Backup Size & Time to Complete

Ron, I wouldn't expect that your nightly incremental backups should be as large as you are indicating, i.e. around 220GB per day.

Couple of points to say here:  

First, I don't recommend using the 'Entire PC' backup type, this can include other drives that just your C: and G: drives as by definition, Entire PC will include any connected drive, which can include the one you are backing up to as well as USB memory sticks etc.

I would recommend using Disks & Partitions (click on the Source panel that shows Entire PC to see the other options), then select exactly which Disks you want to include.   One caveat here, please ensure that you are looking at the Full partition list and not the Short partition list as the former shows all hidden partitions whereas the latter doesn't.  The text for these options acts as a toggle between these two views and you will see the difference when clicking between the views.  Your hidden partitions need to be included in your backup.

Second, it is not recommended to change the backup task type or options once you have started using the task, this can lead to some strange behaviour with regards to automatic cleanup rules by resetting the count of version chains.

For the first backup after an initial Full backup has been created, then both an Incremental or a Differential backup should be the same size, as both are based at that point on the changes that have been identified since the Full backup was created.  However beyond that second backup, Incremental backups reflect only the changes since the previous Incremental, whereas Differential backups still compare against the initial Full backup so will be increasingly larger!

Now, as to why you may be seeing over 200GB of changed data on a daily basis, that is far more difficult to say with certainty.  If you have any applications which perform regular maintenance, including defragmentation of your disk drives, then this will cause changes at a sector level which can give increased backup sizes.  If you are streaming lots of video or audio data etc and have caching levels set very high, that could contribute.

Have you removed any of the default Exclusions set for the backup task?   System Volume Information is excluded by default, as are the system page file, swap file and hibernation files - if these are included, then they too are constantly changing files of significant size.

The size of an Acronis backup image file does depend on the mix of types of data that is included in the backup, and should achieve a compression on average of between 20 to 30%, but can be greater if you have data containing highly compressable data, i.e. text documents.

FWIW, there is a check box for "Notify me when new comments are posted" below this. I had it checked but was never (at least, yet) notified. So I am sorry it took so long to respond.

I do have 9 external HDDs (30+TB storage) attached to this computer. However, I see no indication that they are being touched by TrueImage -- they don't show up in the "Restore" action, for instance.

Yeah, I would not have changed the task type normally. I have been fighting this for some time and was experimenting. Anyway, I do have a problem (I beleive) with the version count. I have the "Create new version after every --- differential versions" set to 5. Yet, this morning, TrueImage created this file: "C Drive Partitions - Desktop Win 7_diff_b1_s6_v1.tib." (This was, BTW, the behavior prior to my experiment switching task type.)

I do not stream lots of video or audio with this computer... I have another one for that. I do, however, watch the occasional YouTube video on this machine.

Yikes, the "Exclusions," which are apparently set by default, are: See attached screenshot.

Ron, I understand about the email notifications from this forum, this seems to depend on the ISP involved as anything else - I had to change to use a different email address that was with another ISP to get it working reliably for myself as otherwise my normal ISP seemed to block these messages and I was not seeing any even though I knew that posts had been updated.

Your Exclusions list looks to be normal for the defaults which Acronis implement, but if you use Google Chrome or Firefox browsers, then check that you won't be losing your bookmarks and extensions etc by the paths set to be excluded for these browsers.

On the file naming convention, the first file will always have _full_b1_s1_v1 then your 5 differential backups will have diff_b1_s2 to s6_v1 before the next version chain starts with _full_b2_s1_v1 so what you are seeing looks to be correct behaviour for your settings.

Interestingly, I made no changes and I was notified (by e-mail) of your latest post.

Great! We'll see tomorrow if a new "Full" backup is created. I will change the "Backup Method" to Incremental. (Yeah, I know... not recommended but let's try it.) Hopefully that will work out well if it indeed creates a NEW "Full" version.

Still do not know why the backups are so large and take so long to complete.

Ron, on the size of the backups, I would suggest mounting one of these as a drive letter then use a tool such as TreeSize Free to list out the size of the contents is descending order and see where the most space is being consumed?

Steve,

I am unsure what you are asking me to do. Am I to "list out the contents" of the hard drive or the Backup file?

I have downloaded the software but haven't installed it yet. FWIW, I have, for many years, used Scanner (http://steffengerlach.de/freeware/) to monitor the space on my hard drives.

