How can I find out exactly what was backed up?
Hi,
I'm working on a PC where weekly Full backup images are now consistently ~10GB larger then they were a week ago, and Daily incremental backups are now ~7Gb larger then they were a week ago. Btw, I have available to me images going back several weeks for analysis.
Files and data don't seem to be being added, because 3rd party utilities show me that folders are about the same size every day.
Question: How can I tell which folder(s) the changed files are located in?
Unless I'm incorrect, I don't believe that something like
dir * attrib /A:A > changed-files.txt
will work, because Acronis doesn't work at the file level (it works at the block level I believe).
Any ideas will be appreciated.
Regards . . .
To Forum Moderator:
After several more weeks of watching, I can say with 100% certainty, that my 2015-02-05 "I found the problem" thread above is not accurate. When I made that statement, in Windows 8.1's Explorer, I must not have had the backup directory scrolled all the way to the top of that folder. Even though I have changed all my Plans to use Fast Cataloging, Full backup images in Windows 8.1 are still consistently ~10GB larger then they were in Windows 8.0, and Daily incremental backups are still ~7Gb larger then they were in Win8.0 . Sorry for the confusion this may have caused. Please remove the "SOLVED" status from this post. I'm going to take this topic up with Microsoft Support. I'll reply back if I find a reason for the increased full and incremental file sizes.
Below is some data for our study. It's a sample comparison of the Win 8.1 vs 8.0 image sizes.
In the Win 8.1, the ~62GB files are full images. The ~7-~16GB files are daily incrementals.
In the Win 8.0, the ~50GB files are full images. The ~1-~3GB files are daily incrementals.
The Win8.1 numbers represent a significant increase in storage requirements. As Admins, we need to know exactly what the reason for this is.
*** Acronis Backup v11.5 on Windows 8.1 *** :
01/29/2015 05:10 PM 62,128,504,320 Win81-64bit-1stWeek.TIB
01/31/2015 07:28 AM 7,671,274,496 Win81-64bit-1stWeek2.TIB
02/02/2015 05:35 PM 16,293,191,168 Win81-64bit-1stWeek3.TIB
02/03/2015 02:53 PM 7,686,011,392 Win81-64bit-1stWeek4.TIB
02/04/2015 05:33 PM 9,022,857,728 Win81-64bit-1stWeek5.TIB
02/05/2015 04:28 PM 64,140,137,984 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek.TIB
02/07/2015 05:17 PM 10,220,222,464 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek2.TIB
02/08/2015 04:36 PM 9,596,886,016 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek3.TIB
02/09/2015 10:56 PM 7,330,844,160 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek4.TIB
02/10/2015 02:09 PM 6,522,017,280 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek5.TIB
02/11/2015 12:38 PM 8,260,840,448 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek6.TIB
02/11/2015 05:04 PM 11,754,514,944 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek7.TIB
*** Acronis Backup v11.5 on Windows 8.0 *** :
12/11/2014 05:26 PM 50,002,090,496 Win80-64bit-2ndWeek.TIB
12/12/2014 06:21 PM 1,101,545,472 Win80-64bit-2ndWeek2.TIB
12/15/2014 03:32 PM 1,371,386,880 Win80-64bit-2ndWeek3.TIB
12/16/2014 03:25 PM 985,979,392 Win80-64bit-2ndWeek4.TIB
12/17/2014 07:51 PM 995,747,840 Win80-64bit-2ndWeek5.TIB
12/18/2014 03:40 PM 50,154,736,128 Win80-64bit-3rdWeek.TIB
12/19/2014 04:51 PM 1,635,542,016 Win80-64bit-3rdWeek2.TIB
12/22/2014 04:38 PM 1,457,091,584 Win80-64bit-3rdWeek3.TIB
12/26/2014 12:37 PM 50,444,362,240 Win80-64bit-4thWeek.TIB
12/27/2014 04:19 PM 1,582,105,600 Win80-64bit-4thWeek2.TIB
12/29/2014 05:07 PM 3,772,474,880 Win80-64bit-4thWeek3.TIB
12/30/2014 05:13 PM 1,135,854,592 Win80-64bit-4thWeek4.TIB
If anyone else finds the answer first, please make a reply/thread too!
Regards . . .
Hello babab,
thank you for your postings and for sharing your experiences!
Could you please make sure that defragmentation is not enabled on your Windows 8.1 machine?
Thank you.
Hi Anna,
Good point to mention. However, this is Wn8.1 on an SSD, and Win8.0/8.1 does not defrag SSDs, but instead will "optimize" a SSD (ie. TRIM). It interesting to note that like Acronis, TRIM is done at the block level. Here's a discussion on that:
answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/performance/optimize-and-defragment-drive-on-windows-8/8e87d228-24e9-4ce0-9dd3-4388bd6ee835
If there was a TRIM done on a partition, an Acronis incremental image of the partition should then show a size increase immediately after the TRIM. But incremental backups on following days would not continue to should that increased file size (as I have shown that they do continue to show).
