Forum Discussion

HerbertK's avatar
HerbertK
Level 4
12 years ago
Solved

How to check backup job size before starting backup

Hi, I have a rather big network storage of about 8TB. I have to backup some of my data to (multiple) tapes (400GB with compresssion) 

After selecting several folders on the network drive I have no idea what the total filesize will be before starting the backup to tape. I have done this some  weeks ago by trail and error, each day deselecting some folders until finally after a week the selected data fitted on a tape (including each time fustration and a big headache after some hours of a running job). I hardly can imagine that this is the way to go?

Of course I can spend some time calculating the selected folders and subfolders piece by piece and get a rough Idea if the job will probably succeed based on the calculatad jobsize, but there must be a more convienient way in Backup Exec to do this?

Who can enlighten me on this subject?

Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Best Practice
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • HerbertK's avatar
    HerbertK
    12 years ago

    Hmm, so the way I did this is the only way to go??

    Would be a very nice feature if BE at least could calculate the total size of folders/files selected via the tickboxes (before compression)...

6 Replies

Sort By
  • Donald_Eady's avatar
    Donald_Eady
    Level 6
    12 years ago

    Unfortunately i dont know of any other way to do so. The best way would be to do calculation of the selected folders as you mentioned in your posting to estimate the size of the backup. Backup exec has no way of really letting you know whether or not a backup job will fit on a tape or series of tape as it cannot account for the compression being applied by the hardware. 

  • HerbertK's avatar
    HerbertK
    Level 4
    12 years ago

    Kunal, what do you mean with "scan"? Does BE have some kind of scan modus/options to calculate at least the total size of selected files (without compression) ?  Then I can at least make some kind of estimation on the total amount of data. History showed me that the amount of  data I now have selected is about 290 GB befor compression (and will fit on a tape)

  • Kunal_Mudliyar1's avatar
    Kunal_Mudliyar1
    Level 6
    12 years ago

    Sorry was been not very clear

    Scanning means calculate and display in the job log the data which was backed up

    BE will also scan the data to display the percentage indicators in the job monitor

    However there is no way we can tell how much data will be backed up .

    You have to test it out and make your strategy for future.

  • HerbertK's avatar
    HerbertK
    Level 4
    12 years ago

    Hmm, so the way I did this is the only way to go??

    Would be a very nice feature if BE at least could calculate the total size of folders/files selected via the tickboxes (before compression)...

  • Kunal_Mudliyar1's avatar
    Kunal_Mudliyar1
    Level 6
    12 years ago

    Thanks for the suggestion

    You can post all your valuable suggestions in the submit an idea section.

    We will really appreciate it.

    https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/backup-and-recovery/ideas