Advantages/Disadvantages of Images vs. Files and Folders backup

[herojig]

Hi, well I was just doing a backup of my D drive (documents) and thought why am I not using files and folders instead of images...hmmm...I don't need an image there (I don't think), and I don't have any system files that I know about there, so what is the advantage/disadvantage of images vs. files and folders? Coming from v8, it's habit for me to work with images. Could I save time or diskspace by using files and folders backup and exclude sytem files, or is this going to be a problem? thanks in advance for your advice...
jigs

[simusphere]

The big advantage to me is the file exclusion of the data partition. Say you want to back up all your data except those big .iso files. You could then mask all iso files with *.iso and they won't be included into the backup, thus reducing the foot print of your backup file. According to the users manual you should not backup system files or other hidden files with this method in an attempt to backup a whole partition so you could later do a bare metal restore. It may not work.

File backup is just that. Use it to backup the files you have created and don't want to lose. Imaging is for mainly for the whole disk or your system partition only and is great for bare metal restores. That was the whole point in purchasing acronis in the first place IMO.

[herojig]

-{ Quote: "The big advantage to me is the file exclusion of the data partition. Say you want to back up all your data except those big .iso files. You could then mask all iso files with *.iso and they won't be included into the backup, thus reducing the foot print of your backup file. According to the users manual you should not backup system files or other hidden files with this method in an attempt to backup a whole partition so you could later do a bare metal restore. It may not work.

File backup is just that. Use it to backup the files you have created and don't want to lose. Imaging is for mainly for the whole disk or your system partition only and is great for bare metal restores. That was the whole point in purchasing acronis in the first place IMO." }-

thanks simusphere, So, you would not use files/folders option to back up a D:\ drive with all files UNLESS it contained large image files in the first place? I have a drive just for that already, all my DVDs/CDs that I burn frequently are stored on E. I don't back that up at all, as I have the masters locked away.

I guess I don't get the files and folders bit introduced in V9:blink: instead wasting time on that function Acronis should have spent more time on improving performance:)

[simusphere]

No no no, what I am saying is IF for some reason you had some large files or any other files that you didn't want to back up that are currently stored on your data drive, then you could exclude them with a mask (*.tmp, *.iso, *.bak etc....) You could manually move these files you don't want to backup to another partition and exclude them that way but some folks don't have a second drive to move their files to. Thats where file exclusion comes in handy. Usually there is no need to backup system files (data only backup) so acronis gives you a radio button option to automatically exclude them for you assuming your data is on the C drive (one big partition). I ran with one big C drive for a long time until the system partition got too big to manage, then I got smart and repartitioned everything to separate my data from the system disk. You probably already do this. Am I right?

[herojig]

thanks sim, yes i understand all that and i do have OS/programs on one drive and all data on others. I just don't get the purpose of files and folders? what's the advantage? what's the point? thanks!!!

[TheWeaz]

I do all my bill paying via Quicken. After sending off payments and reconciling all my accounts, I want a backup. I do not want to wait until my scheduled full image gets created at 5 AM the next day, nor do I want to spend the time to do a full image manually. So, I’ve set up a manual Files/Folder task for only the Quicken folder.
The same scenario can be used for any number of applications where you just want a quick backup now of a small number of files/folders.

[herojig]

-{ Quote: "I do all my bill paying via Quicken. After sending off payments and reconciling all my accounts, I want a backup. I do not want to wait until my scheduled full image gets created at 5 AM the next day, nor do I want to spend the time to do a full image manually. So, I’ve set up a manual Files/Folder task for only the Quicken folder.
The same scenario can be used for any number of applications where you just want a quick backup now of a small number of files/folders." }-

now we are talkin! so i guess its fast then, depending on the folder/file size. but u don't do an entire disk that way - if u did, is it faster or slower? my d drive image takes up to 9 hours now to backup as image, and that's OVER the overnight limit.
thanks
jigs

[TheWeaz]

"but u don't do an entire disk that way"
No, I do not. I have scheduled tasks that do FULL partition images every morning.

[simusphere]

-{ Quote: "my d drive image takes up to 9 hours now to backup as image, and that's OVER the overnight limit.
thanks
jigs" }-Wow, 9 hrs!!! You must have hundreds of gigabytes of data to backup if it takes that long. I can image my system drive (9.2Gig) in 12.5 minutes.