Ron, if you look at one of your .TIB files via Windows Explorer, then right-click on this to see the menu options, select True Image, then you will see an option to Mount the image, which will do so as if it were another drive with a drive letter assigned.

If you have a program like TreeSize Free or perhaps your Scanner program, then look at the mounted drive and let the program show you where the greatest space is being taken.  

This isn't fool proof as there is no way to just see what is in a Differential backup file as this has to include the contents of the Full backup too, but will give you an idea of the spread of data by size, which in turn may help you to understand why your differential backups are hitting over 200GB each time?

Got it. When I go to the "Mount Wizard," I find that I can check the G: drive but my only option is "Do Not Mount." How do I look at what was backupped from that drive? Could I be out of available Drive letters? See attached.

Ron, looking at your mount.jpg, the mounted Acronis image is being shown as Disk 1 and you do not need to assign any drive letters to NTFS (System) and Recovery partitions, just to the NTFS (Unlabled) C: partition which is being offered drive E:

The Disk 3 drive is already a mounted drive in your system.  You certainly do have a lot of drives attached!

Steve,

I may have found my problem. I use this machine extensively for Image processing -- Primarily Adobe Lightroom. For some reason there is a Folder called Recovered that has 1,372 files totaling 16.0 GB. I don't know what this is but there would be no need to save these files -- the originals are an external hard drive. And certainly no reason to "recover" them

Additionally, there is large amount of space in a Garmin folder which I haven't used in several months -- firmware update.

Thank you for hanging in with me. I now have a direction to head in.

One other thing the other two mounted drives contained no data. would that be right?

Oh! I still don't know about the G: drive mounting.

Ron, glad that you are making some progress with this issue.  'Fraid the disk_scanner image is not one I can process with being colour blind but if it helps you to recognise where you have large volumes of data, then that is good.

Your G: drive just shows as a 2TB Data Storage Drive in both of your previous images.

Steve Smith wrote:

Your G: drive just shows as a 2TB Data Storage Drive in both of your previous images.

Yes, I am "picture" oriented so it makes it more convenient for me to use Scanner. However, it doesn't really give much detail so I have to use it in conjunction with Windows Explorer. I, now, remember using "TreeSize" (or something very similar) years ago and, having installed it, will use it again.

Anyway, I waiting for the current "backup" to complete. (It did, indeed, start a new "Full" backup.) It started at 1:29am and it is now 10:48am and tells me it has 3h 5m remaining.

Well, Drive G: is a "data Storage Drive" in the sense that it has no "System" files on it. However, what, I wonder, does "Entire PC" mean in regards to a TrueImage Backup?

Ron, the simplest way to see what 'Entire PC' means is to click on this in the Source panel and then look / see what has been selected when you then click on Disks & Partitions.

By definition 'Entire PC' can include any connected drives, including memory sticks etc.

Steve,

Apparently, I will have to wait until the current backup is completed to check the "Source" -- in about 2h 35m. However, I do know that it did not backup all 30+TB of attached HDD space during previous versions. <chuckle>

Steve,

Okay, it finished the backup -- from 1:29am to 12:34pm and 965.4 GB.

I am unsure what I am supposed to Click on to see what was selected to be backed up. When I click on the big Icon that is labeled "Entire PC," nothing happens. (See attachment)

I also don't understand what the "920.8 GB of data selected" means. This amount is approximately the size of the C: drive... but is also approximately the total amount of disk space used on my two internal drives. (See above post) That is why I had assumed both drives were included in the "Entire PC" backup.

I am also confused why this latest "Full" backup was 965.4 GB and the previous "Full" one was 792.5 GB. But that probably is an issue for later. But 23 hours to backup this machine is a bit much, don't you think?

Steve,

More confusion: During the 23 hour backup, there was a power failure that caused the backup file to be split into two files. (Thank you Acronis for making that possible.) I assumed that the Mounting drives process wouldn't be much use in that scenario so I wondered what I would find if I tried to "Recover files."

Interestingly, I find all the files, from both drives, in the backup file. (see attachment) This makes me feel better but it would be nice to know what is going on (so I feel more in control of the situation).

BTW, I hope I am not being a pest.

Ron, this is one of the reasons why I do not use the 'Entire PC' option when creating a backup task, it is too ambiguous in terms of what may be included or not.  I prefer to click through this when creating a task and then select Disks & Partitions and then choose the specific disk drive(s) to be included and know that this is all that will be included even if other drives may be connected later.

