Entire PC backup creates very large backup file
I just upgraded from True Image 2019 to Cyber Protect Home.
It wouldn't let me continue with my previous backup set. That's OK. I created a new one just like the ones I used to do. I selected "Entire PC", set the destination (a NAS) and configured the options (mostly default) and let it go. It started about 8pm last night. This morning when I got up, it was just about done, 12 hours later. It shouldn't have taken that long, first clue.
I went and looked at the NAS backup folder and it had created a backup file that was almost 1 TB in size. That's actually about the total size of my laptop's hard drive. I did NOT select a sector by sector backup but it almost appears like that's what it did. As I was watching it the backup failed because the NAS doesn't have more than a TB of available space in the backup folder.
I guess I could try a whole hard drive backup, but if I do that do I have the option of restoring the entire PC? I've never done that, even when my laptop failed and I got a new one. But I think I'd still like the option.
P.S. I was going to attach a log. It seems like I used to be able to find something like a system log that showed everything True Image had done or tried to do. I can't find that now. I'll attach a System Report and the email log I got from the backup attempt.
P.P.S It doesn't appear I can attack a System Report. Too big I guess. I have it available if it's needed, though.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks,
David Chamberlain
David, there is often a lag at the weekends before new forum topics get through moderation and appear in the forums.
How many drives does your laptop have?
Have you performed a CHKDSK on the internal drives to check for any file system issues?
If you have created an Acronis System Report, then extract the disks.txt report file from the system report zip file and attach that file here.
Your log file only confirms that your destination for the backup does not have sufficient free disk space available.
Download a copy of the MVP Assistant log viewer tool and use this to look at the logs to see if they show any issues during the operation process?
The latest version of the new log viewer tool is at the link below.
MVP Assistant - New 2.0 with Rescue Media Builder (New Version 2.1.1)
If you have Disks & Partitions backups created on ATI 2020 or later using .tibx files, then look in the Backup Worker logs.
If you have Files & Folders backups using .tib files (or Disk backups from earlier versions using .tib files) or using Cloning then look in the Demon logs.
Other logs are shown by the MVP Assistant under the 'Active Logs' heading of the Log Viewer page of the Assistant.
The Schedule2 log contains information related to scheduled task but is one of the more difficult logs to read / work through.
The log files should be zipped to preserve their original file names if sharing in the forums and would need to be less than 3MB in size, otherwise you would need to share the zip file via a Cloud share service such as OneDrive, Dropbox etc.
This is an HP Laptop with a single 1TB drive and Intel Optane+ Memory. I have not run a CHKDSK recently so I did that on all the partitions I could see and I am running another Entire PC backup. We'll see how it goes. I'll attach the disks.txt file to this message and the backup log to another message later after I see what this backup does.
I downloaded the assistant and looked at some of the logs. Nothing stands out but there is a lot of stuff there I don't entirely understand. I'll attach the latest backup log as soon as I see what happens.
Thanks.
David, the disks report shows there is a definite file system error at work here:
PS Speed IFace Hs-Bs-Tg Model
Num NT L9NO Size FSsize Free FS Type Label ABCHSV Error
---- ----- ---- ----- ----- ----- ------ --------------- ----------- ------ ----------
1- d(0) GPT 932G RAID 0-0-0 Intel Optane+932GBHDD 17.11
MBR ------
GPTpri -----v
-1 ---- 100M 100M 49M FAT32 EF EFI ........... --c--V
MSresr -----v
-3 --CC 931G 931G 794G NTFS 07 NTFS, HPFS ........... --e--V
-4 ---- 499M 499M 75M NTFS 27 Windows RE H ........... --c--V
1.5M unallc ------
GPTbck ------Partition 1-3: file system FS: NTFS File System Error 0x70018: MFT bitmap is corrupted.
Master File Table bitmap corruption can result in incorrect file sizes etc.
I ran a new system report now that I've done the chkdsk and that error appears to have resolved. I'll report back the backup results.
Thank you.
It appears that running the chkdsk and repairing the disk error has fixed the problem. I just ran an Entire PC backup and got a .tibx file approximately 96 GB in size.
I'm a little bit surprised because it is a fair bit smaller than I expected. The primary (C:) partition of the laptop's drive shows about 137 GB used. All of my most recent full backups done with True Image 2019 are around 142 to 143 GB. I'm assuming there is some better compression going on here?
Anyway, my primary concern is addressed. Thank you for your help.
David, good to read that the file system issue is resolved and backups are again at a more reasonable / expected size.
Compression by Acronis is typically around 20% but the default Exclusions can account for some significant size savings, i.e. excluding pagefile.sys, hiberfil.sys, swapfile.sys along with system restore point data.
David Chamberlain wrote:I'm a little bit surprised because it is a fair bit smaller than I expected. The primary (C:) partition of the laptop's drive shows about 137 GB used. All of my most recent full backups done with True Image 2019 are around 142 to 143 GB. I'm assuming there is some better compression going on here?
After a little digging into my most recent True Image 2019 full backup, it appears that files that should have been skipped because of the Exclusions list were being backed up. So the page file, hibernation file, all the various temp files that should have been skipped were not. That would explain the discrepancy in the .tibx file size.