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Backup Exec 15 backing up full vhdx, even though it's not full.

darran02
Level 2

Hello!

I have recently installed Backup Exec 15 and started to backup all my servers. They are all virtual machines running on Hyper-V. I noticed that the byte count on some backup jobs show that the whole virtual disk is backed up, even though the drive isn't full. All our disk are dynamically expanding virtual hard disks (vhdx). An example:

  • Byte Count: 1.99 TB
  • Elapsed Time: 1:10:00:53
  • Maximum Disk Size: 1.99 TB
  • Used space on disk according to VM: 110 GB
  • Actual size of vhdx file: 241,5 GB

I have another example where the values are about the same, but only 512 GB is allocated on the virtual disk. Can Backup Exec back up unallocated space? Is there a reason as to why the whole disk is backed up? Where does the extra data come from? Why is it taking so long to run these jobs? Any help or tips are appreciated!

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

BE will backup only the "used blocks" of the vhd / vhdx and not the empty space. This is called as Disk Optimization in BE terms. Have a look @ this KB article for certain scenarios where this will not work - https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.HOWTO99704.html

Secondly, instead of the job log, have a look @ the actual storage itself to verify what actual size was backed up.

 

 

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5 REPLIES 5

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

Hi,

 

Backup Exec will backup the fully-sized disk, including the white space.

Thanks!

darran02
Level 2

Is there a way to not back up the whole disk? Most other jobs only back up about 30 GB even though the disks have a maximum size much larger.

CraigV
Moderator
Moderator
Partner    VIP    Accredited

You'd have to do this via Remote Agent and only backup the files, which negates what you're trying to do with your backups if you're using the Hyper-V agent.

darran02
Level 2

I see. But why does most VMs not backup the full disk? For example, I have another VM (with agent for Windows insalled, as all other VMs), where Backup Exec backs up 36.5 GB, but the virtual disk has a maximum size of 512 GB, and a physical size of 85.72 GB. Why doesn't that job take 512 GB?

VJware
Level 6
Employee Accredited Certified

BE will backup only the "used blocks" of the vhd / vhdx and not the empty space. This is called as Disk Optimization in BE terms. Have a look @ this KB article for certain scenarios where this will not work - https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.HOWTO99704.html

Secondly, instead of the job log, have a look @ the actual storage itself to verify what actual size was backed up.