A question about differences in Total Size of backup

A detailed description of your backup task and schedule is needed for anyone here to provide some guidance. Along with that some specification details for your 3 computers would be of benefit as well.

Thanks

I choose Disk and Partition Backup. Backup my C drive to an external disk.

When the backup is finished it gives me that strange amount. Used to give a realistic amount.

All 4 computers are the similar: Windows 7 64 bit. 3 are Intel Dualcore CPUs and One is i5.

No schedule I run it manually each day.

jadinolf,
We really do need pictures in order to assist so we can find out what you are doing. To start out, supply screen captures from just one computer as example.

Need picture of
Main menu screen
Backup task
tib storage folder.

You may want to review item 2-1 in my signature links below. Also, the link #1 could help.

Most Win 7 installation has other partitions which need to be included within your backup if you intend to use your backup for recovey to a new disk.
This is covered in first part of link 2-1.

If any of these backups involve incremental backups, any use of any type defrag can increase the size of your backup because the program backups includes all disk sectors which have changed--even if the file content has not changed.

Thanks, I'll make it a project for the future. I have licenses for 6 computers and it seems that only my i5 doesn't have the problem.

They all started out beautifully and all of a sudden it is showing very high backup size. Because of this I have installed another backup program and have decided to run Acronis just once a week. No sense in doing it if I can't recover the backup. I'm just a retired old geezer and money is limited but I spent a lot for these.
I even evaluated the rial version for a month.

No defrag takes place here since all disks are SSDs.

Just one thing GroverH- what is the tib storage folder?

I'll be back.

jadinolf
I'm an old old geezer myself so I know about money limitations.

The tib store folder is the destination folder where you store your tib (tiib=true image backups) files.

If you choose, TrueImage is capable of doing full and complete backups from the TI Recovery CD so actually, you do not need to have TrueImage installed
if all you want to do is weekly backups. Sometimes, having two different programs installed can cause either or both to work differently.

So tib is my external drives or am I mistaken?

I fell for Acronis when I bought my 3 Crucial SSDs. They came with a link and a license for the simple version. The process of transferring from a 500G HDD to a 256G SSD went so smoothly that it sold me on Acronis so I bought the Premium version for 3 computers and the family version for 3 computers.

All went well until this crazy problem occurred. Now I'm scared.

I've got a lot to learn about this program. The manual is over 200n pages as you know.

As I said, when I get the time I'll be back.

Oh yeah, I'm 80 years old.

jadinolf,

So I am an old gezzer too, just not quite as old as you and Grover. I have made an observation reading this thread that may help solve your mistery. I note that you have I think a total of 6 computers. It sounds like you are backing up to a single external drive from each of these 6 computers. When you are viewing the backup folder on the external drive are all backup files in one folder? Hopefully they are not but, if each backup is in its own folder are each of these folders contained within a single folder on the external drive? If so, depending on how you choose to view the backup folders, may explain what you are seeing.

Thanks for the response.

I must explain that I am the mother and father in this household that consists of me and my Basset Hound Fred.

I am the cook, house cleaner, dish washer clothes washer, car mechanic, lawn mower etc. I know I need to get back to you and I will a little later today.

But to go on- I have only 4 computers but licenses for 6 Acronis TI. Turns out the family pack for three computers was less money that the 1 computer version.

Here is my set up for each computer: Each one has two external drives dedicated to Acronis. One holds backups which I do every day and the other holds backups which I do just on Sunday. I know it's strange but I love playing with computers. For the record, I have never had the nerve to try recovery.

Now, I have already done a few screen captures which you will see later. Looking at the backups (tib) the size shown looks like I would expect and they don't look like the high quantity shown in Acronis. I also notice that some of those high numbers drop to the REAL number the next day. I know-strange.

I'll show you a screen capture from this computer, the i5 which has never misbehaved.

Here are some of the requested screen captures. You will note how much the numbers change. They go back to what I think would be proper after a while.

Meesed up something. Sorry

I'm sorry. Not familiar with this.

A couple of things jadinolf

1) this is an excerpt from the Help file which can be found on the Contents tab under Basic Concepts - Backup file naming.

By default, the program creates for each task a separate folder with task's name and then stores in the folder all backups for that task (For example, D:\My Backups\My partitions)
A backup file name has the following attributes:
Backup name.
Backup method (full, inc, diff: full, incremental, differential).
Number of backup chain (in the form of b#).
Number of backup version (in the form of s#).
Number of volume (in the form of v#).

2) by default Acronis will search for backup sets automatically and populate the task pane with everything it finds.

