Difference between TIB and TIBX files
Hi,
with Acronis 12.5 i see that a new backup plan i made after the update from version 12 has the TIBX extension.
What is the difference between TIB and TIBX?
Can the TIBX file be shrinked?
Thank you
Hi Vasily,
thank you very much.
Best regards
Hi Vasily,
i've seen the Update 2 has been released. I've read the release notes ( https://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/updates/changes.html?p=39980 ) and i've not found any reference to the shrinking feature (ABR-86450).
Do you have any news about that?
Thank you for your help.
Best regards
Hi Valerio,
Since my previous comment the plans have been changed unfortunately and this feature implementation was moved to a later milestone - currently it's pending for Q2 of 2018 (Update 4 - scheduled for Apr-May).
P.S. Note that shrinking should be required only if you manually clean up most of the recovery points from a large archive - these situations (when you have to manually remove recovery points) can be avoided by setting up proper retention rules when configuring the backup plan. With proper retention rules archive would always contain only required set of recovery points inside and thus there will be no need in shrinking.
Thank you.
Hi Vasily,
thank you for the answer.
As far as i can see the retention rule does not reduce the backup file size during the cleanup of older copies; is that right?
So the only thing i can do if i see that a backup file grows too big is to create a new one with a smaller range of days (or number of copies).
That's why i'm waiting for that feature to be available.
Thank you again.
Best regards
Hi,
i have the same problem, is really the own solution, to reduce the filesize, to create a new one?
Best regards
Richard
Hi,
>> So the only thing i can do if i see that a backup file grows too big is to create a new one with a smaller range of days (or number of copies).
This is the only right way to workaround the issue currently. The new backup archive should be created if you want to reduce the amount of stored recovery points and keep the archive size at minimum.
Thank you.
Hi Vasily,
thank you for the answer.
That's why i'm looking forward to see that feature available as soon as possibile ;)
I'll wait the Update 4 then.
Best regards
Hi Vasily,
any update on the shrinking feature? my backup NAS is full so i cannot create a new backup file as i need to keep the old backups.
i need to shrink the tibx file, otherwise i cannot do any more backups!
regards,
Chris
Hi Chris,
Currently the feature is still under development and in plans for future versions of Acronis Backup. It's getting more attention and re-prioritized as we see more requests for it from our customers, so there are good chances to get it during the next year 2020, however we cannot provide any comittments yet.
Note, hovewer, that in your case it is sufficient to simply delete some old backups from the existing (big) archive in order to free up space within it, this would allow to continue backing up, while the archive size won't grow any more. In other words setting some more strict retention rules for the particular archive (keep less backups within it) would solve your current issue.
Thank you.
Hi Vasily,
thanks for this update.
unfortunately my NAS uses XFS for which acronis doesnt support sparse files yet. so the old backups are deleted but the space isn't freed up for overwriting with the new backup. this grows the tibx file until i run out of space.
thats why i would need the shrink urgently.
regards,
chris
Hi Chris,
In your case I'm afraid that there are only a few options assuming your particular NAS specifics:
1) Switch to legacy archive format v11 so that each backup is stored in individual file, so that the backups could be retained.
2) An alternative would be to re-partition the NAS, so that it uses NTFS file system instead of XFS. In case of NTFS the "physical size" of the archive file will be automatically reduced after retention. But yes, it will require additional steps to keep the existing archives - you'd need some temporary storage to keep them.
Also note that without fixing the bug you've run into (internal ID: ABR-223285), the shrinking even when it's implemented, likely won't work due to the same root cause, e.g. lack of "sparse files on XFS" support, so getting the bug fixed first is crucial. The fix for this issue is now planned for Acronis Backup 12.5 Update 5 which we plan for the end of this-beginning of the next year.
Thank you.
Hi Vasily,
Thanks for the explanations about the v.12 backup format
But I have one question : if I want to extract one specific backup from the big tibx file containing all the bakup, how can I do this?
Thank you^^
Hi Nivalys,
The easiest way is to browse the backup via web console interface from Backups tab -> list recovery points (backups) -> click the cogwheel -> Export:
As the result - there will be single backup exported from the archive chain which will be self-sufficient (will contain all data required to recover from this backup) and will contain only 1 recovery point, regardless of whether the exported backup was full or incremental (effectively it will produce full backup from incremental recovery point)
Similar result can be achieved by using "backup replication" feature if you have Advanced license (Plans -> Backup replication) where you can replicate only last backup (recovery points) from one big archive:
Thank you.
I would like to know why I can not see MOUNT function for tbix files on Windows 10. Files tib have MOUNT function uder right buttn on mouse?This is some special function which will be release after year of life ATI version 2020. So current version realease on market is some not ended version about should cost part only.
Making backup in ATI 2020 in tibx format makes hours. ATI version 2018 make it in 20 minutes.
This software from version to version have more bugs and it's not eneded after release.
Hi Roman,
This thread is dedicated to Acronis Backup product, rather than Acronis True Image, so for future references please create a thread in the dedicated Acronis True Image 2020 forum branch.
As far as I have checked with our Acronis True Image team, the possibility to mount from newly introduced .tibx archive format is planned for the next version of Acronis True Image which comes later this year in Summer.
Thank you.
