[rat74136]

I have a Maxtor One Touch 4Plus 500 GB external hard drive that I use to back up my computer. I use Acronis True Image 11.0. I have filled the drive with a total back-up and incremental back-ups. I want to start over and pursue the same back-up method. My computer is a Dell Dimension 8300 using Windows XP. I don't want to make any mistakes, so I am inquiring as to the best approach. Your suggestions would be appreciated.

[LincolnSpector]

rat74136, on 02 November 2009 - 01:16 PM, said:

I have a Maxtor One Touch 4Plus 500 GB external hard drive that I use to back up my computer. I use Acronis True Image 11.0. I have filled the drive with a total back-up and incremental back-ups. I want to start over and pursue the same back-up method. My computer is a Dell Dimension 8300 using Windows XP. I don't want to make any mistakes, so I am inquiring as to the best approach. Your suggestions would be appreciated.

This is why I have lately come to prefer backup programs that automatically remove files to keep the backup down to size, like Rebit and Mozy. Much simpler.

With a program like Acronis, it's best to have media that can fit two full backups and several incrementals, or use two external drives. That way, you can do a new full backup without deleting your old one (or its incrementals). When it's time to start full backup #3, you can delete the first one.

How much of that Maxtor drive is taken up by the full backup? The incrementals? How much is free?

Lincoln

[rat74136]

The full back-up initially only took 29.7 GB. There are 10 incrementals that make up a total of 415 GB. 50 GB remain unused. I have tried to an incremental back-up with this space, but it is too large for the remaining space. I think I need to do as you suggest and obtain another external HD. I also would like to look at the back-up programs you have mentioned.
RT

LincolnSpector, on 02 November 2009 - 10:06 PM, said:

rat74136, on 02 November 2009 - 01:16 PM, said:

I have a Maxtor One Touch 4Plus 500 GB external hard drive that I use to back up my computer. I use Acronis True Image 11.0. I have filled the drive with a total back-up and incremental back-ups. I want to start over and pursue the same back-up method. My computer is a Dell Dimension 8300 using Windows XP. I don't want to make any mistakes, so I am inquiring as to the best approach. Your suggestions would be appreciated.

This is why I have lately come to prefer backup programs that automatically remove files to keep the backup down to size, like Rebit and Mozy. Much simpler.

With a program like Acronis, it's best to have media that can fit two full backups and several incrementals, or use two external drives. That way, you can do a new full backup without deleting your old one (or its incrementals). When it's time to start full backup #3, you can delete the first one.

How much of that Maxtor drive is taken up by the full backup? The incrementals? How much is free?

Lincoln

[LincolnSpector]

rat74136, on 02 November 2009 - 04:07 PM, said:

The full back-up initially only took 29.7 GB. There are 10 incrementals that make up a total of 415 GB. 50 GB remain unused. I have tried to an incremental back-up with this space, but it is too large for the remaining space. I think I need to do as you suggest and obtain another external HD. I also would like to look at the back-up programs you have mentioned.
RT

That's unusual. Usually, the full backup is huge, and the incrementals are tiny. Yet according to your numbers, the average incremental is larger than the full by a factor of more than a third.

A few more question:

Did you do the full one before loading up your data?

What's causing the big incrementals? Video files?

Are all the incrementals large, or just one or two of them?

I'm trying to figure out your system so I can find the best solution.

Lincoln

[techie4fun]

rat74136, on 02 November 2009 - 01:16 PM, said:

I have a Maxtor One Touch 4Plus 500 GB external hard drive that I use to back up my computer. I use Acronis True Image 11.0. I have filled the drive with a total back-up and incremental back-ups. I want to start over and pursue the same back-up method. My computer is a Dell Dimension 8300 using Windows XP. I don't want to make any mistakes, so I am inquiring as to the best approach. Your suggestions would be appreciated.

Are you using compression on the backups? I would suggest making new backups with some compression. This will help save space on your drive.

[LincolnSpector]

techie4fun, on 03 November 2009 - 01:46 PM, said:

Are you using compression on the backups? I would suggest making new backups with some compression. This will help save space on your drive.

True Image compresses its backup. There may be a setting for how much it's compressed, and changing that setting might help a bit.

OTOH, my experience is that compression doesn't help much in backups, anymore. The problem is that so much hard drive space these days is taken up by media files with compression built into the format--mp3, jpg, mov, and so on. Compressing these further doesn't do much good.

Lincoln

[smax013]

LincolnSpector, on 04 November 2009 - 02:23 PM, said:

OTOH, my experience is that compression doesn't help much in backups, anymore. The problem is that so much hard drive space these days is taken up by media files with compression built into the format--mp3, jpg, mov, and so on. Compressing these further doesn't do much good.

Lincoln

To my knowledge, this is generally correct for "typical" computer users.

I could see some "non-typical" computers being slightly different.

For example, I would assume a person who shoots a lot of RAW image files with a DSLR (or TIFF images with just about any older digital camera) likely would see the benefits of compression in a backup program.

[LincolnSpector]

smax013, on 04 November 2009 - 08:56 PM, said:

To my knowledge, this is generally correct for "typical" computer users.

I could see some "non-typical" computers being slightly different.

For example, I would assume a person who shoots a lot of RAW image files with a DSLR (or TIFF images with just about any older digital camera) likely would see the benefits of compression in a backup program.

Good point.

Lincoln

[techie4fun]

LincolnSpector, on 04 November 2009 - 12:23 PM, said:

techie4fun, on 03 November 2009 - 01:46 PM, said:

Are you using compression on the backups? I would suggest making new backups with some compression. This will help save space on your drive.

True Image compresses its backup. There may be a setting for how much it's compressed, and changing that setting might help a bit.


Lincoln

Wasn't aware of that- but Compression does help