Does this look right?

karlsnooks said:

First I know nothing of a sticky, but I strongly suspect that the sticky says much more than your summary thereof.

2nd. What exactly is your question? I'm trying to figure out what partition(s) you are trying to backup to where. And then just exactly what do you see that you don't understand.

I found it under Hardware Requirements in Imaging Strategies at the top of the Backup and Restore forum.

The quote posted states how much space an image should take. I am doing a basic image using Windows Backup and Restore and it is taking 120GB. This doesn't make sense based on the post.

bru said:

Sorry to keep beating this but I still wonder if there is something not right about the amount of space being dedicated to my image. I saw this in the sticky:

The typical size of an image is approximately 50% of the data (not the partition) that is being imaged. If you have a 100GB OS partition but only 20GBs are occupied with data and 80GBs are free, your image of that partition would be 10GBs.

So knowing I have 74GB of data why is my image taking up 120GB?

(1) The backup consists of file/folder backup (ZIP files) plus a system image (VHD file). The zips may compress to ~ 50% but it very much depends on the nature of the files. Encoded music and pictures will not compress well.
(2) I don't believe the Windows VHD file provides much if any compression.
(3) In addition to personal files your image includes the OS and installed programs.
(4) Since you are performing multiple imaging within the scheduled Backup & Restore process you will be probably be creating differencing VHDs stored in shadow storage.

Add it all up and 120GB doesn't seem unreasonable.

Again, I personally untick the image box in "Change settings" and always make single images using the left button "Create a System Image". I think it's more robust and you have better control of the imaging process.

mjf said:

Again, I personally untick the image box in "Change settings" and always make single images using the left button "Create a System Image". I think it's more robust and you have better control of the imaging process.

That's what I do too. I also deleted all but the most recent image. I don't see any ZIP files anywhere in the image folder.

I think I should create a partition for just my data and then I can leave that out of the image, resulting in a smaller image. Does that make sense?

I know how to create the new partition but after reading the tutorial I'm a little confused about moving over data. I would want my complete libraries, not just folders.

bru said:

I think I should create a partition for just my data and then I can leave that out of the image, resulting in a smaller image. Does that make sense?

I know how to create the new partition but after reading the tutorial I'm a little confused about moving over data. I would want my complete libraries, not just folders.

Definitely makes sense.

See this tutorial
User Folders - Change Default Location

bru said:

karlsnooks said:

Have I helped or have I confused the matter?
karl

Definitely helped. I guess with my 70+GB of data the system image is bound to be large. I think I will only keep one image so as to not take up too much space on my external. I thought a 500GB external would be fine. My last one was 160GB so I thought 500GB would be plenty but I didn't account for the space the system image is taking.

Now I need to decide if I should stick with Windows for the system image or go to Macrium. It seems some here don't think Windows system image is reliable.

I had a computer fail last year (Win XP). I had my files backed up so I was able to move them to the new computer but if something like that happens again I'd like to be able to repair the computer. I made the system repair disks and the system recovery disks when I first got this computer. Although I think I read that one or both may be redundant if you restore using a system image. Hopefully I am covered.

When I first got my WIN 7 PC I used the built in Backup but to me it seemed like a space hog. I now use Acronis True Home Image 2011. Whats nice is it automatically converts the Windows backups into ones it can use. The backups are MUCH smaller. I do admit although I have "verified" (this is a acronis feature) are good I have never actually used a backup to restore anything.