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Storage Quota Exceeded for Carbonite Safe Server Backup (5.x)

  • This article is for Windows only

Each time Carbonite Safe Server Backup backs up to the cloud, the data backed up contributes to the storage on your account. To note, quota errors will not affect the backup for backup sets configured for local-only backup.

An operation will fail with an error message that says Storage Quota Exceeded in these two situations:

  1. This error will occur immediately when an upload begins, if there is not enough space for the data to fit within the quota.
  2. This error will occur while an upload is in progress, if the quota is exceeded at any point during that upload process.
Before troubleshooting, please update Carbonite Safe Server Backup to the latest version and attempt to upload a new or existing backup.

To stop receiving this error, you must purchase additional storage, update the retention settings, or delete some data from the cloud.

All upload operations in CSSB include the "buffer space" concept, where any backup that will be deleted by retention after the upload does not count against the customer's quota for the purpose of the upload.

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Details and more information

The Storage Quota Exceeded error is returned by Carbonite Safe Server Backup in the following situations.

"Quota exceeded" Errors that Occur Immediately When an Upload Begins

There are two situations in which quota errors can be returned immediately when an upload begins.

  1. Before beginning uploads for all operations except Backup to Cloud, CSSB checks if there is enough space for the backups that will be uploaded. If it is too large to fit in the available space, the upload will fail immediately.
    • This behavior helps prevent cases where an upload takes days or weeks before eventually failing because of quota issues.
    • This check cannot be performed for Backup to Cloud, as the final size of the backup is unknown until it is complete.
  2. Before beginning uploads for any operation, including Backup to Cloud, CSSB checks the permissions on the cloud storage buckets. If the cloud storage lacks the "Write" permission, the upload will fail with "Storage Quota Exceeded."

"Quota exceeded" Errors that Occur While an Upload is in Progress

If quota is exceeded during an upload, the upload will fail without completing.

This most often occurs during a Backup to Cloud operation. Unlike backups that are taken to disk first, there is no way for Carbonite Safe Server Backup to know exactly how much space is required on the cloud because the backup and upload occur simultaneously. If a Backup to Cloud fails, it usually cannot be resumed. These are some of the many limitations of the Backup to Cloud operation. Please see this article for more information.

This situation can also occur during any upload if the quota is exceeded by Carbonite Safe Backup Pro or Carbonite Safe Server Backup installation on a computer sharing the same quota.

It is usually possible to resume the upload after freeing some quota space for all such failures, except those that occur during Backup to Cloud operations. To resume an upload, visit the Report page. Find the upload that failed, right-click it, and choose the resume option if available. If the resume option is not available, resume is not possible.

Buffer Space

For CSSB version 5.2 and higher, this check includes the "buffer space" concept. With buffer space, any data that would be removed according to retention policy following the upload does not count against quota. Only data that would be removed by retention is considered in buffer space. Any data that is not up for retention still counts fully against the quota.

Here's an example:

  • The account has a 500GB quota.
  • CSSB 5.2 or higher is installed on the system.
  • Retention is set to keep 2 backup cycles.
    • Reminder: A backup cycle is the full backup plus all associated differential/incremental backups.
  • The first cycle totals 150GB: A 100GB full backup plus incremental backups totaling 50GB.
  • The second cycle totals 250GB: A 150GB full backup plus incremental backups totaling 100GB.
  • Thus the total usage is 400GB out of the 500GB quota.
  • The next full backup is 200GB.
  • It will be allowed to upload.
    • The first cycle, totaling 150GB, would be removed by retention after the next full backup completes. It is considered buffer space.
    • Thus only 250GB (the second cycle) of the 500GB is counted against quota for the purposes of this upload.
    • That leaves 250GB of space for the 200GB full backup, which is more than enough.
  • However, after the 200GB full backup is uploaded, there will only be 50GB of space left on the cloud.
    • Considering that the last set of incrementals totaled 100GB, it is likely that quota will be exceeded before the next full backup is scheduled to run. Buffer space would not come into play for these incrementals, because cycle-based retention only triggers after a full backup.

Please note that there is no one-click way to determine the size of a backup cycle. You must simply add the size of all successful uploads together.

Buffer space does not work for local backups. You must always have enough space on local disk for the next full backup to complete.

Resolution

You must perform one or more of the following steps to recover from a Storage Quota Exceeded error.

  1. Purchase more storage. This is the recommended solution.
    • This will allow you to continue backing up without making any changes to your backup configuration or deleting backups from the cloud.
  2. Delete backups from the cloud. This does, however, have drawbacks.
    • Remember, you can restore from a backup when over quota, but you cannot restore from a backup that does not exist.
    • If you make no configuration changes, you may run out of storage space again.
  3. Update your backup configuration: remove items from the backup and/or reduce your retention. This also has drawbacks.
    • A minimum retention of 2 cycles is strongly recommended to protect against Crypto viruses and other ransomware.
    • You cannot restore files that were not backed up.
Purchase Additional Storage

Purchasing additional storage is the recommended way to recover from and prevent quota errors. It is preferable to deletion of data because deletion has significant risks that potentially impact your ability to restore. After all, you cannot restore from a backup that no longer exists!

How to purchase additional storage:

  1. Log into your account at https://account.carbonite.com/.
  2. Within your account dashboard, click Account Summary on the left navigation bar, and you will see your current subscription displayed on the screen.
  3. Click Add Storage.
  4. Select the amount of additional storage you wish to add to your account, and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the purchase process.

Note: The price of the additional storage is prorated based off the amount of time left in your current Carbonite Safe Server subscription. You will be billed the full amount when you renew your subscription.

Update Retention Settings

Carbonite Safe Server Backup allows you to configure your retention and schedule policies for your backup. It is important to think through the ramifications of your chosen policies. If you set your retention policy too short, you may find yourself unprotected. If you set your retention policy too long, you may run out of space to store your backups.

CSSB uses cycle-based retention. A backup cycle is defined as a full backup and all incremental and/or differential backups associated with the full backup. When using cycle-based retention, the oldest backup cycle will not be deleted until after the next full backup completes. This affects the amount of storage space you need. Carbonite’s Retention Policy Best Practices recommends keeping the default retention policy of 2 backup cycles to the disk and cloud to reduce the risks related to Crypto viruses.

In addition to configuring the retention settings, you can also deselect items from the backup set. However, this option is very risky as you will be unable to restore the data that is deselected after the cycles complete. Only choose this option if you are absolutely sure you will never need the data again.

Delete Backups from the Cloud

Before deleting backups, consider if deletion could impact your ability to restore while the next set of backups are uploading. It is never a good idea to delete (either in whole or in part) your only cycle of backups from the cloud.

To delete backups:

  1. Delete any unneeded backups using any method described in Removing data from the cloud.
  2. The quota exceeded error will persist until the quota servers update. In most cases, this occurs within 15 minutes. During peak usage times, it can take up to an hour.

After deletion, you should review your backup selections, schedules, and retention to prevent future failures. Please keep in mind that our default settings represent Best Practice. Deselecting data, reducing retention, and altering schedules to less than our default settings should be done with great care and consideration against the potential inability to restore.

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