Incremental Backups for Win7 x64 on 2x SSD RAID0

[magnosis]

I figured it was time to upgrade the firmware on my OCZ Vertex drives, and take full advantage of the TRIM functionality.

First thing to do is to backup my data - in this case, my OS partition.

I yet have to find out the best way to image this RAID0, OS partition.

Initial thoughts:
- I need to be able to restore the entire OS partition to a RAID-0 array.
- The backup target can be a spindle hdd, raid-0 of sorts, or a new SSD (the later would speed up the backup/restore process)
- Restoration must be possible on a same-size, or larger RAID-0 array
- Windows 7 backup doesn't support RAID0 too well
- Acronis might work; I'm not 100% sure it's SSD/RAID0 friendly either
- I never liked Norton products at all.

Preferred way of backing up:
1. Automated incremental backups running in the background.
2. Manual, incremental backup I can run weekly/monthly
3. Automated, full image backup running weekly/monthly
4. Manual, full image backup.

I don't like manual backups because I have a tendency to lazy off and forget to do them.
I don't like full backups because it's a lot of redundant writing to the target drive (especially for an OS partition where files don't change as frequently as a data partition)


I'd appreciate any advice (or pointers to other threads.. this must have been answered before, either I'm blind or suck at Google'ing this morning)

Thanks in advance.

 

[RebateMonger]

Where are you seeing that Win7 won't support backup/restore of a RAID 0 boot array? I don't know why Win7's system image backup wouldn't be able to backup/restore the system. You'd feed it the RAID controller drivers in the very beginning so it can see the RAID array and it should restore.

 

[coolVariable]

I figured it was time to upgrade the firmware on my OCZ Vertex drives, and take full advantage of the TRIM functionality.

First thing to do is to backup my data - in this case, my OS partition.

I yet have to find out the best way to image this RAID0, OS partition.

Initial thoughts:
- I need to be able to restore the entire OS partition to a RAID-0 array.
- The backup target can be a spindle hdd, raid-0 of sorts, or a new SSD (the later would speed up the backup/restore process)
- Restoration must be possible on a same-size, or larger RAID-0 array
- Windows 7 backup doesn't support RAID0 too well
- Acronis might work; I'm not 100% sure it's SSD/RAID0 friendly either
- I never liked Norton products at all.

Preferred way of backing up:
1. Automated incremental backups running in the background.
2. Manual, incremental backup I can run weekly/monthly
3. Automated, full image backup running weekly/monthly
4. Manual, full image backup.

I don't like manual backups because I have a tendency to lazy off and forget to do them.
I don't like full backups because it's a lot of redundant writing to the target drive (especially for an OS partition where files don't change as frequently as a data partition)


I'd appreciate any advice (or pointers to other threads.. this must have been answered before, either I'm blind or suck at Google'ing this morning)

Thanks in advance.

1. RAID = no TRIM
2. Don't use Win7 backup (it's broken - took 50+ hrs to backup 650GB ... for most it simply fails after ~24hrs)
3. The biggest problem with image backups and SSDs is the alignment (which might get lost)

 

[magnosis]

From an unverified source :ninja:

"The problem appears to be more generic: Windows 7 Image Backup appears not to be able to recognize RAID disks. As part of an OS that is supposed to natively recognize them, hardware vendors are not putting out specific RAID drivers to work in Windows 7 recovery mode."

Can anyone confirm this ?

 

[magnosis]

1. RAID = no TRIM

Ah! Thanks. I didn't know that.

I just read a bit about this, and it's suggested to upgrade the OCZ Vertex firmware anyways to get the new Garbage Collection feature (which according to certain ppl is better/faster than TRIM)

2. Don't use Win7 backup (it's broken - took 50+ hrs to backup 650GB ... for most it simply fails after ~24hrs)

What do you suggest I use then ? Acronis ?

 

[FishAk]

Why do you have data on your OS partition? You should back up your data, but make an image of your OS. Keep you data and other unnecessary stuff out of your OS/programs partition so your image files aren't too big. Images can be fragile, so you need several instances, and they should all be originals.

If you move or defragment an image, they become unreliable, so I'm interested in knowing how they function after being stored in an SSD for some time. I expect them to have a high failure rate, but I could be wrong. I hope you report back with your experience.

I see lot's of trouble reported with Windows stock backup solutions. I recommend SyncToy for backups, and Macrium Reflect for images. Both are free. Keep at least 2 images on a dedicated partition on a spindle drive in case your other images fail.

Download the Paragon alignment tool to take care of any alignment issues. It's free till the end of this month.

 

[coolVariable]

Ah! Thanks. I didn't know that.

I just read a bit about this, and it's suggested to upgrade the OCZ Vertex firmware anyways to get the new Garbage Collection feature (which according to certain ppl is better/faster than TRIM)

That should not make any difference, should it? ... since the manual garbage/wipe tool is run "manually".

 

[lsv]

1. RAID = no TRIM
2. Don't use Win7 backup (it's broken - took 50+ hrs to backup 650GB ... for most it simply fails after ~24hrs)
3. The biggest problem with image backups and SSDs is the alignment (which might get lost)

Worked fine for me, took 10 minutes to back up my 80gig X-25M.

edit - let's see if it works though

 

[coolVariable]

Worked fine for me, took 10 minutes to back up my 80gig X-25M.

edit - let's see if it works though

Win7 backup only works for up to 50-100GB of data ... past that it seems impossible to use.