Very large backup - will splitting increase performance?

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Kremlar
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:14 pm

Very large backup - will splitting increase performance?

Post by Kremlar »

We are backing up about 240GB to a USB hard drive. Currently takes about 7 hours to complete a full backup.

The resulting file is a ~240GB Zip file. I'm wondering if this is a good idea? Any advantage to splitting the Zip file to, say 1 or 2GB chunks?

Thanks

Adrian (Softland)
Posts: 1948
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Re: Very large backup - will splitting increase performance?

Post by Adrian (Softland) »

hi,

The compression ratio depends on the file types. In this case, you should use the zip without compression to speed up the backup.
To do that, please open Backup Properties->Compression
Under "Zip compression" section, delect "Zip without compression" level.

Splitting the backup will speed up the process only if you don't have enough system resources to handle large files.
Do you know you can monitor your backups remotely with Backup4all Monitor? You can read more here: https://www.backup4all.com/backup4all-monitor.html

Kremlar
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:14 pm

Re: Very large backup - will splitting increase performance?

Post by Kremlar »

Thanks. We have already disable compression since the files being backed up are not very compressible.

My concern is about the size of the file, and whether or not to split it. How large is large? How much RAM should I need to handle the 240GB backup file?

Adrian (Softland)
Posts: 1948
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Re: Very large backup - will splitting increase performance?

Post by Adrian (Softland) »

Hi,

There is no minimum requirement for RAM memory, but for disk space in Temp folder.
Is your destination drive formatted as NTFS or FAT32?
Do you know you can monitor your backups remotely with Backup4all Monitor? You can read more here: https://www.backup4all.com/backup4all-monitor.html

Kremlar
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Feb 14, 2011 6:14 pm

Re: Very large backup - will splitting increase performance?

Post by Kremlar »

NTFS. FAT32 does not support larger than 4GB files I believe, so I don't think it would even work in my described setup.

Can you tell me what resources would be recommended for a single file that large (240GB)?

I'm trying to find out if we would see better performance by splitting the file into smaller chunks. Seems like it should be a fairly simple question to ask.

Would the backup perform faster with smaller chunks?
Are there any other pluses or minuses to using a single zip file vs multiple zip files?

Thanks

Adrian (Softland)
Posts: 1948
Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2009 12:46 pm

Re: Very large backup - will splitting increase performance?

Post by Adrian (Softland) »

Hi,

There isn't a minimum configuration requirement for Backup4all. If your computer supports Windows XP or higher, Backup4all will run fine on it. The backup speed and system usage for large backups depends on your computer performance. The higher computer performance you have, the better results you will get.
You can split the zip file in smaller chunks of 4 GB to get better results.
Do you know you can monitor your backups remotely with Backup4all Monitor? You can read more here: https://www.backup4all.com/backup4all-monitor.html

EricVander
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2011 7:29 pm

Are Noobs Accepted At www.backup4all.com?

Post by EricVander »

I've been just watching for a little while and thought I'd finally introduce myself.
I'm a software engineer, working in Chicago, IL USA.

If "http://www.backup4all.com/forum/support ... -t282.html" is the wrong area for this please accept my apologies.

Hello all! I hope to interact with you some and laugh and learn and maybe share a bit of myself with you.
Glad to be aboard Image

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