Shrinking a copy job

[dtwiley]

We backed up a 1.2Tb VM on a remote site to a remote repository and have used a copy job to copy it locally. Problem is that we've just done a big cleanup of the VM and ran an active full backup to get the size of the VBK down which is great but the copy of it is still the old size. I've run a compact on this file but it made no difference, will I have to delete the copies and start again to get the copies down to the new size?

[dtwiley]

I should add that we used sdelete to zero out white space on the VM which is why the active full has reduced the backup job, its just not transferred this saving to the copy.

[Shestakov]

Hello dtwiley,
If compact full didn`t help a lot, I would suggest to create a new backup copy job, not to lose the existing files. Once you have new once, delete the older chain.
By the way, in the upcoming v9 version, there will be an option of Active full for backup copy job to solve cases like this one.
Thanks!

[dtwiley]

I thought as much, thanks. Problem is we have just 30mbit WAN and 1Tb to copy! Shame there isn't something clever which can be done with CBT to create some kind of hybrid active full.

[Shestakov]

You can leverage such techniques as backup copy seeding and WAN acceleration. Or just wait for the new release which is around the corner and use the backup copy active full.

[dtwiley]

If I use backup copy seeding will it just pull the blocks it need, ie. will I end up with a smaller backup copy than before?

[Shestakov]

If your backup file became smaller than before the cleanup, and you use that file as a seed, the backup copy vbk will also be smaller.

[dtwiley]

thanks, i'll give it a go.

[Shestakov]

You are welcome, Dave.
Let me know if any help is needed.