Easter Backup

Disk backup and restore, partition imaging and cloning, and drive copy using R-Drive Image.
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DaveRowland
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Joined: Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:11 am

Easter Backup

Post by DaveRowland » Mon Apr 13, 2009 8:43 am

I got a busy SBS2003 running a 3ware PCI-X card with Raid 5 mirror to create 1.8TB drive setup and a JBOD 1.5TB backup drive. The Data is just over 1TB.
3GB memory server which is actually quite used by Exchange etc., so I am thinking about placing more memory on the mainboard to help applications run smoother.

Well after experimenting with the Drive Image options over the last week, I thought while the business is closed over the Easter period that I test out the backup of 1TB. So, it looked pretty reasonable and had a 'fair' transfer rate , I was creating an volume snapshot and then bit by bit making the backup file.
So I set it off on Friday at 8pm and it finished Sunday at 8pm, took 2 days and has made a 588GB file which is smaller then I was expecting as it was estimating around 800GB. However the next steps have proved to be a problem.



I have got these settings
1:I am backing up the 'partition' and not the 'drive'.
2:Storing it on the same raid card but on a JBOD drive for now.
3:Maximum no Backup sets 25 and 1 image allowed. no other options changed
4:Backup type is "Differentially"
5:Slider is nearer Faster instead of smaller size.
6:Backup "actual data only" and password set with email options.
7:Set as a Weekly schedule for now.
8:I have not tested yet, but will restore cause me problems, not easy to test.

Questions please:-
1: Having the option 1 image allowed, is this suitable or should I have 3-4 images, basically I was hoping it would read over the image and do a compare of the data to see if it is changed, then add the changed data to a new file, but would having the '1' image option overwrite the existing huge file?
2: When the system 'volume snapshots', how does it actually do that with a 1TB drive? where does it put the 1TB of snapshot, that would take some time and create a huge huge file. Does it go in %TEMP%? or specified folder?
3: How can I hide the SMTP mail server passwords in emails?
4: I forced the r-drive program on the server to run again and it failed returned this error message via email and it appeared like it locked up, although there was processor activity. I returned after an 1 hour, still the same and locked up and forced closed, the datafile on the backup had not been touched or no other files created, so is the system reading through the 500GB file to check for changes and was too bogged down, there is no network activity so there is plenty of resources available although I am thinking of raising the memory a bit.

append /a /o -s="2:1" -a="F:\DDriveImages\DataDrive.arc" -c="2" -u -p="******" -r="backup of D when server is well" -s-n -bs -bs-num-b="25" -bs-num-f="1" -ms="my mail server" -ml="mail details" -ma="more mail details" -mr="more more mail details" -mx -me

Start at: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:24:26 +0100 Finish at: Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:24:26 +0100
ERROR: Cannot commit (The LAST volume of the multivolume image should be the first to be open)







Simply put, is R-Drive suitable for very large volumes?

Dave Rowland

Alt
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Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:13 pm
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Re: Easter Backup

Post by Alt » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:20 am

1. Yes, R-Drive Image can work with large disks of several TB.
2. If the -s-n key is used or the R-TT Volume Snapshot Service option on the Backup Options panel is selected, R-Drive Image notifies running applications (that supports this system service) in the system that they need to flush all their data on the disk and stop working with the disk. You may read about this on R-Drive Image help -> Technical Information -> Creating Consistent Point-in-Time Backups.
3. I noticed an error in your script. It looks like you confused two things - backup sets and backup files. A backup set is a set of files (usually a file for a full image of an object and a number of its incremental/differential backups) which R-Drive Image treats as one unit. So, you cannot have 1 image file and 25 backup sets, as they would require 25 files at least.
You may read more about backup sets on R-Drive Image help -> Scheduled Actions, Command Line Operations, and Scripting -> Backup Sets.
Please note that regardless of parameters specified, R-Drive Image always keep one backup set to avoid data loss. I believe that as you specify 1 file, R-Drive Image created one file (a full backup) and got stuck with another Differential backup, because it could not delete the first file to create the second one.

Alt
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Posts: 3130
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:13 pm
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Re: Easter Backup

Post by Alt » Wed Apr 15, 2009 11:23 am

This topic might be of help for you:
Limiting the Backup...
http://forum.r-tt.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=173

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