You don't have to see the years ... here we are in Apr and May ... yet I see in the listing Jan. for some ... well, that's Jan 2019.
Think what you need to do:
1. turn off automated backups - so it doesn't run or try to while you are manually cleaning up.
2. go to moodledata/temp/backup/ and rm -fR * - ls -l to verify there are no files in there.
3. carefully truncate the data in the tables for automated backups ...
mdl_backup_courses and mdl_backup_logs
4. setup a specified directory (manually create) ... make sure you have plenty of room where ever that is. Might have to mount a a filesystem with a lot of free space. ** make sure the. designated directory is owned by web service user and is writable by that user.
5. in the setup of automated backups, point to specified directory.
6. don't enable it yet ... but go to a workstation you have that can ssh into the server. ssh in as root ... cd /path/to/moodle/code/admin/cli/. This workstation you will leave alone ... for as long as it takes to complete the auto backups.
7. in moodlecode/admin/cli/ issue: php automated_backups.php [ENTER] ... this isn't interactive ... it just executes ...
let it run ...
here's what it looks like from a small 3.4 site:
php automated_backups.php
Server Time: Thu, 17 May 2018 07:44:43 -0500
Checking automated backup status...OK
Getting admin info
Checking courses
Skipping deleted courses...0 courses
Running required automated backups...
... started 07:44:43. Current memory use 18MB.
Backing up Moodle 34...
complete - next execution: Sun, 20 May 2018 07:00:00 -0500
Skipping SA (Not visible)
Backup of 'SA' is scheduled on Sun, 20 May 2018 07:00:00 -0500
Backing up test...
complete - next execution: Sun, 20 May 2018 07:00:00 -0500
Backing up Moodle Sharing...
complete - next execution: Sun, 20 May 2018 07:00:00 -0500
Backing up Installing Moodle Solr SLinux 6 or CentOS 6 or CentOS 7...
complete - next execution: Sun, 20 May 2018 07:00:00 -0500
Skipping Fundamentos de IVA (Not visible)
Backup of 'Fundamentos de IVA' is scheduled on Sun, 20 May 2018 07:00:00 -0500
Sending email to admin
Automated backups complete.
Automated cron backups completed correctly
Execution took 28.657185 seconds
[root@sos cli]#
Your's will take longer for sure.
Open another terminal session on the same workstation running automated backups. In that session, ssh to server as root or whatever ... but when ya get there:
cd /path/to/moodledata/temp/backup/
watch "ls;df -h'
So you can see things real time.
'spirit of sharing', Ken