Differential backups are too big
Hi, I'm doing manual differential backup of my personal data HD on monthly basis, via LAN-attached HD (latest build on 7 x64). Being a personal data HD, its content isn't updated often, sometimes I add some documents, sometimes a couple of .avi or .flac files. Anyway I don't add more than 1 or 2GB of data. However, every differential backup is REALLY huge, and that means that the LAN backup HD gets filled in a few months. This is the last differential backup I made today:
16GB in the last 30/40 days! That's totally nonsense, I only store personal data in this HD.
I tried doing a consolidation, but with 3 diff backups only I can read "9 days 10 hours remaining" to perform the operation, so I don't think it's a smart way to fix the issue.
Any hints?
Thanks in advance
Hello.
the HD hasn't never been defragmented in the last year.
If every differential backup copies EVERYTHING changed from the last FULL backup, couldn't I just manually delete the older differential backups made BEFORE the last one and AFTER the last FULL backup?
ty
In theory yes. You should be able to delete intermediary differential backups and keep only the full image and the last differential. There are some issues with the current build of ATI 2011 (6597) where, if you do this, you won't be able to validate your chain of backup.
You could instruct ATI to do some auto cleanup either by consolidating the intermediary images into the original full backup (A) or just keep only a limited number of differentials before doing a new full backup (B). I would prefer B for my system backup, but it is your choice:
A (2011): choose custom scheme, differential, always do differentials after first backup, turn on autoconsolidation, keep only x differentials.
B( 2011): choose custom scheme, differential, do a full backup after every X differentials. Turn on autocleanup, choose how you want to constrain the size of your backup.
Thanks for your help.
Consolidtaion unfortunately isn't an option here, because it would require about 9 days.
I'll stick with B until they fix the bug you mentioned above (unbelievable...).
Inc & Diff backups record any change in disk position. If you move files from one place to another; or if Win7 is set to autodrag (which I believe is default value); as well as the registry changes recorded in the registry restore checkpoints.
Why not mount the backup and look at some of its content.
If you want more control over what and when is kept, consider using Chain2Gen (C2G) which is a free helper program for TrueImage. C2G written by forum contributor OracleDBA.
TrueImage Home does the backups and the scheduling. C2G helps you to retain your chosen number of backups and helps you to make sure that a full backup is taken when you want a full backup to be done. Only TrueImage can control the size of the backup but C2G can help you to retain your chosen number of backups. My signature link below contains more information.
Hello.
the HD hasn't never been defragmented in the last year.
If every differential backup copies EVERYTHING changed from the last FULL backup, couldn't I just manually delete the older differential backups made BEFORE the last one and AFTER the last FULL backup?ty
Vista and Win7 do defragmentation automaticly by a planed taskt once a week. This is the default behaviour of that OS'es. You can find that entry in the task planing manager of win 7. If you want prevent Win7 form doing defrags automaticly, you must disable that planning task.
Hello,
sure, disabling the automatic defrag. on ALL the drives was the first thing I did after installing Win 7.
@GroverH
Thanks, I'll take a look at that software.
Why is a change in disk position used to determine if a file has changed? It does not really make any sense to me. I think all the other backup systems I have seen use the backup/change etc bits associated with a file. If I understand correctly, and that could easily be untrue with this program, I am backing up files; not physical sectors. I can see a defrag affecting a sector image; but why files.
Harold,
The change in disk position will affect sector-based backups like the "disk and partition backup" of Acronis. It doesn't affect the "file backup". You are correct.
Aaah. So partition backup is a sector backup. Boy I did not get that.
So,assuming only one partition/disk there is no difference between disk and partition backup. But if I use file backup, I can't get a bare metal restore?
Harold,
There is another user who asked the same question: can you do bare metal restore with an Acronis file backup. I didn't try. I am pretty sure it will not work, because some system files will probably be not backed up. This conclusion is based on my experience with other file backup software. They rely on extra steps to pick up the complete system state, and I am pretty sure these steps are not in the default file backup of Acronis. Also, they didn't work for me when I had to rebuild a disk from scratch (including partitions). For a single partition drive, they seem to be OK.
This is why I am a user of Acronis: have full disk images to be able to do a bare metal restore with more flexibility than the standard Win 7 imaging software.
In addition, I recommend you do a full disk image (all your partitions). If you have data and system in the same partition, consider creating a separate partition for your content, and a smaller partition/disk for you system. This way, your backups will remain small and fast for your system.
In theory yes. You should be able to delete intermediary differential backups and keep only the full image and the last differential. There are some issues with the current build of ATI 2011 (6597) where, if you do this, you won't be able to validate your chain of backup.
Does anybody know if the latest 6696 build fixed the issue?
Does a failed validation imply that the backup is corrupted?
By the way I'll take a look at Karen's replicator too, because my content is not changing much, so maybe a sync sw is the best option.