Checking if the drives of the sources exist
Creating the list of files to backup
Opening file ":memory:"
   Found folder D:\backup-tester\fake
Closing file ":memory:"
Folders found to backup: 1
Files found to backup: 0 (0 KB)

Preparing shadow copy
Shadow copy created for drives D:
   Added folder D:\backup-tester\fake
Saving backup catalog ".\AppData\Roaming\Softland\FBackup 8\Catalogs\New Backup.fkc"

Remove excluded or deleted files from backup
   Deleting file D:\backup-tester\backup for 8\D\backup-tester\fake\ExampleFile.txt
Closing file ".\AppData\Roaming\Softland\FBackup 8\Catalogs\New Backup.fkc"
Opening file ".\AppData\Roaming\Softland\FBackup 8\Catalogs\New Backup.fkc"
   Total number of files added to backup: 0
   Total number of folders added to backup: 1
   Total size of files added to backup: 0 KB
   Number of files excluded: 0
   Number of folders excluded: 0
   Next scheduled backup: Not scheduled

9 just doesn't seem to see the folder being changed, even though files have been removed. Hope this info was useful!

[Adrian (Softland)]

Hi,

We did not changed the way these options works.
The behavior should be the same in versions 8 and 9.
Please make sure the source folder structure is the same. I mean, the same folder was selected as backup source, not only individual files.
When you run the backup, there must be at least one new or modified file/folder, so that the backup will run.

[AndWin]

"Please make sure the source folder structure is the same"
Yep yep, for both backups in version 8 and 9, I have chosen the same source folder to test the backups. Double checking each backup's Sources property confirms that the same folders are indeed selected

==============================================

"When you run the backup, there must be at least one new or modified file/folder, so that the backup will run."

Summary of below: This is indeed how 9 behaves, but for 8 I see that just deleting a file will also always* trigger an update and properly delete the removed files from the backup (* - or at least, it'll always trigger when "Smart file scanning mode" is disabled...)
↓
From what I'm seeing, this is indeed the case in 9 (i.e. if I delete a file and backup, nothing changes in the backup, but if I then modify/add a file in that same folder, the previously deleted file will be removed).
Not a super ideal behavior, as I may move files from place to place over time without necessarily adding/modifying a file in that folder, resulting in GBs of data being pointlessly duplicated (which is what brought me here in the first place).

In 8 however, I see that a backup will run even when a file is deleted (even if that's the only change), and it will properly delete the previously back upped file.

I have noticed that this behavior in version 8 can vary when "Smart file scanning mode" is enabled (guessing the USN journal may not log the deleted files sometimes?). With this option off and the backup manually looking through the files to find changes, the backup consistently deletes the removed files. (the behavior in 9 is the same regardless of whether this option is enabled or disabled)