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Full disk backup without archiving

Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 6:06 am
by Brian
I have a disk containing 2TB backups which are updated daily. Once in a while I want to make a backup of that backup disk.

Is there a way to make a backup of that backup without putting everything into zips AND keeping the ability to update the backup of the backup without backing up the full 2TB but just the few files that have changed?

Copying a backup

Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 2:13 pm
by Barry
I have set-up the following scheme for a few business here in Cardiff, Wales.

Several PCs backup on schedule to an internal drive on a backup server. The backup destination need not be a dedicated backup server but over time a PC became spare for this purpose (following upgrades).

An overnight automated 'Copy' job has been set-up on this PC to copy the internal backup disk volume to an external drive. In fact the copy job was set-up to copy the backup to two external drives as the 'next copy' will be based on the currently connected disk contents of the external drive. The copy job was set-up to automatically remove deleted backup (zip) files to keep the size down.

This enables one of the external drives to be kept off-site and / or in a fireproof safe.

You may want to encrypt the external disk drive partitions with something like TrueCrypt if they are to be taken off-site.

Barry

Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 7:05 pm
by Brian
I'm wondering a copy job is what I'm looking for.
My backup drive is a simple USB 2 drive. Not fast, but it's still perfect for my needs. The problem is that a full backup takes more than a day to complete.
That's why I want to backup the changes only. Plus if possible an integrity check.

I know that's possible with the 'regular' backup method; but then the zipped backups get zipped again. That takes extra time and takes far more time when restoring in case my primary backup drive fails, because first I have to restore the backup drive (unzipping zips) and only then I can start using it.

So I'm looking for the speed of a simple disc to disc backup and the "keep up-to-date without backing up everything" functionality of the regular backup methods.

Is that possible?

Copy Job

Posted: Mon Feb 24, 2014 10:09 pm
by Barry
The copy job that copies a backup will copy differences in the backup, first time everything, next time only the backup (zip) files that were changed or added. Some backup files that no longer exist (following a prune) will be deleted during the copy (provided the delete option is selected when the copy job was set-up).

After the initial backup and copy on the PC I am using now the disk to disk copy of the daily backup is quick, quicker than the actual backup.

The backup of this PC currently hold around 2.4 million files and would take more than a day to run a full backup.

Last nights backup took about half an hour and the copy (run later at night) took 6 minutes. The copy is a mirror of the actual backup.

It is a good idea to periodically test the backup using the Manage Backup / Validate (Test) Backup option.

Barry