I just checked in Win 8's "Optimize Drives form" and early in the day on 3/1, there was a TRIM. The incremental backup later that day was ~20GB. That's over 2 times the normal 7-9GB that incrementals were taking under the Acronis version that I was running at that time (ie. "AcronisBackup_11.5_39029_en-US.exe" that I applied on 1/23/15).
I think that proves that the scheduled TRIMs do create an enlarged incremental backup immediately following a TRIM. But this does not fully explain why my typical incremental backups continued to be enlarged (until I applied the next Acronis Workstation build).
Please read my next 2 threads.
Regards . . .
Unnecessary thread removed.
The following is a copy of the technical discussion I concluded with Microsoft today. I consider this the answer to the problem:
- - - - - -
As we know, the subject of my OP was, "How can I find out exactly what was backed up?". I asked this question because: based on my observations, my Acronis (ie. 3rd party) weekly full backup images and daily incremental backup images had a dramatic increase in file size when I upgraded my Win8.0 Pro to Win8.1 Pro. I wanted to know if there was a supported way to know which files were being changed/added/modified/deleted on a daily basis.
Although I never was able to determine that which files were being changed/added/modified/deleted, I now have the evidence to say that the backup file size increase was not directly related to the upgrade of Win8.0 Pro to Win8.1 Pro. It was caused by some problem with Acronis Workstation 11.5 itself. I know this because as soon as I applied the latest build on 3/5/15 (ie. "AcronisBackup_11.5_43909_en-US.exe"), the image sizes immediately went down to their normal sizes. That means that "problem" full backups that were ~62GB, went back to ~50GB, and "problem" daily incremental backups that were ~7-9GB, went back to ~1-3GB.
Here's a "dir /o-d" (ie. reverse date order) of that backup file folder:
03/19/2015 04:23 PM 2,550 Win81-64bit-3rdWeek.xml
03/19/2015 04:23 PM 49,405,601,280 Win81-64bit-3rdWeek.TIB
03/18/2015 09:35 PM 6,785 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek.xml
03/18/2015 09:35 PM 1,291,102,208 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek5.TIB
03/16/2015 05:27 PM 855,671,296 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek4.TIB
03/15/2015 06:35 PM 801,798,656 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek3.TIB
03/13/2015 06:46 PM 766,245,888 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek2.TIB
03/12/2015 05:24 PM 49,336,045,568 Win81-64bit-2ndWeek.TIB
03/11/2015 06:13 PM 7,843 Win81-64bit-1stWeek.xml
03/11/2015 06:13 PM 754,349,056 Win81-64bit-1stWeek6.TIB
03/11/2015 10:22 AM 3,236,947,456 Win81-64bit-1stWeek5.TIB
03/08/2015 04:29 PM 2,333,816,320 Win81-64bit-1stWeek4.TIB
03/07/2015 05:33 PM 637,977,088 Win81-64bit-1stWeek3.TIB
03/06/2015 06:38 PM 627,190,784 Win81-64bit-1stWeek2.TIB
03/05/2015 06:24 PM 52,079,117,824 Win81-64bit-1stWeek.TIB
03/04/2015 06:58 PM 7,862 Win81-64bit-5thWeek.xml
03/04/2015 06:58 PM 794,636,800 Win81-64bit-5thWeek6.TIB
03/03/2015 09:26 PM 2,647,915,008 Win81-64bit-5thWeek5.TIB
03/02/2015 07:18 PM 702,248,448 Win81-64bit-5thWeek4.TIB
03/01/2015 05:05 PM 20,411,226,112 Win81-64bit-5thWeek3.TIB
02/27/2015 06:32 PM 7,085,183,488 Win81-64bit-5thWeek2.TIB
02/26/2015 06:25 PM 62,560,491,520 Win81-64bit-5thWeek.TIB
02/23/2015 06:21 PM 4,673 Win81-64bit-4thWeek.xml
02/23/2015 06:21 PM 8,852,740,608 Win81-64bit-4thWeek3.TIB
02/21/2015 04:43 PM 8,993,412,096 Win81-64bit-4thWeek2.TIB
02/20/2015 06:33 PM 62,887,945,216 Win81-64bit-4thWeek.TIB
The Fix: During the day on 3/5 I applied "11.5_43909" build. We can see that the 3/5 (and subsequent) full backups are back down to their normal file sizes of ~50GB. Likewise, the daily incremental backups are also back down to ~1-3GB.
<The 20GB incremental on 3/1 was the result of a scheduled TRIM performed earlier in the day.>
In retrospect, the backup file size increases were not directly due to the upgrade of Win8.0 to Win8.1 on 1/23/15, but rather the application of "AcronisBackup_11.5_39029_en-US.exe" also on 1/23/15. It is now apparent that Acronis corrected the file size increase behavior with the release of their "11.5_43909" build that I applied on 3/5. I find it interesting that I can find no mention of this "fix" in any Acronis documentation.
- - - - - - -
Acronis, I consider this issue resolved. That said, I'm open to further discussion as to exactly why the 43909 build corrected the enlarged file size problem.
Regards . . .