Vista's backup function creates enormous files

[Chris Ritter]

I'm using a 350gb external hard drive for backing up my documents, and it
fills up every two weeks or so. I don't think it's working right, and I'm
hoping someone can confirm or deny this theory for me.

I use Vista's Backup and Restore function, and I have it scheduled to run
daily. As I look over the folders created each day, I notice tremendous
variation in the size of each day's backup file: some days, it's 4mb; others,
it's 30gb; others, it's somewhere in between. I can't see a pattern. The real
problem, though, is that there are a lot of those 30gb folders, and they're
filling up the hard drive.

It's my understanding that the first backup file that Backup and Restore
creates will be large, since it contains all of the files I've told it to
backup, but subsequent backups should only copy files that have changed. I'm
backing up my documents, music, pictures, and videos folders... which are
about 30gb total; therefore, the fact that there are ~30gb backup folders
suggests that Backup and Restore is copying everything anew a lot of the
time. I do not change all of my documents, music files, and video files every
day, obviously.

So: is Backup and Restore acting normally nor not?

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

You have probably put a check in the full backup option on the last page of
the backup settings.

start/all programs/maintenance/backup and restore center/"change settings"
link below button for "Backup Files"/ click "Change Backup Settings"
item/click Next, then Next/ see checkbox for 'create a new/full backup...'

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Mark L. Ferguson

..

 

[C.B.]

I'm using a 350gb external hard drive for backing up my documents, and it
fills up every two weeks or so. I don't think it's working right, and I'm
hoping someone can confirm or deny this theory for me.

I use Vista's Backup and Restore function, and I have it scheduled to run
daily. As I look over the folders created each day, I notice tremendous
variation in the size of each day's backup file: some days, it's 4mb;
others,
it's 30gb; others, it's somewhere in between. I can't see a pattern. The
real
problem, though, is that there are a lot of those 30gb folders, and
they're
filling up the hard drive.

It's my understanding that the first backup file that Backup and Restore
creates will be large, since it contains all of the files I've told it to
backup, but subsequent backups should only copy files that have changed.
I'm
backing up my documents, music, pictures, and videos folders... which are
about 30gb total; therefore, the fact that there are ~30gb backup folders
suggests that Backup and Restore is copying everything anew a lot of the
time. I do not change all of my documents, music files, and video files
every
day, obviously.

So: is Backup and Restore acting normally nor not?

If you defrag your drive/s before a backup you will undoubtedly get a much
larger backup. An incremental or differential backup done after a defrag
will be almost the same size as a full backup.

C.B.

 

[Gary Mount]

"If you defrag your drive/s before a backup you will undoubtedly get a much
larger backup. An incremental or differential backup done after a defrag
will be almost the same size as a full backup."

I doubt that defragmenting alters the archive bit of files, and therefore
your theory is incorrect.

 

[John Hanley]

Vista's backup is good but not perfect. It tends to backup EVERYTHING in
your user folder, including temp files. In the end, i ended up using
SyncBackSE.

Backup & Restore Help File says that temporary files are not included:
" What file types are not included in my backups?
The Back Up Files wizard backs up the most common file types. The following
files are not included:
Files that have been encrypted using Encrypting File System (EFS)
System files (the files that Windows needs to run)
Program files
Files stored on hard disks that are formatted using the FAT file system
Web-based e-mail that is not stored on your hard disk
Files that are in the Recycle Bin
Temporary files <----- NOTE
User profile settings"

 

[C.B.]

"If you defrag your drive/s before a backup you will undoubtedly get a
much
larger backup. An incremental or differential backup done after a defrag
will be almost the same size as a full backup."

I doubt that defragmenting alters the archive bit of files, and therefore
your theory is incorrect.

Mr. Mount,

When you do an image backup your first backup is going to be a full
backup. If you defrag your hard drive/s before doing a subsequent
incremental or differential backup the files on your drive/s have either
changed locations or have been altered from the original image. Depending
upon the defrag utility you are using, these files may be transferred to a
completely different location on your drive. PerfectDisk "Smart Placement"
is just one example of this.
An incremental or differential backup is based upon differences, a
snapshot so to speak, between the original image and the subsequent image.
If the files are not in the same location as the original full backup, or if
they have been altered in any fashion your backup recognizes the differences
in the image and therefore creates a new image based upon the changed or
altered location of files. This causes the creation of a larger backup file.
Your image software is not going to take the changes made to a file in
the original location of your drive and transfer those changes to the same
file on a new, different location of your drive. An image backup is just
what the name implies, an image. Any image different from the original image
is going to cause a new image to be created. If the defrag causes a complete
change in your drive then the image software is going to create a completely
new image based upon all those changes.
This is not a "theory" of mine. It is simply the manner in which image
based backup software works. Personally, I don't use incremental or
differential backups due to the amount of drive space I have. My internal
disk is 320GB and I have two external drives with 500GB each, for a total of
1.32TB. I limit the drive space for each backup and/or limit the number of
backups to said drive space and create full backups only. When I have
accumulated the number of backups I desire I simply delete the previous
backups, provided my system is stable and I have decided I have no need for
the previous backups. Sometimes I will accumulate 100GB-150GB of backups
before deletion. I do this because a full backup will restore much quicker
than incremental or differential backups. I do a daily backup to three
different locations, the first backup location being my Acronis Secure Zone
and the second and third backup locations being my two external drives. The
three different backups are done an hour apart from each other. I do not
compress my backups since a compressed file takes longer to restore due to
the necessary decompression time. I also validate each backup upon
completion and before the restore, sometimes doing a restore (when not
necessary) just to make sure the restore will work properly.
I did incremental and differential backups before making the decision
to use only full backups. Whenever I did a defrag before doing the
incremental or differential backups this created a backup almost the size of
the full backup. I don't know what else to say. My experience is based upon
the actual use of the software and therefore I don't understand how you can
imply that my advice is based upon "theory". I get the same results
regardless of the image backup software used, whether the backups were done
using Windows software or using Acronis software. I also get the same
results using the backup software included with my external drives.

C.B.

 

[Chris Ritter]

Well, my post has certainly created an interesting thread.

Following Mark Ferguson's original reply to my question, I unchecked the
"create new/full backup" box. It didn't solve the problem: everything's still
getting backed up.

I haven't run any defrags recently, so that's not a factor. C.B.'s detailed
on defrags and images made me wonder, though...

I use FolderShare to sync my documents folder between my PC and my laptop.
It only syncs the documents folder - which is much smaller than the music,
pictures, and videos folders that are included in my backups; however, could
it be creating images that Backup and Restore then copies anew each day?