Differential partition est size same as full partition backup

Discussion in 'Paragon Drive Backup Product Line' started by arielauthentic, Nov 30, 2011.

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  1. arielauthentic

    arielauthentic Registered Member

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    I've just completed a full partition copy. It took 20 hours for 470GB (don't know why, because CloneZilla does it in 4H, and I turned compression off, but whatever).

    Now I'm trying to do a differential backup of the same partition and the Wizard says the differential will be the SAME SIZE as the original partition copy? Why? I thought differentials are only supposed to only track changes? :(

    Attached are images of the folder properties showing the size of the full backup, and the Differential Backup dialog showing its estimated size to create the differential (which is pretty much the same size as the original full backup).

    I'm confused.
     

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  2. cincinnatijack

    cincinnatijack Registered Member

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    The differential file size is determent during the actual backup, the initial size is the actual date adjusted to the selected compression, that is need in case that the actual differential archive is completely different from the original and require a complete archive.
     
  3. arielauthentic

    arielauthentic Registered Member

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    Ooooh! Good to know! I'm going to ignore the size warning and try it then. Thank you!
     
  4. arielauthentic

    arielauthentic Registered Member

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    Ok, so 14 hours later the differential is still generating with an est time to completion of another 8. This makes it as long/painful as doing a FULL partition backup. The differential backup size is about 8GB so far. It should be 80GB or something because before launching this differential I converted 1,700 Apple Lossless audio files into Windows Media Lossless. I guess it has yet to reach those changes?

    On another note...

    What's the point of doing a differential if it it takes 20 hours to generate when a FULL backup ALSO takes 20 hours for 500GB? This is so silly! How does anyone do daily backups/syncs on a Windows platform?

    I come from Mac-world where a full 1TB bootable drive image can be created in 6 hours, and "only what's changed" backups running every day take 20 minutes (using apps like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper! or rsync). What is it about NTFS/Windows setups (or Paragon software?) that makes backing up so painful/ridiculous slow?

    I'm beginning to wonder if I should exclude /Users/* data from full backups to be able to restore Windows and make it bootable, but use file synchronization for /Users/. I wonder if that is faster? It just doesn't make sense to consume 20H to store a differential with 3 new Word documents and a few dozen music downloads along with some game save data when in that same time I can make a who new backup of the partition.
     
  5. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    There is something wrong your setup/Paragon. As a very rough estimate, an image should take about 1 minute or less per GB of normally compressed archive when running in Windows. Using the bootable Linux recovery media to do it may take 2-3 times longer depending on how well the driver complement matches your hardware.

    I think Paragon is the same as many other imaging programs regarding defragging the disk/partition. It will see any movement of a files sector location as a change even though the file contents have not changed. Be aware of this. Auto-defrag programs or running a manual defrag after the full base image has been done would result in a larger than expected differential.

    I only use imaging programs for my C drive containg the OS and apps. For my data files I use SyncBack (there are lots of others) since I prefer to keep the backups in their native file and folder format.
     
  6. arielauthentic

    arielauthentic Registered Member

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    Crummy. I installed Paragon Backup, clicked on Smart Backup, chose C: as the source, an empty external USB drive as the destination, and started it. I can't imagine the app is failing to run its codebase properly --just for me--. Is it maybe going so slow because I'm using an external USB drive that spins at 5,400RPM?

    Maybe I'll set my system up like you with the OS/Apps separate from the user data. I'd feel more comfortable having my data in their native files/format too. Is your computer's internal drive partitioned into two for OS on one and data on another, or are you setup differently with extra drives?
     
  7. seekforever

    seekforever Registered Member

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    Hmmm, I may have mis-spoke a bit on the backup times considering you are using a USB2 external rather than an internal. USB2 has a theoretical transfer rate of 480Mbps which is about 1/3 of a SATA 1 drive. The theoretical is just that and is not achieved in practice but you should still should not be taking anywhere near 20 hours. I don't think the 5400 RPM is much of a factor since the drive is running through USB.

    Try plugging the external directly into a rear USB if you aren't. It could be the drive is switching to USB 1 and that is 40X slower. The longer cable run needed to get to the front connector can upset things in some cases. Hubs are sometimes a problem as well.

    If I were saving my important data files on one machine I definitely would have a separate partition for C and another 1 or 2 for the data files. In reality my files are kept on a separate networked PC in a separate partition and the SyncBack program runs on it every evening to create the backup.

    My "method" of partitioning is:
    1. OS and apps
    2. Data
    3. Installed large games and anything else that rarely changes. The games are installed from C as normal but the Program Files folder for them is stored in partition 3. These files hardly ever change so there is no need to keep backing them up. Also, you have the installation DVDs so if the drive fails you still have the original media.


    I don't worry about backing up C all that frequently like some people do. In reality it doesn't change that much and if I install a major program or a lot of updates then I try to make another image. I try to make an image before testing new software though in case it screws things up.

    My imaging and datafiles are backed up to a second internal HD for convenience and speed. Every now and then I copy them to an external for extra security.

    The files that you must pay the most attention to preserving are the files you created yourself such as photos, spreadsheets, whatever that are available nowhere else at any price. You can always reinstall Windows etc if you have to.
     
  8. arielauthentic

    arielauthentic Registered Member

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    Ok, I understand now. I have a 2009 iMac so I can't add internal drives, but all my external drives are directly plugged into the back of the iMac. None of them would ever end up with a USB 1 connection. I have 3 other 7,200RPM drives. Maybe I'll use the little drive for something else, leverage the faster drives and see if anything improves.

    I'm really liking your strategy of separating OS and data. I used to do that when I had an Amiga in the early 90s, but I guess once I went Mac in 2000 I started getting lazy/simple.
     
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