Backup Images Have Doubled in Size
Dell Inspiron Desktop. Windows XP-PRO SP3. ATI2009 b9796. Backup Device External HD USB2.0.
I have been doing weekly FULL images of a disk with 2 partitions (OS) (C) and a small EISA partition with the rescue CD for several months. Even though the disk I'm imaging has not changed in size, my weekly backup has more than doubled in size and time. I can't understand why this might have happened. I'm doing backups the same way I always have.
Any ideas?
[quote=K0LO]
dh:
What was the former and what is the current size of your full image files?
Former image size is approximately 11,800,000 KB
Current size is approximately 24,500,000 KB
How much used space is in the partitions being backed up? What is the total size of the disk?
Used space in partitions is 29.7GB
Total disk size is 500GB
dh:
That's interesting. Usually when TI starts to suddenly create much larger image files it's because it detects a problem with the file system and switches to the sector-by-sector mode. But if this had been the case, TI would have copied every sector on the disk, both used and unused, and the size of your image file would have been the size of your disk (500 GB).
Have you disabled compression by any chance? If you were previously excluding files from the image, are these same exclusions still in effect?
It's probably still worthwhile to check the file system for errors. From a command prompt enter the command chkdsk c: /f and then reboot to have Windows check the file system. When finished, the details are in the event log. Try another full image to see if anything has changed.
Thank you, Mark. Compression has not been disabled. It still shows Normal. Additionally, there are no excluded files and never have been. I ran chkdsk and have attached the event log. A subsequent image backup with the rescue CD shows the same issue with size. I have attached a couple screen shots. I've tried the image backup within the Windows environment and, although it completes faster, the image size remains large.
The plot thickens...
Judging from the size of your C: partition shown in Disk Management (68.5 GB used space), and the size that you reported in post #2 (29.7 GB) it's apparent that there is some kind of discrepancy.
Can you mount one of the smaller images and then select all of the files, right-click and choose "Properties" to see the total used space in the small image. Then mount one of the larger images and do the same. Compare to see what's different.
The differences may be in files that are locked while Windows is running, so that's why I'm suggesting doing the compare from a mounted image where you should be able to explore the files.
Mark,
I see the same as in post #2: Partition size (465.72GB) - Free Space (435.96GB) = 29.76GB
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dh27564,
Does the Event Log show anything strange between 09-30 and 10-05?
Mark,I see the same as in post #2: Partition size (465.72GB) - Free Space (435.96GB) = 29.76GB
You're right -- I must have looked at the used space on Disk 2 instead of on Disk 0. Sorry.
A 24.7 GB .tib file size for a 29.76 GB partition sounds an awfully lot like the backup was done without compression...
OK - exploring the mounted images has turned up a 12GB file on one of the larger images that wasn't in the smaller image and now I know what's going on. A few weeks ago, in order to prevent the "System Volume Not Created" message on the main GUI, I created and stored an image on the (C) partition. This image is stored in a nested folder "My Backups". This file does not exist on the smaller images and would explain the difference in size and time. I had forgotten all about this file (my tail is between my legs). I'm going to delete this image from within ATI and then run another backup. I'd think that would get my image size down to what they were before. I'll report back once that's done.
Thank you Mark & MudCrab for helping me solve the problem I created myself.
Problem solved! As soon as the backup started I could see the time was cut in half. Thanks again!
Thanks for posting back with the solution.
If you need to keep the image file on the drive (or just want to to avoid the "message") and it's the only image file, you should be able to exclude .TIB files from the regular backup task. Another option would be to save the backup to another partition (if there's one available).
Another option would be to save the backup to another partition (if there's one available).
Originally, I thought to eliminate the message, the image had to be stored on (C). But it seems that as long as the image is made within the Windows environment, it can be stored externally. I won't eliminate that one image from my external HD (to prevent the message) and use the rescue CD to create all the others.
Thanks again to you both for the help.