blm14 Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 (edited) When, o when, will retrospect be smart enough to realize that when a 2gb .pst file changes, it doesn't need to back up the ENTIRE 2gb file, but rather just the bits that have actually changed. Which, in this case, probably constitute a few megs at most. Similar issues with the parallels file winxp.hdd which is even bigger. Just booting up parallels and not saving ANYTHING will result in the timestamp in MacOS getting updated and the entire file being re-backed up yet again. I realize that the jump from file-wise to bit-wise backup is a huge one programatically, but it would make retrospect a MUCH better product. I estimate that of my 120 machines I back up, and my 4TB of total RAID space, I use around a third for differentials of outlook.pst and similar files. Since I can't use grooming (HIPAA regulations), this means I have to dump backup sets to tape VERY often. Even with my very fast tape drive (60MB/sec max throughput) it still takes between 2-3 days to dump to tape, during which time I am unable to do backups because my backup sets are in use. Bitwise backup would mean instead of dumping to tape every 4-8 weeks I could probably do it twice a year. Thoughts? Edited February 28, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 I totally agree this is a major concern. We have already been working on the option to copy only the changed parts of a file. I even got a chance to see some interface designs for the feature. I am hoping that we can get this into Retrospect X and then into the Windows product. I will cross my fingers with you and remind engineering users want this feature in the next big update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blm14 Posted February 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 This is great news! Any ETA on that windows version? I understand that the mac software is on 6 whereas PC is on 7.5 so the mac version is more due for an upgrade, but I have $20,000 worth of hardware invested in my dual-PC dual-RAID setup which is running windows 2003 so switching to mac servers to get the newer version is basically not an option... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnW Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 (edited) I have a solution for this that is free. I use the free version of StoreGrid (www.vembu.com) to just backup the large files that change. (I exclude those files from the Retrospect backup.) StoreGrid just backs up the deltas. I then use Retrospect to backup those deltas into my nightly backup set. StoreGrid is scheheduled to run nightly before Retrospect so that the deltas are made available on a disk on my server. Edited February 28, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blm14 Posted February 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 (edited) Hrm that's an interesting option but it also makes things a little more complicated, especially if I have to pull things from tape. First I have to come up with a list of the files that I know are always bloated. This would start with: winxp.hdd Inbox *.pst etc But then if I need to restore data for a client, first I have to restore the snapshot for the client, then I need to restore the StoreGrid files from that day, then restore the individual files from StoreGrid for that particular client. Kind of icky... edit: plus storegrid is not free! I back up 130ish machines, that's $30 license times 130 machines. Not really viable... Edited February 28, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atravesde Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 Hello Mayoff do you think that engineering users is going in the future adopt new technology like deduplication, have you hear about that any coments? some question doing backup via wan, what can i spect if i use retrospect, any experience thanks Maynor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mayoff Posted February 28, 2008 Report Share Posted February 28, 2008 EMC offers deduplication type features in other products. It is unknown to me if and when we will offer this in Retrospect Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrBoar Posted March 11, 2008 Report Share Posted March 11, 2008 I really hope for that on Retropect X. .pst files are trouble as is Thunderbird that also stores the file in big monolitic file I got 50 Win and 11 mac to backup and 2 PCs and one Mac make up most of the space as their email files each are about 1.4 GB each day :devil: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blm14 Posted April 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2009 Couple of problems 1) our users use outlook 2003, not express. 2) That product is $45 per business license. I have 100 PCs that I back up, which would mean a cost of $4500. 3) These machines are spread out over 5 square miles, in 7 different office buildings. Some of them are on domain controllers that I do not administer so I cannot install anything without a third-party IT staffer present But this is all academic. Retrospect simply should do block-level backup. There is no excuse for it not being able to do this... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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