Windows Backup to Hardrive

[hubsm]

Do I understand correctly from your Tech Note 503w "Backup to Hard Drives-Windows" that I cannot back up my entire 40GB internal hard drive to an external hard drive using the Backup function in Retrospect Express because the backup size is limited, by Windows, to 4GB with fat32? If this is a misuderstanding, why do I get a message in the log that there is not enough room on the drive to do the backup, when I am backing up about 25GB to an empty 60GB drive?

[lv2ski]

It appears that you are hitting a 4GB file size limitation of a drive

 

formatted in FAT32. File backup sets are limited to the maximum file size

 

allowed by the file system used to format the disk:

 

 

 

o FAT: 2 GB

 

o FAT32: 4 GB

 

o NTFS: 1 TB

 

 

 

If you were running Windows NT or 2000, you could reformat the drive in NTFS

 

(or convert it).

 

 

 

In order to get around the 4GB file size limitation in FAT32, you have two

 

choices:

 

 

 

You can break your backup into multiple backup sets, making sure each set is

 

below 4GB. The easiest way to accomplish this is to break up your source

 

volume into subvolumes (from Configure > Volumes), and select these as

 

sources for different backup sets.

 

 

 

You can also choose to use Retrospect's "Duplicate" function, which will

 

make an exact copy of your hard disk in Windows format. The disadvantage to

 

the Duplicate function is that compression will not be supported, as the

 

data will be kept in Windows format. However, the 4GB file size limit will

 

not come into play here. Another disadvantage of using Duplicate is that

 

the registry will not be copied to the external hard disk using Retrospect

 

Express. if you are using Desktop, make sure you turn the option to copy

 

the Registry on under Options > Windows > System > System State.

 

 

 

What is the difference between backups and Duplicate?

 

 

 

* Backups copy files in a proprietary format only accessible using

 

Retrospect. Duplicate copies files in Windows format so they can be opened

 

or used right on the backup disk without having to go through Retrospect.

 

 

 

* Backups can employ compression whereas Duplicate cannot.

 

 

 

* Backups can save old data incrementally so files deleted from the source

 

are still available in the backup. Duplicate basically keeps a mirror image

 

of the source so each Duplicate operation destroys previous data and only

 

retains the current files.

 

 

 

 

 

How do you do a Duplicate?

 

 

 

(This can be done manually or with a script).

 

 

 

1. Immediate > Duplicate.

 

2. Select the hard drive or folder you want copied.

 

3. Select the hard drive you want to store your data on.

 

4. Make any necessary changes in options or in what files you want copied

 

and click Duplicate. It's that simple.

 

 

 

Subsequent Duplicate operations will be incremental, only copying files that

 

have been modified or are new.

 

 

 

Retrospect Express for Windows does not copy the registry during the

 

"Duplicate" operations, only during Backup.

[hubsm]

Your reply brings up one additional question. Using DUPLICATE, the screen indicates that it will replace all data in the volume. However, when I bought my M3 there were several files already on the disk that obviously were put there by QPS. If I duplicate to this drive, will it overwrite these files? If so, will that create a problem? Is there a way to use DUPLICATE that will not overwrite everything? My new M3 is 60GB, my internal drive is 40GB, so there would be a lot of additional space for something else after I copy my internal drive.

[lv2ski]

Duplicate into a folder on that hard drive.

 

Or

 

Duplicate using Replace Corresponding files, that way it will not remove any files on that drive already.