3) your acronis4task.jpg shows that you have set up the backup scheme as Incremental. This will result in backup chains which contain multiple versions. For example, your acronis926.jpg shows 3rd from the bottom My partitions_inc_b1_s2_v1.tib

4) your acronis926.jpg also shows 25 different volumes of version b1_s1_v1 ... this strikes me as odd.

5) I am going to post some pictures of the backups on my system to give you an idea of what other pictures you can provide that will be helpful in sorting out things. See if you can get the similar screenshots.
- Note that in backup_destination you can see the number of files in the folder, also that the folder is sort by "Date modified" (very helpful)
- if all of your backup tasks do not fit on the screen, can you tell us how many are on the list?
- you will notice I have 20 versions currently. With my custom settings I will reach 25 versions and then the oldest chain will be deleted dropping me back down to 17 versions. Each chain contains a maximum of 8 versions, the 1st version in each chain is a new full backup. If the program creates a new full backup that is the 4th existing chain, it triggers the removal of the oldest chain (always after creating, so you need enough space on the drive to allow for that)

I meant to also ask, can you post a screenshot of the Properties of your "F:" drive?
I have attached an example of my "D:" drive

I'm sorry but this is very much beyond my abilities.

All I have done is push the disk and partition button and run the backup. I also have not named my back ups. I also saw these versions number which were meaningless to me. I thought I could learn as I went along. The manual is 200 plus pages. Sure wish it was in book form.

If I am going to continue to use this program I need to read more.

Actually, I should uninstall it and give up. It is too complicated for me. Looks simple until you mention things that I don't understand.

When I click on your attachments I get a message regarding leaving the page so that is a no go. Sorry.

Let's call it quits here. I appreciate your attempting to help but I am not computer savvy enough.

Many thanks for trying.

All things are complicated until they are learned /shrug

I don't imagine jadinolf will read this response, but on the off chance he does ...

The message regarding leaving the page is due to the settings of your browser, it is set up to open any link that you click on in a new tab/window and it notifies you that it will be doing that. No need for alarm.

You gave it your best shot Daniel, nice work anyway!

jadinolf,
It's not that you can't. Each of us that use the product have found that the program takes time to learn and there is NO way of avoiding this learning curve. I'm several years older than you so if I can do, so can you!

If you were to make a few changes in your procedures, things would probably straigten out a bit. You have heard the expression, a picture is worth a 1000 words. This holds true for what you have provided. Nice job with the attachments.

I will gather up some specifics and post later.

These are my suggested changes to make each backup to be a "standalone" without association by the program.
Make these changes and run a few backups and let us know the results.
I understand you prefer not to do this but this will help to keep the backups separated.

1. Assign a specific name to the Backup file.
Figure 4, and 5

2. Assign a different folder name to each task that you create. This can be one main folder with each task pointing to a different sub-folder.
Figure 5

3. When creating the task, change it to a "Do not schedule" so the task won't run again from your desktop. Do this before saving the task or executing the backup.
Figure 8

4. Assign a name to the backup task. It can be anything as long as it is unique and has not been used before. This is the name that will appear on your main menu after task created.
Figure 16 and 17

5. As long as you save each task as a "do not schedule", you can allow them to remain on your desktop without causing any issues, or you can remove any or all tasks from the listings--your choice.
GH20. Remove Single Task from Task Menu Listing
6. There a many training video's to help. You will find a listing of those via my signature link 1 below.

Fig 04- Select Storage Target Destination so user can change/control settings locations.
Select Target Storage disk. Create Custom Storage Folder.

Fig 05- Assign folder & tib backup file name..
Assign custom name to TIB backup file.

Fig 06- Change schedule from default setting.
Assign desired schedule.

Fig 08- Change task from scheduled to Non-scheduled.
If desired, change the default scheduled task to a non-scheduled task.

This example shows how to save the task as a Non-scheduled task.

Also see lower part of figure 17 to save as Non-scheduled task.

Fig 16- Confirm/Modify Task/Backup Name.
.Last chance to modify task (backup) name as it appears on main menu.

Fig 17- Save Settings--Finalize Task.
Save task as your choice--scheduled or non-scheduled. Backups can be added manually from inside the task using the "Back Up Now" option--from inside the newly completed task!

GH1. How to change a backup task from scheduled to "Do Not Schedule".

GH3. How to create a non-scheduled backup task on the first try.

GH20. Remove Single Task from Task Menu Listing

GH4. Illustrate Manual Backup Now option or Repeat prior backups by repeating the same task using Backup Now.

All of the above is an extract from signature links either 2-1 or #1.