Incremental Backups Not Incremental :-S

Hi!

I have my music collection stored as FLACs on a Windows 2003 Server called ICE. I have set up a job to Incrementally backup as a file backup:

\\ICE\Data\FLACs\

to my eSATA drive on my workstation (SNOW).

However the incremental backups contain everything! What on earth is going on?

I am using ATI 9 Home Build 3677,

I'd really appreciate some help sorting this.

Thanks,
Fairy

 

is there anybody out there?

 

“Incrementally backup as a file backup:”
So in the “Select Backup Type” window, you are selecting “Files and folders”, correct?
All I can say is that if you run an INC backup and give the backup file a name of BACKUP, if there is no FULL backup file with that name (BACKUP) in the target folder, TI will create a FULL instead of an INC.

 

Yes
and
My problem is that subsequent backups of this type are not incremental :-( but are full too.

 

Have you been defragmenting that drive in between these incremental backups ?

 

No I haven't. I think the problem is to do with the files being on a network share (on ICE) and true image running locally (on SNOW). Does the SMB share allow whatever "file change checking" system that ATI uses to work?

Fairy

 

Hello Fairy,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

We are very sorry for the delay with the response.

Please be aware that Acronis True Image 9.0 Home allows creation of file-based backups of files and folders located on network shares. However, the approach used for backing up such files\folders is a little bit different from the one used to backup files\folders located on a local hard drive, i.e. hard drive connected directly to the computer where Acronis True Image 9.0 Home is running. That's why there is no way to backup files and folders that are currently in use by any other applications without receiving the corresponding error messages. Please see my reply in this previous thread for further details.

Whatever the case, the above seems to have no relation to the issue you experience. I'm not sure how exactly you have found out that Acronis True Image 9.0 Home creates full backups instead of incremental ones. However, there are two possible ways to figure this out:

1. When you try to restore your file-based backup you see all files independently of which volume of the backup archive you have selected for restoration.

If that's the case, please note that Acronis True Image 9.0 Home considers the initial full backup along with all subsequently created incrementals\differentials the entire backup archive (all volumes should reside in the same folder).

When you restore a multivolume backup archive, Acronis True Image 9.0 Home suggests you several restore points according to the dates when the initial full backup and consequent incrementals\differentials were created.

Please see my replies in these previous threads for more details: All of the Images, What copy do I build on??.

I'd also like to provide the example for better understanding:

First, you create a file-based backup of a folder containing file "A".

Then you create a subsequent incremental backup and the backed up folder now contains files "A" and "B".

When you restore the resulting set of backups (full plus one incremental), Acronis True Image 9.0 Home will suggest you two restore points: the first one corresponds to the full backup, the second one corresponds to the initial full plus incremental backup. Thus if you select the first restore point you will see only file "A". In case you select the second one you will see both files "A" and "B" and will be able to restore any of them.

Please read Acronis True Image 9.0 Home User's Guide for further information on how to create\restore incremental and differential backups.

We also recommend that you take a look at Acronis True Image 9.0 Home FAQ page, Acronis Public Knowledge Base and this article providing the illustrated instructions on Acronis True Image 9.0 Home installation and usage.

2. The other option is that the size of the resulting incremental\differential backups is too large.

If that's the case, please check each partition of the source hard drive, i.e. hard drive that holds backed up files and folders, by Windows utility: use Windows menu Start\Run, then enter the command "chkdsk c: /r" "chkdsk d: /r" for every partition of your hard drive. Note that you will need to reboot your computer in order to scan the system partition.

Please also download the latest version of Acronis drivers, install it with disabled logging (on the machine where Acronis True Image 9.0 Home is running) and see if the problem still persists.

If the problem still persists after checking the hard drive and updating the drivers, please provide us with the following information:

- Create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post for the computer where backup up files and folders are located;

- Let us know the exact size of the data that you back up;

- What is the size of the initial full backup?

- What is the size of the consequent incremental backups?

- How exactly did you find out that "incremental backups contain everything"?

Then please submit a request for technical support. Provide the files and information collected in your request 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.

Thank you.
--
Alexey Popov