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Drive image file size

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I have only 200gb on my C: drive. Why does ATIH 2012 require 550 gb to create an image file without including unallocated space?

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use your bootable media CD and simulate the beginning part of a restore.

After booting to the main menu of CD and select recover,

True Image will illustrate what was included in the backup and how much space is involved.
Maybe you can see something there that would indicates something amiss as to what is included in the backup.
click cancel after your observation.

If backup sector to sector was checked for the backup, the backup will be the same size as the actual disk.
If sector by sector backup was unchecked, you can expect the backup size to be about 70% of used space.

If the disk has bad sectors, backup size will be larger than normal and will need a check for errors to be performed.

Thanks for the reply. I ran chkdsk /r and chkdsk /f last evening and no problems or errors were detected. When I ran my backup today without sector by sector checked the backup was about 120gb. If I check sector by sector backup the estimate is 550gb. Yet there is only 200gb used on the entire hard drive.
I will attempt to try a backup from my bootable cd disc and see what space is required for sector by sector backup. I will keep you updated. Again, thanks for the advice.

I restarted my computer with my Acronis TIH2012 bootable disc. I began to adjust backup settings only to see that Acronis changed my backup drive letter from "G" in Windows to "F" when using the disc. So rather than create further problems I just cancelled the process. Can anyone explain why Acronis is changing my backup drive letter when using the bootable disc?

prjdmd wrote:
If I check sector by sector backup the estimate is 550gb. Yet there is only 200gb used on the entire hard drive.

1. Right, because sector by sector backup copies all sectors of the drive, whether occupied by data or not. You're not understanding what Grover said: sector by sector backup copies the entire disk, not just used space. You are needlessly copying even blank sectors (likely not blank, as may contain deleted files, but it's unused space).

2. 120 GB from 220 GB of used space seems about right. It varies depending upon what compression level you choose, and the nature of what's being backed up. Some file types are more compressable than others. Word processing documents and text files are highly compressable, while MP3s and other already-compressed video or audio are not.

3. Don't use sector by sector backup. You don't need it.

prjdmd wrote:

I restarted my computer with my Acronis TIH2012 bootable disc. I began to adjust backup settings only to see that Acronis changed my backup drive letter from "G" in Windows to "F" when using the disc. So rather than create further problems I just cancelled the process. Can anyone explain why Acronis is changing my backup drive letter when using the bootable disc?

Acronis True Image did not change your drive letters. They change because Linux (ATI bootable recovery disk is Linux-based) enumerates drives differently than does Windows. That's why it's important to add a unique name to each of your drives, so you can identify them without relying on drive letters. This is covered in various guides, which are listed in the left column of this forum.

Thanks to everyone for helping me understand the backup process. I will continue to have Acronis TIH 2012 perform a full backup without the sector-by-sector process. Hopefully I won't need the backups but it is nice to know that every week a new one will be created.

prjdmd wrote:
it is nice to know that every week a new one will be created.

Absolutely. It has helped me save friends' data after disasters, many times.

prjdmd,
Too many people wait until there is a data crisis before they ever attempt to make a restore. Often times, they have waited too long and find they have issues. Don't be one of those people.

It is best to do some test restores even to a test disk. I don't know your situation but if you have not done any restores, at the very least do some file restores to a new folder as per this link, item #5.

http://forum.acronis.com/forum/29618

Thanks again to all who provided great info. I will follow the advice given and be sure my backups are working properly and are current.