Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
Shut Up About Vista, Already
Carol Haynes:
Not sure this is true but it would be logical to have VSC available to other third party applications (such as Genie Backup or Acronis TrueImage) but only natively available in Ultimate via the Vista backup utility (effectively part of the extra cost of Ultimate is that you are buying a built in disk imaging solution).
It would be a bit of a step back if it was disbaled in Vista since it was present in XP !!
Assuming Vista uses VSC in the same way as XP it shouldn't cause excessive disk activity (in fact it shouldn't cause any at all because until you use it there should be no file monitoring going on). AIUI it is just a method of taking a snapshot of files that are in use at a particular time so that if you backup you get a consistent image or archive. Without VSC you would not be able to consistently backup up files that are in use because files may change during the backup process.
cranioscopical:
Yeah - my mum was complaining on the phone about heavy snow falls in Bracebridge (she hates the snow with a vengence). Where are you based in S. Ontario? I will be coming over some time next year - maybe we should organise a DC get together in Ontario !
-Carol Haynes (December 02, 2007, 03:54 AM)
--- End quote ---
We're near to Port Hope and Cobourg, about 1.5 hours drive due east of Toronto and about 2.5 hours from Bracebridge.
We had a balmy November so the advent of snow is doubly unwelcome. After 30 years here I'm still dismayed by the winters.
(We usually visit Bracebridge during the summer and lunch by the water. Let us know when you finalize your plans and we'll organize something.)
nontroppo:
It would be a bit of a step back if it was disbaled in Vista since it was present in XP !!
Assuming Vista uses VSC in the same way as XP it shouldn't cause excessive disk activity (in fact it shouldn't cause any at all because until you use it there should be no file monitoring going on).-Carol Haynes (December 03, 2007, 08:41 AM)
--- End quote ---
The article read otherwise, in that Vista needs to scan files for changes:
With the virtual copy of your HD shadow copies has created, previous versions will simply check each and every file if it has changed since it was last backed up. If so, a backup copy is saved. This will also be true for directories but only changes will be saved.
--- End quote ---
If that is done on a schedule, it is still going to cause some overhead, especially when those backed up versions cannot be accessed unless you buy a new OS or specific 3rd-party app.
I forget now, but thought volume shadow copy service was set to manual in XP by default so it is not running until it is activated in some way.
Ralf Maximus:
I'd be shocked if VSC wasn't present and running in Vista, since the backup function relies on it, right?
Carol Haynes:
It would be a bit of a step back if it was disbaled in Vista since it was present in XP !!
Assuming Vista uses VSC in the same way as XP it shouldn't cause excessive disk activity (in fact it shouldn't cause any at all because until you use it there should be no file monitoring going on).-Carol Haynes (December 03, 2007, 08:41 AM)
--- End quote ---
The article read otherwise, in that Vista needs to scan files for changes:
With the virtual copy of your HD shadow copies has created, previous versions will simply check each and every file if it has changed since it was last backed up. If so, a backup copy is saved. This will also be true for directories but only changes will be saved.
--- End quote ---
If that is done on a schedule, it is still going to cause some overhead, especially when those backed up versions cannot be accessed unless you buy a new OS or specific 3rd-party app.
I forget now, but thought volume shadow copy service was set to manual in XP by default so it is not running until it is activated in some way.
-nontroppo (December 03, 2007, 10:21 AM)
--- End quote ---
Backup has to scan files for change if you are doing an incremental or differential backup - how else is it going to do it? The only reason Backup should cause disk chattering when you are not actually performing a backup is if Vista Backup tries to continually keep tabs on which files have changed since last backup - but that is not the way MS has done it in the past (they simply marked files with an attribute to say it needed backing up) and I'd be surprised if that has been introduced with Vista as it is a pretty stupid way of doing it!
VSC doesn't have anything to do with that (or at least it didn't in XP) as it is purely to enable backing up files that are in use. AIUI the way it works in XP is that at the time a backup is requested it redirects all disc writes during the backup process to alternate versions of files that are in use which are maintained by VSC and when the backup completes up to date versions of those files are written back to disk so that you don't lose data. That way VSC stops the data you are backing up from being altered whilst the backup is running but still allows you to carry on working on your system while the backup is still incomplete. The backup will consist of files in the state they were at when VSC was initiated (ie. the start of the backup process) all changes to files on your disc during the backup are not backed up until next time you do a backup. (Sorry that got a bit convoluted but I think it makes sense - just).
Consequently the only time VSC should actually be doing anything is during the backup process - and even then it only maintains copies of files that are in use - disc activity should be minimal unless you choose to pound your system during a backup process.
Now if you schedule a backup the hard disc will chatter away throughout - how else can it do a backup?
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