Hi Vasily,
will the XFS sparse file shrik feature be included in the next release? and is there already a date for the release?
thanks,
chris
Hi Chris,
The specific bug I referred above (ABR-223285) is planned to be fixed in future releases, however the timeline is not defined at the moment as the situation has changed since my previous post. There are some chances that we can make the fix until the end of the current year, but there is no commitment we can provide at the moment.
Right now the best I can suggest is to stick to workarounds described in my above post (use backup format v11 or do not use XFS file system on your NAS volumes).
Thank you.
Hi Vasily,
that is not really good to hear. i cannot simply change my terastation to use NTFS - they are linux based and therefore only provide XFS. and for using the v11 format - can i change the existing backup plans and it will start all new files for my machines or do i have to create new backup plans?
and still i need space for my existing 9 TB archives (which dont even contain this amount of data anymore) for half a year or so.
regards
Hi Chris,
The backup format can be defined only when creating a new backup plan, so editing existing plans won't work in this case. You should create new backup plan and set the Backup Options -> "Backup format" to version 11.
The existing backups can be reduced in size by using backup replication option: either as part of backup plan or from Plans -> Backup replication if you have Advanced license. The replicated archive will contain only the useful data (without unclaimed space). Note that the replicated archive will be still in the original format, e.g. v12 in your case (backup format cannot be changed during replication), so it would be just a way to preserve the old backups, while freeing up additional space.
Thank you.
The paper:
https://dl.acronis.com/u/PP_TIBX_Archive_Overview_in_Acronis_Backup_Clo…
Is really good but don’t answer all my questions…
Considering the backup format version 11 vs 12 (TIBX), what’s the differences between the versions to deduplication features?
Like deduplication at source and at target...how it works in the two versions, how enable/disable in the two version.
In version 12 (TIBX):
- The deduplication source/target are enable by default in TIBX (Advanced 12.5 Update 4)?
- How the In-archive deduplication works?
- The deduplication at target consider only one backup / machine file or consider all backups to do the global deduplication?
- How enable / disable deduplication? How enable / disable source and or target deduplication?
Regads,
- Deduplication will be work for many backup plans of machines with similar contents?
Hello Manoel,
welcome to Acronis forums.
There are two types of deduplication in Acronis Cyber Backup 12.5:
- deduplication that could be enabled on a Storage Node - specially organized backup location (it can be enabled/disabled on a Storage Node);
- in-archive deduplication in version 12 backup format (it is in-built and can't be enabled/disabled).
This is how the latest one works:
After the first full backup, all other backups are saved to this archive in incremental mode. Physically all data is located inside one file as opposed to the version 11 format where each backup is stored in a separate .tib file.
When a certain backup expires due to the pre-defined retention rules, the backup algorithm just marks these outdated backup blocks as “free” ones. The initial archive still occupies the same space on the storage as before, however all newer backups will be written to the “free” blocks first, and only if all the “free” blocks are filled, the total size of the archive will be increased.
This approach allows keeping the archive size as small as possible and prevents it from growing excessively.
Hi Maria!
Considering version 12 (TIBX), the deduplication process will be done only at storage-node side when the data will be stored. Need to transfer all the duplicated data trought network and only then do the dedup process. Correct? (this is dedup in target)
If we have 10 VM stored in same storage-node and we have one same file inside all of this 10VM. Considerind thaht we are using the TBIX, our storage node will store only one copy of this file or 10 copies, one for each VM?
=-=
We need to do a backup around 200VM per day. And of course we will need deup and compress.
You recommend the use of TIB ou TIBX? And why?
Regards,
Hello Manoel.
Considering version 12 (TIBX), the deduplication process will be done only at storage-node side when the data will be stored. Need to transfer all the duplicated data trought network and only then do the dedup process. Correct? (this is dedup in target)
First of all, I need to clarify that you can not store Version 12 .tibx files on a deduplicated storage node. Version 11 (.tib file) is automatically selected if the backup destination (or a replication destination) is a managed location with enabled deduplication. If you change the format to Version 12, the backups will fail.
Deduplication is done on the target (backup location).
If we have 10 VM stored in same storage-node and we have one same file inside all of this 10VM. Considerind thaht we are using the TBIX, our storage node will store only one copy of this file or 10 copies, one for each VM?
A backup on a Storage Node with enabled deduplication will store only blocks with unique data (not entire files), if the data is duplicated 9as in your example), the backup file on this storage node stores hashes to this block. This will work if you back up all your VMs in one file. In case you create a separate backup for every VM, each backup will contain the same data blocks.
You recommend the use of TIB ou TIBX? And why?
We recommend using Version 11 with enabled deduplication on a Storage Node. If all VM backups stored in the same location, then deduplication will be applied to the entire location. If you select Version 12, then deduplication will be applied inside the backup archive.
Is there supposed to be a major difference in backup file size when it comes to TIB vs TIBX backup of the same exact drive with same exact level of compression? ATI2019 backups are twice as big as ATI2020 backups. ATI2020 backup restoration (of TIBX files at least) fails each time. I only use bootable ISO.
Hello DirtyAngelica,
thank you for posting!
Is there supposed to be a major difference in backup file size when it comes to TIB vs TIBX backup of the same exact drive with same exact level of compression? ATI2019 backups are twice as big as ATI2020 backups.
Yes, it is ok if there is a lot of duplicated data on this drive.
ATI2020 backup restoration (of TIBX files at least) fails each time.
I advise that you validate these backups in order to be sure that they are consistent. If everything is OK with the backups, then please open a case with Acronis Support Team to investigate an issue with restoration.