Incremental Backups of large files

June 27, 200619 yr

... There should really be a data backup section somewhere on this forum - there probably is and i just can't find it so chit chat shall be adequate.

Anyway, i want to do off site backups, issue is file is currently around 30mb, 10mb zipped on max compression and i realize that the file will be getting much larger (likely to span up to around 200mb). So my question is a) whether any one has had much luck with incremental backup software for particular files - running on the live file, or if i should simply try running it on a previous day's backup. My only concern is if it will backup the filemaker file correctly - Though it should work because in the end everything is binary... right?

Cheers,

~Genx

June 27, 200619 yr

Hmm, we should probably have something to chat about if were gonna be stuck in here. Seen any kangaroos lately?

Alright...

I think any backup of a modified FileMaker file would necessarily require the whole file to be replaced. If you haven't already, you could separate any static tables that don't need to be backed up, though this probably won't help much in the long run.

The alternative is to use a syncronization algorithm to add and remove changed records. I would stay away from such a syncronization scheme, as it adds complexity to the files, and that means more things can go wrong.

I'd handle the off-site backups by grabbing one of the Scheduled Backup folders (not the active databases).

June 27, 200619 yr

Author

So can i use the incremental on the previously backed up file? The issue is just that if i have 10 clients pushing in files of even 20mb a night, i'm in a bit of a jam..

Cheers Ender,

~Genx

June 27, 200619 yr

No. If a file is modified, the OS doesn't know what in the file's been modified, so no incremental backup is possible.

June 28, 200619 yr

Author

Are you a hundred % sure? It seems to work well with other files, and we are talking about software other than the OS here, i mean that's how some mirror software works isn't it? Just an incremental backup of a hard disk - implying only changes to files are recorded? I'm not questioning you i'm just trying to clarify.

Cheers