The other approach that I use is that I limit any backup to a single physical disk & its partitions to keep my backups as simple as possible, plus this also limits the maximum size of the backups to the size of the disk drive.

If or when I have to replace a failed or failing drive, I only need to worry about finding the appropriate backup file and can just restore the entire disk (& partitions if more than 1 are present) to the replacement drive.

I agree with Steve. I prefer a backup to be of a single drive. Yes, that can mean having more than one backup set, but that means that it's easier to troubleshoot any issues with backup or restore. It would also help many users avoid unexpected disasters when they restore the wrong thing.

Okay, I will try that and see how it goes.

Same for me.

My personal preference is to treat each drive as it's own full disk backup.  Yes, you have more backup tasks, but it keeps the backups seperate and you can do them separately or as needed on their own schedules.  For me..

1) I use a smaller SSD for the OS.  I limit data on this drive and try to really only use it for my user profile, OS and applications.  I have some data on it (common documents and freqeuntly accessed data, but not much).  That way, the backup for the OS is very fast, and recovery of the OS is just as fast.  And, if the OS drive dies, I don't have to mess with any other drives or recovery options - just the one that I need to recover at that time.  I backup the entire disk daily, using a a daily incremental scheme (1 full + 6 incrementals) each week to an external and a second one that uses differentials to a NAS (1 full on a different day and a differential every other day - for 1 week).  

2) I use a second drive for my data.  On this drive, I have folders for things like photos, movies, pictures, software installers, etc.  I take an occassional full disk backup of it in case it dies I can restore it in one swoop.  

3) On the second drive, I also have a separate file/folder backup of each main folder that is run more frequently and each on of those is its own backup task.  That way, if I accidentally delete a bunch of pictures, I can just restore the photo  folder, instead of everything on the disk.  

You have to do what works best for you based on convenience, frequency, storage space and ease of backup/recovery.  It may seem like more work to setup and manage different backup schemes for different drives or even different types of data, but wait until it's time to do a recovery.  I'd hate to have to restre 1TB of data attached to my OS drive that will take hours to complete and tie things up, when i know that by separateing things out, I can cut that down to just the informaiton that needs to be recovered - roughly 10 minutes for a full disk OS restore in my case.  

I also agree that "whole PC" is best avoided. 

I too have the OS on a separate SSD (mostly 250 gig Samsung 850 EVO), and other (important) data on the main system is on RAID 5 array with 4 patitons (comprisig 3 240gig HyperX Fury SSD), each of which I bakup separately (as they have differing useage - one partition is only changed once in 6 months, another has changes most days).

Ian

Okay, okay. I will Backup each drive separately. I was trying to simplify things and went overboard, I guess.

Just to clarify: The reason I have such a large SSD is that many programs simply will not install to a non-C: drive -- large programs; Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Cloud, etc. I try to force every install to the G: drive, however, many programs simply don't give a choice. Secondly, I have around 420 programs installed on the subject machine (according to the "Control Panel Uninstall" option) and, therefore, need such large capacity drives.

Furthermore, the number of and size of the external drives is matched by a second desktop machine that is consigned as a HTPC. (It is on the same LAN.)

In addition, there are two laptops each with about 2tb external drives attached.

I guess what I am saying is that I really do appreciate all the help I received here in this thread. However, I , for some reason, feel the need to put things in perspective.

Again, thank you everyone.

Okay, I am back. I setup TrueImage to make "Partition" backups of the two drives individually.

The Incremental TIB file of the "C:" drive is huge while the "G:" drive Inc file is what I would expect. (See attached)

The "Exclusions" in each Backup include "System Volume Information." (see Attached)

The Report from True Image "Notification"shows that "System Volume Information" is indeed excluded. (See attached)

Yet, TreeSize shows the following:

C: Full  -- System Volume Information = 220 files, 21 folders, 254.7 GB

C: Inc -- System Volume Information = 221 files, 21 folders, 255.4 GB

So my problem seems to be that TrueImage is ignoring the "Exclude System Volume Information" command in the C: drive backup (but not in the G: drive backup). How do I fix that? What am I doing wrong?

Ron, when you check the backup task log files, is there any mention of using sector-by-sector mode at all?

The only time that I have seen exclusions to be ignored it has been because Acronis has fallen over to using sector-by-sector because of a bad sector or something similar.

Steve,

I don't beleive so. Here is the complete log (If I understand that term):

1    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 1:30:01 AM    Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false;

2    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 1:30:01 AM    Operation C Drive Partitions started by schedule.

