Backup w/RETAINDAYS just keeps growin', and growin'

Hi all;

I need to make daily backups to a computer in another domain, where I can't map a drive, so I use the TSQL to create a dump device, which works fine:

EXEC sp_addumpdevice 'disk', 'MyBackupDevice', [ipaddress & directory/file]

Then I schedule a server job which faithfully backs up my database, with one hitch - it never deletes days older than 5 as per the code - it just keeps growing. The command couldn't be much simpler:

BACKUP DATABASE ProductionETC to MyBackupDevice WITH RETAINDAYS = 5

For now, I just create a new backup device every now and then and go back and forth, deleting the oldest one when I create a new one. But it's annoying! Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks,

L. Rap

RETAINDAYS only prevents SQL Server from overwriting the file unless the specified number of days have elapsed. It doesn't mean that SQL Server will automatically delete the file or erase the media after the specified number of days. So you will have to delete the files using your own scheduled job or use a database maintainence task (you can create from Enterprise Manager or SSMS).|||

Thanks Umachandar, that's very helpful. I misunderstood the instructions.

Would you happen to know if it is possible to delete the earliest backup from the set using T-SQL or some other preset command, or if I need to schedule an OS job to simply delete the file and start over?

Regards,

L. Rap