My backup file is written to separate 300 GB drive. Over time, the file grows to the point where the drive it's on runs out of space. Well, I don't have 300 GB's worth of new data at any given point, so how is this happening? It should only back up files that have been added or files that have changed, but, if it did that, I wouldn't constantly be having to clean up my old backups. In fact, I don't even know why I have to clean those up. There also should be no such thing as an "old backup". There should be only one backup and it should simply be "up to date". The only thing I can think of is that WBA is creating a file history which means, if a file changes, it backs it up again without deleting the old.
Edit: Added thought: When I do delete old backups, what am I deleting? Does an old backup contain anything that a new backup doesn't? Is there any way to get WBA to automatically clean up old backups X number of days old?
Is there a document somewhere that explains what, exactly, WBA is doing behind the scenese?
Edit 2: When anwering, please try to address my specific questions. I will outline them below for your convenience:
- Does WBA backup the same files over and over again rather than just updating existing ones?
- Why does my backup file size accumulate when I am not adding anywhere near that amount of new data?
- What is in an old backup?
- Does an old backup contain anything that a new backup doesn't?
- Can WBA be configured to automatically delete backups that are X days old?