Issues that some file-level backup programs have when restoring from incrementals

MrBrian · Nov 7, 2013

There are issues with the restore functionality of some file-level backup programs that seem to be commonly neglected in reviews. For more information, please read the three comments by Bill at this review of Cobian Backup:

1. If you changed a filename somewhere along the way (not the content, just the name), and it appears with the old filename in an earlier incremental, and then with the changed filename in a subsequent incremental, then you will end up with BOTH files in your restored filesystem (i.e., the file will appear under both names.)

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2. By the same reasoning, if you deleted a file, then did an incremental, then after you restore from the chain of incrementals, the deleted file will re-appear in your restored file tree!

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3. If you rename a folder, then do an incremental backup, you won’t get any of the contents of that folder backed up, since the contents have already had their “archive” bit reset from a previous incremental. Thus, after you restore from the chain of incrementals, you will see an empty folder with the new folder name, and another folder with the old name, in which your files will be located.

CONCLUSION: There are apparently no files or folders lost or corrupted as a result of a series of incremental backups, which is very good indeed. But the file-and-folder tree is NOT going to look like what you had before. The “restore” will produce a very different result from what you expected, and if you have tens of thousands of files and folders, it’s just impossible to go through it all and clean it up by hand.

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It amazes me that there is essentially NO discussion of these issues on the web, in any forums or help columns. It all seems to be limited to “how to set up a backup”, without regard to how you might go about “restoring from backup”, and more importantly, any discussion of the integrity of the restored file-and-folder tree, as compared to what it looked like before you did the “restore.”
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Areca Backup, the file-level backup program that I use, does not have these issues. I'm currently using Areca Backup v7.2.1; some versions of Areca Backup both before and after v7.2.1 had bugs in the Merge functionality. Also, there is now a (non-free) plugin for Areca Backup called ArecaVSS that allows Areca Backup to backup locked files in Windows.

Bonus link: [Windows] Best free file backup, drive backup (aka imaging), and system backup software.

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Issues that some file-level backup programs have when restoring from incrementals

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Issues that some file-level backup programs have when restoring from incrementals

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