Question about IFW options

When our beloved Peter was here, he helped me to learn IFW. When it came to "Backup Options", he told me to check, besides the three already checked by default, "Faster Changes Only Backups" and "Use Metadata Hash Files". He never explained to me why to do that.

Do the rest of you have those two extra ones checked? What do they do anyway?

Thanks a ton, Acadia

 

Acadia, I can't do any better than the explanations in the IFW pdf.

Because my image/restores are fast, less than 30 seconds, I don't use Metadata Hash Files.

 

Hi Acadia,
"Faster Changes Only Backups" creates a hash of your image = then when creating an incremental/differential it uses the hash file for identifying the sector differencies instead of reading the entire image. (for me is a must, especially if the base image is on a slow disk)
"Use Metadata Hash Files" = similar to delta restore of macrium = uses the ntfs table to determine the changes. Is safe as long as the file table is intact; but if it is "dirty" it can create corrupted/problematic backups. I only use it on systems that are rock-stable (no BSODs) and are protected by a UPS.

Panagiotis

 

pandlouk, you've helped me many times thru the years, thank you very much again,
Acadia

 

You 're welcome

Panagiotis

 

I just did a backup file (Changes only) using an existing file as base and for the first time ticking Faster Changes only Backups. I notice that this created not only the usual TBI file but two additional files, one ending in .#_# and one file ending in .#0 I need to wait for a while to run the next one to see how much faster the image creation will be - curious.

 

beethoven,

Differential backups are based on the full backup. Incremental backups are based on a previous Changes Only backup. I don't create Incremental backups. Personal preference. They aren't much faster to create than a Differential backup but they are smaller. But you must keep the full chain of Incrementals. With Differentials there is no chain, just the Full and a Changes only backup.

It sounds like you didn't select Faster Changes only Backups when you created the Full backup. You need to do that for both Differentials and Incrementals. For Differentials you never select Faster Changes only Backups again. For Incrementals you select the previous Changes only Backup and also select Faster Changes only Backups.

Edit... for Differentials, they complete in a fifth of the time if you have selected Faster Changes only Backups when creating the Full backup.

 

For some reason Peter also told me to check "Use Metadata Hash Files" whenever I check "Faster Changes only backups". Don't know how that would effect speed. For me, WITHOUT either one being checked, an Incremental takes about 10 minutes. With both checked, Incremental takes about 40 seconds. (Both c:drive and backup drive are SSDs).
Acadia