Standalone backup agent for Microsoft Windows servers and workstations (formerly Veeam Endpoint Backup FREE)
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a.hadzovic
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Full Name: Adis Hadzovic
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Is it normal that volume-level backup is slower than file-level?

Post by a.hadzovic »

Hello everyone!

Recently, we acquired Synology NAS device to backup end-user data from their local PC to their NAS (and from NAS -> cloud). We found VEEAM Agent for Windows to be lightweight for PC resources and configurable enough. The biggest issue we have is backing up large .pst files.

I searched the forums and found that volume-level backup is the way to go, since it's only possible to do incremental backup of .pst files with it.

However, upon testing on my PC, it seems that volume-level backup when doing increments is taking roughly the same time as with full level backup. What is even stranger, is that the time it takes is identical to file level backup (which can't increment).

This is when choosing file-level backup in the options, but checking the disk so it says "volume-level".

The only way I got volume level backup to be significantly shorter (full ~16min, increment 3min), is when I created a whole another disk partition where I placed my .pst file.

Settings I used were:
Compression level = Optimal
Storage optimization = LAN target
and I checked "Do not reserve disk space when creating files" on synology disk.

My question is, how to make volume-level increments faster for standard disk C:\ , without having to resort to creating another partition for increments?

Thank you!
Mildur
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Re: Is it normal that volume-level backup is slower than file-level?

Post by Mildur »

Hi Adis
This is when choosing file-level backup in the options, but checking the disk so it says "volume-level".
If you choose an entire drive in a file level backup, we use volume level backup to protect this drive. File Level backup is only used if you select single files or folders within a disk.
My question is, how to make volume-level increments faster for standard disk C:\ , without having to resort to creating another partition for increments?
General recommendation is to use our CBT driver. CBT allows for faster backup durations on volume level backups. With CBT only changed blocks will be read. If CBT is not used by your job, the entire volume must be read by Veeam Agent and then compared against already protected blocks.

I suggest to open a support case to get an analysis of your environment. Troubleshooting performance issues without the logs is not effective. Please let me know the case number.

Best,
Fabian
Product Management Analyst @ Veeam Software
a.hadzovic
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Re: Is it normal that volume-level backup is slower than file-level?

Post by a.hadzovic »

Hi Mildur, thanks for the response!

I will open a support case if need be, although I would like to say that I need to backup only "Documents" folder, with increments, because of large PST files on user computers. As far as I understood, CBT driver isn't available for anything that isn't server, so that won't work (we require backing up user PCs to Synology NAS).

Also, regarding file level backup and volume, it seems that after selecting the entire drive, and then deselecting folders besides "Documents", it still says volume-level. That's why I was wondering: why would volume-level backup of that single folder be slower than file level that doesn't do increments.

If you have any thoughts please share them with me, I will also try and open a support case.
Mildur
Product Manager
Posts: 8549
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Full Name: Fabian K.
Location: Switzerland
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Re: Is it normal that volume-level backup is slower than file-level?

Post by Mildur »

Hi Adia

You're welcome.
Our dedicated CBT driver is available in the Veeam Agent for Server license. It can also be installed on a windows 10 or windows 11 machine. CBT is still used for NTFS volumes. But you may see better performance when using our dedicated CBT driver.
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agent ... cbt_volume
Also, regarding file level backup and volume, it seems that after selecting the entire drive, and then deselecting folders besides "Documents", it still says volume-level. That's why I was wondering: why would volume-level backup of that single folder be slower than file level that doesn't do increments.
Yes. That's expected behavior. If you choose the entire volume, Veeam will automatically select volume level backup for the entire volume. Each deselected folder will then be added to the registry while the backup is running. Using this method (volume level backup with folder exclusion from vss) may take longer to create the vss snapshot.
VeeamExcludePaths
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\FilesNotToSnapshot

In our upcoming release v6 of Veeam Agent you will be able to use CBT driver for File Level backups. Workstation edition license is required for such backup jobs.
I suggest testing your backups with the new option after we have released Veeam Agent v6.

Best,
Fabian
Product Management Analyst @ Veeam Software
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