Big backup size for little VM

[dev-ads]

Hi,

We've got a problem, when we try to backup a VM (ubuntu) of 320 Go with only 20 Go used, we have a backup file of 170 Go.

How is it possible ?

Thanks in advance.

[dev-ads]

I precise that on this VM there is a lot of work on creating/deleting files (for backup files).

[dellock6]

This is exactly the reason: blocks where a file is created and then deleted are still marked as changed/not empty, so when a backup occurs and the list of used blocks is retrieved, those blocks are saved in the backup job.

[Gostev]

Since deleting files does not zero actual disk blocks, the fact that they were deleted makes no difference on the size of an image-level backup.

[dev-ads]

Thank you !

So what I am supposed to do in order to have a proper veeam backup ?

I must use freezero to fill used blocks with zero ? And do it regularly ?

Thanks.

[veremin]

Take a look at this post; should be helpful for you, since you're looking for a way to zero out unused space in Linux guest. Thanks.