File Level vs Entire Computer backups

[FrankCl2]

Hi folks,

Recently a customer of ours switched from file level backups to entire computer backups with the VAW.
The reason for this was mainly because when using the file level method, his storage kept on growing (or so he said).

This made me do a little research and tried to compare both methods on the same machine. The results came down to this:

File level backup

Restore Point Duration Size Manual change after finishing backup job
Full backup 01:48 119GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (5.60GB > 2.91GB)
1 incremental 03:42 17.8GB Change is deleting zipped folder
2 incremental 00:51 26.2GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (4.99GB > 4.97MB)
3 incremental 00:48 15.4GB Change is deleting zipped folder
4 incremental 00:42 13.9GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (5.60GB > 2.91GB)
5 incremental 00:43 19.2GB Change is deleting zipped folder
6 incremental 00:42 15.4GB Change is Windows update to version 22H2
7 incremental 01:05 18.6GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (5.60GB > 2.91GB)
8 incremental 00:49 17.7GB No manual change
9 incremental 00:52 23.1GB Change is deleting zipped folder
10 incremental 00:45 13.6GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (5.60GB > 2.91GB)
11 incremental 00:44 19.2GB Change is deleting zipped folder
12 incremental 00:41 13.7GB Change 2022-11 Preview cumulative update
13 incremental 00:47 23.8GB N/A
Total size 356.6GB

Entire Computer backup

Restore Point Duration Size Manual change after finishing backup job
Full backup 02:39 258GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (5.60GB > 2.91GB)
1 incremental 00:15 7.4GB Change is deleting zipped folder
2 incremental 00:16 15.1GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (4.99GB > 4.97MB)
3 incremental 00:08 3.6GB Change is deleting zipped folder
4 incremental 00:05 1.5GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (5.60GB > 2.91GB)
5 incremental 00:09 4.5GB Change is deleting zipped folder
6 incremental 00:19 14.6GB Change is Windows update to version 22H2
7 incremental 00:16 12.2GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (5.60GB > 2.91GB)
8 incremental 00:16 10.4GB No manual change
9 incremental 00:21 12.7GB Change is deleting zipped folder
10 incremental 00:05 1.4GB Change is zip folder on C:\ volume (5.60GB > 2.91GB)
11 incremental 00:13 8.7GB Change is deleting zipped folder
12 incremental 00:05 1.3GB Change 2022-11 Preview cumulative update
13 incremental 00:20 19.7GB nvt
Total size 371.1GB

One thing to note, is that the file level backup excluded a DropBox folder with somewhere around 250GB of data. Which means the Entire Computer had more data to backup. With that in mind, I would say the Entire Computer backup methode is a lot more efficient in duration of the jobs, but also in the size of the restore points and therefore the backup chain. If the retention period (in this case 14 restore points) would exceed the 14 days necessary, the backup chain of the Entire Computer would be smaller in size than the File Level backup methode.

So at this point I'm actually looking for 2 things. The first is a confirmation that my conclusion above is correct. And the second is what the technical reason for this is. My gut tells me the Entire Computer methode is in any case, but I lack the knowledge or arguments to support that conclusion.

Hopefully someone can help me out!

Thanks for helping in advance,

Frank

[ronnmartin61]

My understanding is that with our current file-level VAW backup if any portion of a file changes then entire file is backed which of course isn't terribly efficient as opposed to "entire computer" or volume backup which tracks block-level changes (very efficient). This may account for the results you're seeing. Note that the v12 VAW will support incremental file change backup however...