Size of backup not equal to backed up data.

Hi, I have Vista on my RAID0 drive. The size of the partition is 52 GB, free space 30 GB, so the OS takes 22 GB. However, a full backup with TI 10 Home is 37 GB. Why is that? The level of compression used is Normal, so I guess the size of the backup should be somewhere around 60 % of the original data.

 

Are you backing up the entire drive? Are there any hidden partitions on the drive put there by the manufacturer of your computer.

Many OEMs put one or more recovery partitions on a hard drive with an image of the system as delivered. This is an uncomprerssable file since it is already compressed and may add many GB to the size of the backup.

 

Hello Egoiste,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Could you please describe the actions taken to create image archive step-by-step? Also as Jonh asked, please clarify if you are creating the image of the entire drive or system partition only and where do you store the image archive (local or external drive etc)?

If it is possible please post a screen shot of Windows Disk Management by following Start -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Disk Management. Or create Acronis Report as it is described in Acronis Help Post. This would provide us with detailed information on the hard disk partition structure. Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to your request along the link to this thread. We will investigate the issue and try to provide you with a solution.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

Hello again,

the RAID0 consist of 2 equal drives. There are 2 partitions on this RAID - system and another one used for virtual machines. There are no other partitions as I have created this configuration by myself. The backup image is placed on another standalone disc with only one primary partition.

I have included a screenshot of my disc configuration. As you can see from the image, the C: partition has 22 GB of occupied space, while the D: partition which contains just one file (full backup of C: created an hour ago), has 36 GB of occupied space.

The steps to create the backup are as follows: First I have created a backup location, set its limit to 50 GB and max. of 5 backups. Then I created a task involving differential backup of C: with creating a new full backup after 3 differential backups. I have chosen the backup location created above. The compression level is Normal.

Previously, when I did not have the system partition on RAID disc, everything was OK, so I guess this is somehow related to RAID.

Hope this helps.

Miro

 

Depending on the types of files, compression can increase the size.

Try GetFileTypeDistribution to see what kind of files you have.

 

I do not think this is the problem of file types. I am backing up a regular system partition that does not contain any "junk" files. So far, every back up software (e.g. Norton Ghost), including Acronis TI, decreased the size of the image in comparison to original data.

 

Its called "Compression". The files are compressed when the image is created to reduce the overall size.

 

And? I know that. Are you saying that the compression is the reason why the backup image is bigger than the original data? I do not think so.

 

Again, you need to run the GetFileTypeDistribution program.

 

What kind of files can I have when I am backing up a regular OS partition? How would a list of files created with your program help me in determining the cause? The backup contains regular files contained in a Windows distribution. Previously when the OS was not installed on RAID I backed it up with about 60% compression (using the same build of TI). Now I am trying to backup exactly the same data, the only difference is the RAID.

 

You can out any files you want on a drive that has OS drives.

For example, create a directory called, say, MyFiles, and put any files and directories you wish under that directory.

I do this on 2 of my 4 OS partitions to take advantage of unused space on the drives.

Running the GetFileTypeDistribution program will let you know how, and what percentage, of the bytes on a partition are used by each file type.

You may find that you have a significant number of bytes in files that do not compress well, if at all. And depending on the files, some may even grow in size when compressed. DEpends on what's in your files and the compression algorithms used by TI.

 

On the screen shot I see not partition C: , there is no drive letter near Vista partition.

If you select to back up entire disk1 (checked "disk 1" in ATI) then the imaged data is about 41 Gb, thus, image archive of 36 Gb seems normal to me.

 

My Two Cents,

My C drive is about 70GB from properties, using about 21GB, it's a DELL machine SO hidden partitions are there (I back everything up nightly ALL partitions), I use normal compression & my back-ups are around 18-19GB. I'm using Acronis TI 10 build 4942. Window's XP PRO SP2+ all updates...Weird for back-ups to be LARGER than the original ALTHOUGH on a mainframe computer, using a compression routine on a Database CAN sometimes (Very Very RARE) cause a DB to become larger in size & as someone pointed out here, IT is very data dependant!!

Hope that Helps,
Steve

 

I think Kento may be onto the problem.

The Vista boot drive doesn't have a drive letter. My guess is that you are selecting Drive D instead although TI would call it C. It has a 36GB image that won't compress, so you get another 36GB image.

You can test this by mounting the image and looking at the contents.

Why doesn't your Vista partition show a drive letter?

 

Hello Egoiste,

Please notice that it's highly possible that _Kento_ is correct. Please try assigning a letter to the partition and backing up again.

If the issue persists, please create Acronis Report as it is described in Acronis Help Post. Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to 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 a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

The screenshot was taken by Aconis Disk Director. I have no idea why it does not see the letter. If you take a look at my partitions under MMC, the VISTA partition has letter C:

I also mounted the image that was created, it contained only files from VISTA partition, nothing else. I am pretty sure that I have selected the correct partition in TI. If I chose any other partiton, the resulting image could not contain VISTA files, because all the other partitions I have contain completely different files.

 

Then may be this is the way Acronis Software (both True Image & Disk Director) works with your RAID array under Windows. It is worth trying to use Bootable CD of Acronis True Image to create the image archive of only partition C and check its size.

 

Yes, that is a good idea, I will give it a try, thanks.

 

Hello Egoiste,

Please make sure you use the latest build (4942) of Acronis True Image 10.0 Home. To get access to updates you should first register your software.

If updating doesn't solve the problem, please download the latest version of Acronis drivers, unpack the archive and install unpacked MSI package.

If the issue persists, please collect some information to let us investigate it thoroughly:

Please create Acronis Report and Windows System Information as it is described in Acronis Help Post.

Please also collect the application log of the operation:
- run the program;
- select Show log on the toolbar or from the Tools menu;
- select the corresponding log;
- click "Save the log entry to file" (the diskette icon).

Then submit a request for technical support. Attach all the collected files and information to 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 a solution.

Thank you.
--
Marat Setdikov

 

Due to lack of time I currently have I have switched to Norton Ghost, although it does not provide as many options as TI. However it backs up without any problems and that is a priority for me.

Please, consider this thread closed.

Thanks for your coop.