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Sector by Sector Backup Speed for empty sectors.

My SSD C drive uses approximately 85 GB of the 200 GB partition. If I resize the partition to 100GB, will a Full Sector by Sector image file be smaller and take less time to create? in other words, does AOMEI process empty sectors faster than used sectors in an SxS backup?

If so, I will down size the C drive and leave the space to the right unallocated until need.

Comments

  • Checking intelligent sector backup option will only backup data https://www.backup-utility.com/help/intelligent-sector.html?hot=true so reducing the partition size will not matter.
  • Thanks Flyer, but I'm still confused. That link says "Make an Exact Backup: this method is also called Sector by Sector Mode. This will back up all sectors of the disks or partitions whether they are in use or not." So I'm still wondering if large blocks of empty sectors will be compressed into a smaller size and quicker image.
  • Make an exact backup is the second option. You want to use the first option which is intelligent sector backup (recommended). Your backup size and speed of backup will only depend on how much data is being backed up.
    There is no real reason to backup all sectors for a normal disk or system backup. Sector by sector will backup up everything on your drive like hibernate files, etc that an intelligent backup won't. You don't need these to restore your system.
     Just use first option and don't worry about it.
  • Flyer, thanks for the help. I did a system backup and separate data backup; cumulative file size and time was 55GB and 7 minutes. In contrast, the whole disk backup was 75 GB and 12 minutes. One key point you brought out that I had not considered was that a sector backup would include the hiberfil and pagefile (and swapfile) files unnecessarily.

    When I install a backup program, I really kick the tires and prove to myself that I can do a full recovery from boot disks and backup disks. I don't want to find out I didn't use the program right - after my computer crashes.
  • Congrats! You've done exactly what I recommend to anyone running a backup program. Make a rescue disk, be sure you can boot from it and run a test restore to a spare drive. Without doing that, you have no idea if what you are doing will work when you need it.
    The difference in size for your backups is a System backup only images the partitions you would need to restore to a running system. A Disk backup will backup all partitions on the drive, ie…a factory recovery partition and any data partitions. Be careful if you do have a data partition, you would want to back that up also. The recovery partition isn't necessary.
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