3    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 1:30:38 AM    Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false;

4    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 1:30:38 AM    Operation: Backup

5    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 1:30:38 AM    Priority changed to Low.

6    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 1:30:38 AM    Create Backup Archive From: Disk 1 To file: "P:\My Backups\C Drive Partitions.tib" Compression:          Normal Exclude:         Files matching mask Match criterion:          hiberfil.sys, pagefile.sys, $Recycle.Bin, swapfile.sys, System Volume Information, *.tib, *.tib.metadata, *.~, *.tmp, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Temp, C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp, C:\Users\DefaultAppPool\AppData\Local\Temp, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache, C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache, C:\Users\DefaultAppPool\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Opera Software, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Opera Software, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Opera Software, C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles, C:\WINDOWS\CSC 

7    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 1:30:41 AM    Pending operation 172 started: 'Creating partition image'.

8    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 1:31:18 AM    Pending operation 172 started: 'Creating partition image'.

9    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 1:34:49 AM    Writing incremental version to file: C Drive Partitions_inc_b1_s2_v1.tib

10    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 4:19:47 AM    Pending operation 172 started: 'Creating partition image'.

11    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 4:21:07 AM    Pending operation 172 started: 'Creating partition image'.

12    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 4:21:08 AM    The following backups have been successfully created: "P:\My Backups\C Drive Partitions_inc_b1_s2_v1.tib"

13    Acronis True Image    2/10/2017 4:21:11 AM    Operation has succeeded.

Ron, was the log you posted taken from an email notification or have you used the Log File Viewer app to look at this?

My reason for asking is that it looks like the former and if so, has left out information that may be relevant here?

If you don't already have the Log File Viewer app, then please download from the link in my signature.

I was expecting a log that looks more like the one below from one of my own systems:

log uuid=9F1F35BF-CC1A-4354-9A6D-914F881FD068;  product=Acronis True Image;  version=20.0;  build=5554;  task=68A60049-F0A9-42BA-AF7E-8C730EE773DE;  task_name=Windows7
Start= 08/02/2017 04:00:04
id=1;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:04;  message=Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false
id=2;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:04;  message=Operation Windows7 started by schedule.
id=3;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:04;  message=Operation description: Stage Description.
id=4;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:04;  message=AcronisLRPCConnect::BEGIN
id=5;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:04;  message=AcronisLRPCConnect::BEGIN
id=6;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:04;  message=AcronisLRPCConnect::BEGIN
id=7;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:22;  message=Retreiving Fdisk ver1 disk set to Fdisk ver2c disk set...
id=8;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:22;  message=Fdisk2: Use Disk 1 host= 0 bus = 0 target = 0
id=9;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:22;  message=Fdisk2: Use Disk 2 host= 0 bus = 0 target = 0
id=10;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:22;  message=Fdisk2: Use Disk 3 host= 0 bus = 0 target = 0
id=11;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:22;  message=Fdisk2: Use Disk 4 host= 0 bus = 0 target = 0
id=12;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:22;  message=Fdisk2: Use Disk 5 host= 0 bus = 0 target = 0
id=13;  date/time=08/02/2017 04:00:22;  message=Refreshing Drivers...
... snipped for brevity...
id=78;  date/time=08/02/2017 05:26:13;  message=Operation has succeeded.
id=79;  date/time=08/02/2017 05:27:49;  message=The e-mail notification has been successfully sent.
id=80;  date/time=08/02/2017 05:28:20;  message=Batch operation has completed successfully.
Start= 08/02/2017 04:00:04
Finish= 08/02/2017 05:28:20
Total Time= 01:28:16

Post the log as an attachment if it is lengthy!

Okay, let's try this:

