Image Sizing

Im using TI7 (611) on WinXP Pro.
Ive not fully used TI yet but have been doing some testing with it. A problem i came across was when doing a full back-up it it came to just under 1600MB which is what it estimated (split into 700MB files)
So what i decided to do was delete the back-up (& empty recycle bin) then do another back-up but spliting into 800MB files so i could burn onto 2 cd-r.
However for some reason unknown to me the back-up image was 2300MB What the heck is going on!!
Can anybody shed any light on this problem please...

 

Hello --

Thank you for taking the time to contact us and for your interest in Acronis
True Image (http://www.acronis.com/products/trueimage/)!

Actually, the estimated size can differ from the real one, as it depends on the type of data you are going to image.

Thank you.

--
Best regards,
Anton Gromov

Acronis, Inc.
395 Oyster Point Blvd. Suite 213
South San Francisco
CA 94080 USA
http://www.acronis.com/

Acronis... Compute with confidence

 

well the backup image the 1st time was around 1600MB all i did was delete that image, empty the recycle bin then make a fresh backup only this time splitting it into 800MB files so i could fit it on 2 cd-r but the backup image came out at around 2300MB.
Yet i hadn't changed anything on the pc from before the first image was made.
There definately seems to be a bug somewhere as both times TI estimated a file size of 1600MB which was correct the first time but way out the second time.

 

Hello --

Please ensure that you didn't change the compression ratio etc.

If you didn't then please, can you attach the ti.log of both imaging processes and also please download Acronis Report utility available at http://www.acronis.com/files/support/AcronisReport.exe and run it, create a report and attach it as well? This would provide us with information on the hard disk partition structure.

Thank you.

--
Best regards,
Anton Gromov

Acronis, Inc.
395 Oyster Point Blvd., Suite 213
South San Francisco, CA 94080 USA
http://www.acronis.com/

Acronis support department
e-mail: support@acronis.com

 

Actually, djcsurf, I suspect TI 7 is doing its job. When you deleted the original image file(s) stored on the HDD was marked "Deleted" in the FAT tables, however the data that makes up the image file(s) remained on the drive. TI7 is a program that makes a bit image of the HDD including any deleted file data it finds. There is virtually nothing you can do that will reduce that image size now.

That's also why defragging a drive before doing incremental images is a bad idea. Same data in different place on drive is a different image to TI7 and it will dutifully image all the changes in the incremental image which will now include virtually the entire drive. (again)

I said "virtually nothing" before. I believe if you D/L a utility like "Eraser" an use it to write all 1's or zero's (or any highly compressible data) over your deleted filespace, TI7 will compress that data during it's imaging process and produce a much smaller image file. That should be the case for either full images or incremental ones.

Before performing a full image (presuming you have an existing one, of course, in case of problems) I suggest:

1) If you have enough RAM use msconfig to turn off your paging file and reboot.

2) Delete IE cache, lose any other junk files like scandisk *.chk files, temp files and the like

4) Empty recycle bin

5) Run a defragger (PerfectDisk is my favorite)

6) Run Eraser to zero the deleted filespace

7) Run TI7

8 ) Turn on paging file (Very Important)

9) Reboot.

Hope this helps. I use TI7 and love it.

 

Norton Ghost 2003 allows you to break an EXISTING image file into two or more image files of a size that you specify. I found this to be a useful feature, and I wish Acronis would add this ability to TrueImage.

BTW, I normally break the image file into parts when I'm going through the wizard prior to creating the image. But, sometimes I get carried away clicking through all the screens and forget this part.