Backup Larger than Original
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I followed Maximum PC’s “Clean Start” article (February 2009) and used Acronis True Image to set up a weekly full disk image. My XP Pro system is installed on C:, which is a 1.5 TB hard drive. I have another 1.5TB hard drive of the exact same make and model, to which I write the weekly image. I have 120GB of free space on the C: drive, but the backup drive is already full!
The destination drive contains no files except the image; is it possible for an exact image of a C: drive to be bigger than the original (by more than 10 percent)? Yes, I selected “incremental” as backup method.
—Matt Peuler
According to Acronis’s website, an incremental backup can indeed be larger than the installation it’s copied from, if you’ve recently defragged the primary drive. The solution is to create a new full backup of the drive after your defragmentation. This can also happen if you use Outlook and you’ve picked the Fast Incremental backup method; your .pst file changes constantly, and will increase the size of your image.
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samson77
December 16, 2010 at 10:37pm
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laurano
October 29, 2010 at 1:08pm
The method is causing your problem. By choosing incremental you keep the original files and add what has changed. So... if you had 1.4Tb on your machine, backed it up, then deleted 1tb and added 1tb later, your backup would now be the original 1.4tb + the added 1tb and this happens each time you back up. So your incremental backup happens a lot faster than a full backup, but restoring it will take a lot of time. Rethink how much you need to back up and what the best method is. You can check my online storage blog for more tips.
stephen3
November 25, 2010 at 1:16pm
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blumen
February 15, 2011 at 9:55am
Thx for your valuable information, I really appreciate that. All the best, Jeff Blumenladen
tugboat_2
October 23, 2010 at 9:12pm
A mirrored drive is not a back up. If you contract a virus, for instance, then both drives are contaminated. He is doing right. you mirror so that if one drive physically fails then your still in busines till you get a new drive and rebuild the array.
EllyBrauer
October 04, 2010 at 11:49am
Hi, I'm Elly the I.S. manager over at the The Positive Thinking Playground and as you can guess from the amount of data I work with over there I've run into this exact problem more than once...
Here's what I've learned to do:
1. I use Iolo System Mechanic alongside my Acronis install
2. I schedule System Mechanic to repair, defrag, and compact the registry 2 hours before Acronis does it's thing
Even though the registry isn't massive in terms of file space, it does make a difference in the back-up imaging... While my back up images are normally bigger than the originals, it is usually around 2% (but I have done 1:1 back-ups in the past)...
Of course as the doctor said, keep your frag levels low, but don't forget to defrag the registry too!!! It will make you whole machine run better and even make the imaging process 10-15% faster!
Lhot
August 17, 2010 at 5:24am
...incremental backups, backup the malware also...a straight primary HDD image (after a thorough cleaning) is, IMO a much better solution. If you keep your primary hard dive small (40-60GB) and uncluttered, nothing beats a full image backup. Use a small SSD for a primary HDD and a 1-2TB partitioned secondary HDD for programs, page file, backups, movies, pics, music, another OS maybe, and copies of all your installed programs, drivers, bookmarks etc.
Personally, I never really liked any RAID setup, it's more of a PITA than the 'old way' ;)
DRAGONWEEZEL
March 29, 2010 at 2:14pm
I typed out a great story, only to lose it all.
I'll quit posting till you guys fix that. Promise, not a threat.
THERE ARE ONLY 11 TYPES OF PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD. Those that think binary jokes are funny, those that don't, and those that don't know binary
bear
March 04, 2010 at 8:56am
The problem with mirroring is that if you bork your machine and it's not the result of a hard drive failure, you also mirror the borking. With a backup you can restore pre-borking.
===============================================
then (adverb) \'then\: denotes time
than (conjunction) \'than\: denotes comparison
ex., 1 is first, THEN 2; but, 2 is more THAN 1.
Neufeldt2002
March 04, 2010 at 7:35am
What I find amazing, is that C is 1.5 TB in size.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I wanted a signature, but all I got was this ________
sirphunkee
March 04, 2010 at 6:37am
It sounds like he's setup a poor-man's RAID array. If the second (identical) drive is just being used for storage of the backups, then why not just mirror them and achieve the same thing, without even having to mess with a specific backup method like that. Just sayin'
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