Backup size is much bigger than original drive

[shwekhaw]

Hi. I have a system with 2 identical drive. I have windows on one drive C: and backing up on second one D:

Previously they were configured raid 1, but now I am just using C: as non-raid and accelarated using SSD and Intel Smart Response Technology where 64GB out of was used as cached volume. Please note SSD total size is 256GB. So there is left over space of 159GB showed up as separate volume in Disk Management.

So I quick formatted D: drive to use as backup drive. After backup is complete, it shows backup size as 642.68 GB on D drive. My whole C: uses only 405GB. It is taking up so much more space than it should and I don't know why. Both C and D has 4096 as allocation unit size. I think backup might be including SSD size on the system image. Please note there is no backup history that might take up space. This is first time backup on this disk.

SSD is for caching only. It should not be included in the system image backup. Also I am afraid it will cause problem when I have to use this system image to restore and somehow restore application might not know what to do with this additional cache data in system image.

I have included some screenshots.

If Windows Backup won't work with SSD Caching setup like i have, what should I use to backup system image?

 

[AddRAM]

I would create an image, not a backup.

Where is this other identical drive you speak of ? I don`t see it :huh:

Could you post a better, full shot of Disk Management.

Have you considered putting windows on the 256 SSD ? That would be the best thing you could do, no need for raid, or a cache.

 

[shwekhaw]

Sorry here is Disk Management screenshot showing C drive as well. You probably right about installing OS on SSD. Back then I read some postings stating maximum read/write limits on SSDs and I was afraid of longevity of SSD. Now, it is kind of too late since I have tons of software on this computer and I don't want to reinstall everything.

 

[whs]

If you use the Windows backup, it will grab everything that is only remotely related to the system. A more controlled approach is to make images of individual partitions - e.g. with free Macrium. Then you get exactly what you want.

 

[shwekhaw]

I read about Macrium and it is reviewed well. But when it comes to restoring the system using windows recovery CD due to boot failure, can I rely on these 3rd party generated backups? I have never used a third party software for image or system backups.

 

[whs]

Mine have always worked and I use free Macrium since many years.