log uuid=8FED1D83-184E-4959-B1D3-250DF71E7998;  product=Acronis True Image;  version=20.0;  build=5554;  task=94FB84EC-F878-4127-A90B-ABA4C7769B5C;  task_name=C Drive Partitions
Start= 2/10/2017 1:30:01 AM
id=1;  level=2;  module=100;  code=0;  date/time=2/10/2017 1:30:01 AM
          message=Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false
id=2;  level=2;  module=100;  code=2;  date/time=2/10/2017 1:30:01 AM
          message=Operation C Drive Partitions started by schedule.
id=3;  level=2;  module=100;  code=0;  date/time=2/10/2017 1:30:38 AM
          message=Backup reserve copy attributes: format tib; need_reserve_backup_copy false
id=4;  level=2;  module=316;  code=0;  date/time=2/10/2017 1:30:38 AM
          message=Operation: Backup
id=5;  level=2;  module=100;  code=11;  date/time=2/10/2017 1:30:38 AM
          message=Priority changed to Low.
id=6;  level=2;  module=11;  code=1008;  date/time=2/10/2017 1:30:38 AM
          message=Create Backup Archive From: Disk 1 To file: P:\My Backups\C Drive Partitions.tib Compression: Normal Exclude: Files matching mask Match criterion:
          hiberfil.sys
          pagefile.sys
          $Recycle.Bin
          swapfile.sys
          System Volume Information
          *.tib
          *.tib.metadata
          *.~
          *.tmp
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Temp
          C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Temp
          C:\Users\DefaultAppPool\AppData\Local\Temp
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache
          C:\Users\Administrator\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache
          C:\Users\DefaultAppPool\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Opera Software
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Opera Software
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Opera Software
          C:\Users\Ronald Boyd\AppData\Local\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles
          C:\WINDOWS\CSC
id=7;  level=2;  module=1;  code=504;  date/time=2/10/2017 1:30:41 AM
          message=Pending operation 172 started: 'Creating partition image'.
id=8;  level=2;  module=1;  code=504;  date/time=2/10/2017 1:31:18 AM
          message=Pending operation 172 started: 'Creating partition image'.
id=9;  level=2;  module=100;  code=0;  date/time=2/10/2017 1:34:49 AM
          message=Writing incremental version to file: C Drive Partitions_inc_b1_s2_v1.tib
id=10;  level=2;  module=1;  code=504;  date/time=2/10/2017 4:19:47 AM
          message=Pending operation 172 started: 'Creating partition image'.
id=11;  level=2;  module=1;  code=504;  date/time=2/10/2017 4:21:07 AM
          message=Pending operation 172 started: 'Creating partition image'.
id=12;  level=2;  module=100;  code=0;  date/time=2/10/2017 4:21:08 AM
          message=The following backups have been successfully created: P:\My Backups\C Drive Partitions_inc_b1_s2_v1.tib
id=13;  level=2;  module=316;  code=6;  date/time=2/10/2017 4:21:11 AM
          message=Operation has succeeded.
id=14;  level=2;  module=103;  code=0;  date/time=2/10/2017 4:21:16 AM
          message=The e-mail notification has been successfully sent.
id=15;  level=2;  module=103;  code=0;  date/time=2/10/2017 4:21:16 AM
          message=Batch operation has completed successfully.
Start= 2/10/2017 1:30:01 AM
Finish= 2/10/2017 4:21:16 AM
Total Time= 02:51:15

Ron, thanks for posting the full log - that looks clean and fine.  So, assuming that you made no changes to the exclusions in this backup task "C Drive Partitions" since creating the new full backup file yesterday then this is looking more like a bug in the code if you are seeing over 250GB of System Volume Information files in the backup image files via TreeSize!

Ron wrote:

TreeSize shows the following:
C: Full  -- System Volume Information = 220 files, 21 folders, 254.7 GB
C: Inc -- System Volume Information = 221 files, 21 folders, 255.4 GB

I would recommend opening a Support Case with Acronis for this issue and refer them to this forum topic for detailed information of the investigation we have done together.

Charlie,

Yeah, nothing has been changed. I will start a "Support" case.

Thank you for your help

Charlie?

lol That's what I get for having two conversations at the same time.

No problem Ken!  I have 'senior moments' too. LOL

Steve,

I tried to get "Support" to work with me but, apparently, I am doing something wrong. (I am, also, finding that I am not nearly as wedded to Acronis as I thought.) Any suggestions?

I started the "Support" ticket, on FRIDAY, by explaining about the unwanted addition of the excluded file/folder to my backups. I, further, pointed to our conversation in this thread and your recomendation. (I do not have the exact words since the response I received did not include that.)

This is what took place after that (on MONDAY):

From: Masood Ahmed [mailto:customerservice@acronis.com]

Sent: Monday, February 13, 2017 5:29 AM

To: ron@xxxxxx

Subject: [02913470] Backup Size & Time to Complete [ ref:_00D30Zcb._50050ruFF5:ref ]

Hello Ronald,

Thank you for contacting Acronis Customer Central. My name is Masood Ahmed.

