Does TrueImage use a temporary archive to build the final archive?
When TrueImage is performing a backup, does it first write to a temporary file first?
The reason why I ask because I have another backup product that backs up to a temporary zip archive in a temporary location, then consolidates to the destination. The problem I have with this scenario is that it takes twice the drive storage: one temporary archive, and then the final archive at the destination which is copied from the temporary archive. Or said another way: Backup 300 GB to a temporary archive; when finished, copy the temporary archive to the final destination. This means I have to copies of the archive.
Not only does this take more storage space, but it takes more time to copy a temporary archive into the "real archive" (and it then has to delete the temporary archive).
And the real problem is that I run out of storage space.
I'm wondering if TrueImage is more efficient and faster?
Thanks,
Jake

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Jake:
I'm unaware of exactly how TI does its images however I can tell you that TI (I use ver 2009) is faster than several of the other image softwares I have experimented with. TI also manages to create smaller image files.
Try the free trial version before you buy it! TI doesn't work for everyone, or maybe it doesn't work on everyone's computer. After trying many, I'm still using TI.
Fungus
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I can tell you this about my laptop's backup, and let you draw your own conclusions.
My laptop has 2 partitions one being about 4Gig the other being the remainder of the 100G hd.
When I do a backup the .tib file is zero bytes for about a minute the it instantly jumps to apx 3gig as the 1st partition ends and the next partition backup begins. The .tib files then remains at this 3gig value for the next hour as the remainder of the HD is backed up at which point it instantly jumps to apx 53 gig.
Before the backup is made the target device only has about 75gig free and the laptop itself only has its "c:\" drive with apx 30 gig free.
So somehow a "temp" file must be in play otherwise I would see the ".tib" file grow linearly over that 1 hour .
But by the same token the tempfile can not be a processed such that freespace for two copies (however briefly) is required as my backups DO work but I do NOT have freespace available for two 50gig files.
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As far as I know, TI doesn't use temp files for normal TIB backups (I don't know about ZIP backups). I think the zero file size and the jumps are associated with how Windows responds and because the file is locked. The same thing happens when processing large VHD or VMDK files.
If I need to monitor the space being used, I check the free space on the destination drive. It will decrease as the file grows.
I have also saved large image files into a space that wouldn't hold more than one copy.
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