back-up after

Hi , when I defrag the 'C' partition of Windows XP , either by means of 'windows' defragmenter or 'Perfect disk 7' defragmenter , the computer runs fine , but when I want to back-up the entire hard disk (160Go) to an external disk drive , it takes hours and I must stop it.Before , I made a lot of back-ups (about every 15 days) in order to have a system very recent in case of any bug or crash.
I had noticed before that every time I made a defrag , the back-up time increased (1h20mn then 1h30mn and recently 2hours) and that the resulting file size increased too (20Go then 25Go and recently 31Go).
I don't understand why and , now I wonder whether if it should be possible to use the 'clone' option to copy the entire disk to the entire external dd (which has the same capacity as the internal dd: 160Go) and later when needed , to make a 'clone' from the external dd to the computer dd if I want to restore the computer dd with good data.
Is this option possible and otherwise which other solution should it be possible?
I thank anybody for any suggestion,
emile curate
<snip>



email removed to prevent harvesting and subsequent possible spam - it is a better idea to use private messages to give email addresses - Detox

 

Hi, emile curate

Did you reboot after the defrag, also try using the BootCD to create the Image, either or both might help.

Take Care,
TheQuest

PS: Just reread your post missed this bit.

It is normal, please do a search of the incremental backups.

 

Hi , I always reboot the system each time I want to make a back-up and I always use the Acronis True Image bootable cd for back-ups and restores because I've had problems when using the 'online mode' (very often the image was corrupted when checked !!).So , I use the 'online mode' (double- click on True Image icon) only for checking the image after an 'offline' back-up (with the cd).
What about the 'clone' solution?
Many thanks, emile curate
emile.curate@tiscali.fr

 

Hi Emile... Every time you defrag your HD, sectors are changed on your drive. Since TI creates images by recording sectors, any change in these sectors will cause TI to change the image. For this reason you would be well advised to limit the defrags of your HD as much as possible.

 

Hi, emile curate

I can not say, as I have never cloned to an external HDD, I have cloned many time to Removable HDD without problems.

Are they incremental backup Images that you are creating.

Take Care,
TheQuest

 

Hello emile curate,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please make sure that you use the latest build (937) of Acronis True Image 8.0 which is available at: http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/support/updates/

To get access to updates you should create an account at:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/my/
then log in and use your serial number to register your software.

Please create new Bootable Rescue CD after installing the update.

I assume that you are creating an incremental images. If that's the case then please be aware that an incremental image created after a disk is defragmented might be considerably larger than usual. This is because the defragmentation program changes file locations on disk and incremental images reflect these changes.

If that's not the case and you are trying to create the full images and both the creation time and the size of these images are increasing for some reasons then please create Acronis Report and Linux system information (sysinfo.txt) as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

Please also do the following:

- Launch Acronis Report Utility once again and select the "Create Bootable Floppy" option;
- Insert a blank floppy disk in the A: drive and proceed
with creation of the bootable floppy;
- Boot the computer from this diskette and wait for
report creation process to finish;
- Collect the report file from the floppy;
- Rename the report created from under Windows to report_win.txt and report created using the bootabale floppy to report_diskette.txt.

Send all the collected files to support@acronis.com along with the step-by-step description of the actions taken before the problem appears and the link to this thread. We will investigate the problem and try to provide you with the solution.

As for the Disk Cloning option, I can say that Disk Clone approach is usually used to upgrade the hard drive, while Create Image approach is basically dedicated for the complete data backup and disaster recovery purposes. Therefore I would recommend you to create an image rather then clone your hard drive, since it will be much more convenient. However the final choice is always up to you.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov

 

Hi,
I always use full back-ups with the bootable cd.
However, I've found where the problem is:
I had too many points of restoration (10) and I've used the disk cleaning with the option 'erase restoration' and , now , the 'C' partition has come from 29.6Gigabyte to 17.7Gigabyte (about 12Gigabyte saved!!!).
I also set the amount of storage for restoration to 1% (1.5Gigabyte) instead of 14% (14Gigabyte) , then made a defrag by means of 'PerfectDisk 7.0' and , finally , a full back-up to the external disk drive.
Now , it takes only 1h20mn instead of 2h00 before and the resulting file is 21Gigabyte instead of 31 before !!!
Now , I know that before a full back-up , I have to 'erase' the memory affected to the restoration and , then create a new one.
I thank you for your help , emile

 

Hello emile,

I'm glad that you have found the answer.

If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov