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-   -   Why each backup requires so much space? (https://www.shirt-pocket.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5394)

zickzhou 06-26-2009 01:34 PM

Why each backup requires so much space?
 
hi there.
I've been using Superduper for a few days. And I've had the following problems

1st. I am using the network backup (imaging over network, destination is a linux raid box). But then, the superduper is unable to mount the network drive automatically. I tried to map mount the network drive as always, but the superduper is just unable to mount it until I manually input:
smb://SharedDrive/Volume_1

2nd. I've been using the backup-all files. The problem is. Although there is no significant file changes between each scheduled daily backup (I am using the smart update), each backup copies at least 200 MB. I also tried to backup the file after 4 day interval, with no big file changes. And the backup, as of now, has backed up 2.26G of data, and is still evaluating. Why it takes so much space?

Thanks

dnanian 06-26-2009 01:45 PM

1. I don't know why this might be. We store an alias to the image on the share. When we load the settings, that alias is dereferenced which mounts the drive. You need to ensure your password/authentication information is in the keychain, but other than that, it should work.

2. We live compare the two drives, and we're going to copy any files that are different. How can you be sure that there are no "significant" changes? There are a lot of files on the drive, many of which are changed indirectly...

zickzhou 06-26-2009 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnanian (Post 25391)
1. I don't know why this might be. We store an alias to the image on the share. When we load the settings, that alias is dereferenced which mounts the drive. You need to ensure your password/authentication information is in the keychain, but other than that, it should work.

2. We live compare the two drives, and we're going to copy any files that are different. How can you be sure that there are no "significant" changes? There are a lot of files on the drive, many of which are changed indirectly...

Thanks for answers.

1st. Will you please provide me an instruction on how to map a network drive? maybe I mounted the hard drive in a different way?

2nd. I run multiple manual updates within sort period of time (like 10min), and the only file change that i ever made is to created some text files and folders on the desktop. Even though, the files backed up are like 200MB...

dnanian 06-26-2009 01:52 PM

1. Cmd+k mounts, but you have to make sure you add any authentication information into the keychain if prompted.

2. Again, your personal change does not reflect the changes made by the system, or to non-user files, or to caches, indexes, databases, etc...

zickzhou 06-26-2009 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnanian (Post 25394)
1. Cmd+k mounts, but you have to make sure you add any authentication information into the keychain if prompted.

Then I do have the right map and the keychain information..

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnanian (Post 25394)
2. Again, your personal change does not reflect the changes made by the system, or to non-user files, or to caches, indexes, databases, etc...

I did not have any other program other than superduper and finder running..
The only other things I can think of are the quicksilver and spotlight, which keep on indexing files in my mac. Is there a way to know what are the files being backed up in the most recent update? What is expected backup file size assuming the system is in an idle state?

Thanks

dnanian 06-26-2009 02:02 PM

There is no such thing as an 'inactive' boot volume, really, regardless of the number of applications you're currently running. There's no 'expected' backup size, really.

zickzhou 06-26-2009 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnanian (Post 25398)
There is no such thing as an 'inactive' boot volume, really, regardless of the number of applications you're currently running. There's no 'expected' backup size, really.

K. Thanks

But then, is there a way to know what are the files being backed up in the most recent update?

As for the sandbox.. is it able to run it over the internet (network drive mapping).

dnanian 06-26-2009 02:08 PM

Not really, no: you could try tracking all I/O with fs_usage if you'd like, but it's not going to prove terribly useful.

You can't use a Sandbox over a network, no.

zickzhou 06-26-2009 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnanian (Post 25400)
Not really, no: you could try tracking all I/O with fs_usage if you'd like, but it's not going to prove terribly useful.

So that means there is only one retrievable copy at all time? Even if I do multiple scheduled updates setup so i backup every 2 hours? I did not want to be mean here but I just want to know how exactly everything works. i apologize for any offense

dnanian 06-26-2009 02:24 PM

I don't understand this question. Could you rephrase?

zickzhou 06-26-2009 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dnanian (Post 25402)
I don't understand this question. Could you rephrase?

For some PC backup softwares, for example "PC b***up Pro", I can schedule hourly backup, and I can go back to each different backups to retrieve the version of a file I would like to restore.

For example, I have the hourly backup setup, and I've been editing a word file since 8 this morning. If i want to restore that word file, I can restore the 8 am version, 9 am version, 10 am version and 11 am version.

In superduper, I found out that I can also setup the hourly backup using combination of daily update schedules. But I am wondering since all the backup schedules are running on a same sparse image, does that mean there can be only one retrievable version of a file (the very last backup)?

dnanian 06-26-2009 02:38 PM

That's right. As you've probably read in the introduction to the User's Guide, you're making a copy of the source. You're not creating backup sets.

zickzhou 06-26-2009 02:49 PM

My Last question.
it has been 3 hours since I started running the smart update. 10.37 GB of data has been evaluated, 9.38 GB of data has been copied (to the network attached storage), but how come I did not see the sparse image being modified? (I checked the last modification date, I also checked the file size...)

dnanian 06-26-2009 03:49 PM

Since we never really deal with the exterior of the image file, after creating it, I can't tell you why either the network layer, NAS or OS wouldn't mark the image as being modified. But I'm sure you saw it mount and us copy...


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