Increasing backup size

I have a scheduled backup set for my C: and D: partitions. I have been noticing a trend that the incremental backup size is getting larger each time. I scheduled backups for C: once/wk and D: 2x/wk.

Here's the data:
Initial C: backup 17,132,360 KB; incremental 1: 873,059 KB; incremental 2: 1,556,224 KB
Initial D: backup 30,935,384 KB; incremental 1: 121,054 KB; incremental 2: 493,958 KB; incremental 3: 662,215 KB; incremental 4: 892,554 KB

Is this happening to everyone, and should it? I thought the incremental backup is just supposed to contain the changes since the last backup. I haven't been doing anything to explain such massive changes.

I am using TI8. I started with trial version 771, then download version 763 then udate 771, then 773, the most recent pre-release. Hardware: ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard with SiI 3112a SATA RAID controller with 2 SATA drives in RAID-0 configuration, in turn partitioned into C: and D: partitions. Backup on USB2 hard drive.

 

They might do an increment related to an initial full backup, not
to a 'last state'. As I understand backup files are in some proprietary
format and you can't fetch any useful info. However if I were you,
I'd try to restore from a _last_ backup to some fake destination. If
the procedure won't ask you for a incremental #1 (850MB big) -
then I'm right. If it will - well, at least you'll check that you can
not only to backup your data (no big deal), but to do a restore if
you should need one. Which in my opinion is much more important

 

I did some experimenting and found: each incremental backup is the difference between the original backup and the state at the time of the incremental backup. You can delete all incremental backups other than the one you want to restore and it will work. You just lose the images that you delete (although they will still be listed in the menu of image dates). This is significant in that over time, I will probably delete some of the incremental backups to save space. The other point is that after a while, the incremental backups will become so large that you would need to restart with a full image in order to save space. Personally, I would rather just have a bunch of small backups that track the changes since the last backup, or at least have the option of either method. I am guessing that the current method is much quicker though.

 

Hi

I'm still curious why the incremental backup is so enormous. Could it be that your defragging program has moved the location of many files or parts of files, so that the partition of which you are making an image is very different as True Image sees it, even if it doesn't have new information on it?

Good luck, Dan Schaffer

 

I have the same problem, my initial backup image is 24GB, then:
1. incermental 800MB
2. 1200MB
3. 1500MB
which I consider mormal because of the changes, and then
4. incr. 24GB, almost as initial
but there are not so much changes on my drive

 

I am using a defragmenter (Diskeeper Professional) on a daily schedule. I suspect that you're correct in that it contributes to larger incrementals. No free lunch. Smaller backups vs faster system, but not both.

Did you do a large defragmentation between the 1500 MB and 24 GB incrementals? That would nail down defragmentation as the major contributor to large incrementals.

 

yes, I defragmented drive just before last incermental backup!....Z

 

Hmm. Perhaps a benefit of a backup on device level... Defrag must not
change a content of your file - but it definitely might put it into different
place on a hard drive... Well, I believe it works as designed. Though
it could have been designed a little bit better

 

Hi,

That's the description of a differential backup.

An incremental backup contains the differences to the last full or incremental backup. To restore your system you need the full backup and *all* incremental backups.

Pit

 

Also check out this post by Andrew our Acronis Support Moderator.

Regards

 

Why not "explore" the images and see where the difference lies?