As I understand you would like to know why "System Volume Information" is added in Acronis True Image 2017 by default in exclusion list. I will be happy to assist you.

I would like to inform you that System Volume Information folder is a hidden system folder that the System Restore tool uses to store its information and restore points. There is a System Volume Information folder on every partition on your computer. You might need to gain access to this folder for troubleshooting purposes.

Even I am checking with the resource why System Volume Information folded is added in the default exclusion

If you need this System Volume Information to be back up then suggest you to remove from the exclusion list.

Regarding the Backup Size & Time to Complete, please let me know which backup you are facing this issue.

Please share the screenshots and Acronis system report (http://kb.acronis.com/node/58820) for reference to investigate the issue

The case number for your future reference is 02913470.

I look forward to your response and feel free to contact us for any further questions.

Best regards,

Masood Ahmed

Support Engineer

Acronis Customer Central

My imediate response:

Masood,

No! That is not what I am asking. Please read the Linked conversation I had with your MVP Volunteer as I asked. (https://forum.acronis.com/forum/128524)

There you find that my question has to do with why TrueImage is adding "System Volume Information" to my backups (Full & Inc) DESPITE being in (on) the "Exclusion List."

Please read the Linked thread -- to save time perhaps only the original post and then only those near the last.

As per your request for the Log file. It is too large for my ISP. So here is a Link for you to download it from:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/64190928/AcronisSystemReport.zip

Ron

24 hours later (TUESDAY) I wrote:

Was I not going to get help with this issue? Can you refer me to someone who can? (or would that be asking too much.)

Ron

Today 24 hours later (WEDNESDAY):

Still no response.

Ron, I understand your frustration with this issue and the way that Acronis Customer Central works on these support cases.  I can only recommend being patient with them to allow them to work their way through this forum topic and the information we have already spent time looking at.

I have got several open support cases going myself that are 'growing hairs' but the dialogue is still ongoing.

The key point I would say here is that the Customer Central people are not deeply technical, so have to refer things to their own level 2 and development staff when they get pushed back due to not understanding the issue(s) being reported.  Stick with them though and keep reinforcing what the actual issue is and promoting this forum topic as a source of important information for them.

I would recommend doing an edit on the last post above to remove your email address so that you do not attract lots of spam mail given these are public forum pages.

Steve,

Good point about the email address!

Anyway, my concern is this: Since starting this "single-drive" backups last Thursday, I have one "Full" and 5 Incs" and, now, the next "Full. This has filled my 5TB drive up by more than half (60%? There is only 2.04TB free space left). I don't know if I will be able to save even two versions of this backup.

So time is somewhat of the essence. How often do you suggest I poke Masood? Daily, every other day, weekly?

BTW, I forgot to mention that I chose the e-mail route to "Support" because of the difficulty (I have) in explaining this issue and supplying the research. Should I have, maybe, used either of the other two options -- phone call or chat?

Ron, perhaps an alternative approach would help here?

How much space have you got allocated for System Protection (aka System Restore points)?  This is at the heart of the issue in terms of swelling the size of your backups, so can you reduce this size by decreasing the amount allocated for System Protection?

See attached screen shot on where to find the settings for this.

Steve,

Oh! That is really interesting. I guess I never really knew about this. In any event, it was set to 100% and my current usage is 197.63 GB -- with 25 restore points going back 100 days.  Wow! (Just for ducks, I checked my other computers and the largest amount was 20%.) I have no idea when or how it was set to that. I have set it to 10% and now have 4 retore points going back 20 days for 47.59 GB. I kicked it up to 15% and will see where that takes me.

FWIW, I use this handy program to easily and quickly create a restore point -- https://www.toms-world.org/blog/restore_point_creator. See attached screenshot.

Thanks... again.

Ron, hopefully you should see a significant difference in your backup image sizes with the new settings, assuming that it still continues to ignore the exclusions for System Volume Information here!

Steve,

Well, that did help... tremendously. It went from Incremental files of 257,872,064 KB to 83,363,580 KB. And it took an hour and twenty minutes instead of over five hours.

A thought occured -- that maybe this behavior was consistent of all installations of TrueImage v2017... so I mounted the backup files from two other machines. No joy. Neither had a "System Volume Information" folder.

Anyway, another reason I chose the e-mail option was that I find it difficult to find time to spend with "live" help. But we'll see... maybe this will become irritable enough to overcome that objection. <chuckle>

Ron, glad to hear that your incremental backups are significantly smaller with reducing the size of System Protection though these shouldn't be included at all if you have them shown in the exclusions list.

I also tend to use the email option when raising support cases as I find it easier to keep track of what I am dealing with and I haven't needed to spend hours on live chat for any of the issues raised.

I thought patch 5555 may have fixed the "exclusions" from not applying issue since it also related to the fix for file/folder backup selections not being listed when one goes back in to modify a file/fodler backup - may be worth applying to check it out.  

In older versions, a few people had mentioned that some exclusions did not take effect either, and it had been recommended to re-add it manually p and be sure to have the mouse cursor at the end and press enter.  You might also want to remove the existing "exclusion" for 

system volume information

and replace it with

C:\System Volume Information

Then run a backup right after to make sure it's saved in the backup task.

EDIT:  On my backup exclusions, I have both now:

*System Volume Information*

C:\System Volume Information

Bobbo,

Thank you. I will certainly try your suggestions some time today... I hope. If not, soon.

BTW, I have build 5554. How do I update to 5555? Along the same line, I keep getting a PopUp telling me there is a newer version but when I click on the link, it takes me to a Subscription version and a there is a cost. I only purchsed the version I have less than two months ago so have declined to participate. Is this the Build 5555 version?

Ron

RonBoyd wrote:

Bobbo,

Thank you. I will certainly try your suggestions some time today... I hope. If not, soon.

BTW, I have build 5554. How do I update to 5555? Along the same line, I keep getting a PopUp telling me there is a newer version but when I click on the link, it takes me to a Subscription version and a there is a cost. I only purchsed the version I have less than two months ago so have declined to participate. Is this the Build 5555 version?

Ron

Hi Ron,

5555 is a KB article - sorry, I meant to post it above, so here it is now.  https://kb.acronis.com/content/59095  It is just a file to run over the top of 5554 and does not require any subscription.

As for the pop-up for a new version.  Acronis is offering "free" upgrades to the NG release of 2017 for anyone who purchased in the last few months.  I thought that only applied to those who purchased a subscription plan though.  Are you sure you didnt' purchase an annual subscription instead of a perpetual license? You may want to double check your account and/or contact support via chat to be certain.  

Bobbo,

Okay, I am at Build 5555 now. I'll leave things alone and see what happens with tonight's backup before using your suggestions.

<Blush> Time really flies when... It was actually last August when I upgraded from v2015 to v2017. It just feels like a month or so ago. <chuckle> My receipt only says "Acronis True Image 2017 Upgrade - 5 Computers." That doesn't feel like a Subscription.

However, there was, in addition, this:  "Acronis Cloud Storage - 500 GB, 1 year Requires Acronis True Image 2017 (or earlier version of Acronis True Image)" with the note: "You did not activate the automatic renewal for your subscription. If you would like to take advantage of the subscription at a later point in time, you can simply reactivate it yourself".

I kinda ignored this because 1.) I didn't order it and 2.) 500 GB is too small for my purposes not to mention how slow "Cloud" file transfers are. Would this be the "Subscription" thing you (and I) are referrring to?

That meeage may be a note from the 30 day trial that was given when you purchased.  However, when selecting a backup product to purchase or renew the first time, you usually have to specifically pick one of the other - it's possible you picked the wrong initially, but maybe not.

The best way to be sure is to log into your account and check the products that you can download as they should say subscription or perpetual next to them (see screenshot).  

Bobbo,

The receipt I have is slightly different. (Earlier I was looking at the Cleverbridge receipt to which the PDF file is attached (screenshot). I, of course, don't remember what the screen I ordered from looked like. And it could have even originated from a promotional e-mail.

See Screenshot

Ron

Ron, the receipt doesn't show whether you have a perpetual or subscription license but your Acronis Account should show this for you.

Steve,

Yeah, I was going too fast and missed that.. What I have is a 5-Workstation perpetual license. And a 500GB Acronis Cloud Storage license which expires in August this year.

Ron

I'd still recommend checking your account products as well - it should specifically say if it's perpetual or subscription.

sceenshot_subscription_vs_perpetual.png

The online/cloud storage will just go away if you you don't renew it.  30 days after non-renewal, Acronis will delete the cloud storage.  If that's the only place it exists, you want to pull it down before that happens.

The perpetual license will remain good for Acronis and you'll be able to continue using it for your own local backup and/or recovery (local being internal drives, usb drives, or your own network shares).