Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
Anyone familiar with Oops!Backup?
Simon(Altaro):
Hi Armando,
I am one of the developers of Oops!Backup and I wanted to give you some more information regarding the RAM requirements. We have performed many tests to ensure that Oops!Backup is not using extra RAM. Keep in mind that there is always a balance between better performance and low system requirements.
RAM Requirements
Normally you should be seeing this RAM Usage:
Oops!Backup Manager - around 50 MB of RAM
Oops!Backup Engine - around 23 MB of RAM
Oops!Backup VSS Service - around 10 MB of RAM.
We have noticed though that on Windows 7 systems with a large amount of RAM (3GB +) Oops!Backup uses more RAM. Compared to a Windows 7 machines with 1GB RAM we see that the 3GB system can use up to twice as much RAM. We have tested this with Performance Monitor and noticed that in Windows 7 when the system is running out of RAM then then Oops!Backup suddenly uses less RAM. Also after leaving the system idle for a long period of time (0.5 - 1 hours) in Windows 7 Oops!Backup suddenly starts using much less RAM. For example we see the Manager going down to 5/10 MB of RAM. As soon as the UI of Oops!Backup is used then this jumps backup to 25MB and then to 50MB as the manager and backintime screens are loaded.
Also after a backup using ReverseDelta for large files (eg. PST) then you may see the Engine shoot up to 100MB of RAM. This will only occur if the system has available RAM and will eventually be release once the backup has been completed. This may not be release immediately but will be released when needed.
The point that I am trying to make is that we are sure that there are no Memory Leaks / Excessive RAM usage. The more RAM available on a windows 7 machine the more RAM that is used. When RAM is required for other applications then Oops!Backup will use less.
That being said we are always trying to reduce the resources that we use without effecting performance :) In fact you can see that we managed to keep the CPU usage as low as possible.
Restore Issue
I also wanted to make a quick not regarding the restore issue that you had. Oops!Backup will never overwrite the original file when restoring unless you enable the "Overwrite" checkbox manually. It also allows for a Full Preview which restores the file to a temporary folder and opens it for you to check whether it is the correct version. Finally if you set your backup frequency to every 5 minutes the previous version will never be older than 5 minutes as long as you keep on saving the file.
VSS Issue
Finally please note that VSS allows for the backup of locked and open files, but the file still needs to be saved before Oops!Backup can back it up. Therefore if you are working on a word document Oops!Backup will backup the document while it is open but will only backup the last saved version of the file. Therefore CTRL-S remains very important :)
I hope this helps and that you will continue to use Oops!Backup.
Thanks,
Simon (Altaro Software)
Armando:
Hi Simon,
Thanks a lot for taking the time to address these issues here.
You might be "right on all points" but, I'm not entirely convinced though.
If you re-read my (long) posts carefully, you'll see your explanations aren't completely following my argumentation and some important details are missing.
I'll try to keep it short.
RAM
First, I do understand these RAM things. Maybe not as an assembly programmer, but I dot get the general idea. I've read/heard the "unused RAM is wasted RAM" thousands of times, I do get it (even if I haven't always found it true in terms of performance -- more flushing, more disc I/O, more paging... but who am I to find that an app consumes a lot of RAM, right ?). I find that because of that maxim all apps now miraculously use just the right amount of RAM, no more, no less, as long as there are no leaks. :)
Second, I've never seen the RAM figures you talk about. Even at mere start up and when it's hidden in the sys. tray. BUT, yes I've got 3GB installed, but win XP, not Vista, not Windows 7. [Anybody can look at my screenshot on the altaro forum]
Third, RAM usage always stayed relatively high even when I overloaded my system with other active processes (for testing purposes). Didn't see Oops!Backup release it, ever. However, it's possible that it eventually would, and I welcome any user here to post a screenshot with their RAM more than maxed out and Oops having released it for some other apps to benefit.
Fourth, I really don't mind if RAM fluctuates, it's a fact of life, so I didn't complain about that. Only about average RAM usage.
Restore Issue
Yes, as I said to Julian, I now understand all that. I said here that I was stupid, that it was mostly my fault, etc. (readers can witness), but that wasn't the only problem. It was also a date discrepancy problem. See VSS matters etc. and please see my screenshot at the altaro Forum.
VSS Issue
Thanks for the info, but if you reread what I wrote, you'll see that I understand that, and there.s 99% chance that the problem wasn't that I didn't save my code. The problem is most probably that the VSS malfunctioned, so file wasn't backed-up. There was a quick message about VSS malfunction at some point during the night. The problem is that the restore window didn't reflect that. The last backup that worked for in use files was there, sure, but nothing on the file didn't reflected the fact that one or two were skipped. The date from the tab indicated that files were last backed up at such time "today" when the file was last backed up "Yesterday".
Don't worry, I'd happily admit that I didn't save my stuff at all, and that's why it happened. But, you don't have to believe it, but I'm a compulsive ctrl-s person. If I look at the AutoVer folders right now, I see that I saved my project probably about once every 5 min in the last few days. That's a a good average IMO. I even press ctrl-s when I don't need to sometimes, and unwanted stuff happens (like in Firefox when I write a message... nope, don't want to save the web page!).
And then there are the other issues : Hard Drive filling up incredibly rapidly (backup every 5 min would be absolutely unthinkable here... I mean, in the same day, MB went up very fast). Maybe for some special folders.... this is linked to the full file backup duplication issue.
I won't go through the whole thing again to not annoy anybody. Oops is good. But if you look at my other posts here you'll also see that there are a few features that I'd like to have (like storing versions on some archiving media)
Armando:
(BTW, when I'll have more time (which is not this week) I could try to re-create all the problems I mentioned... if you want. Especially the VSS problem/missing files + RAM usage, etc. I could screencast some and send them to your team.)
Simon(Altaro):
Hi Armando,
Thanks again for your help on this. It's strange that Oops!Backup is taking up so much RAM for you even on simple start-up. I have just checked on my system which is Windows 7 with 4GB RAM and you can see much lower RAM usage in the attached screenshot. I agree with your points about the RAM fluctuating etc. I wish we could figure out why your RAM requirements are higher from startup.
Regarding the date discrepancy if a few files are skipped due to being locked then Oops!Backup still considers that as a successful backup. Therefore the timestamp will still show up in the backintime browser. There is a way to protect against this:
From the Advanced Settings in the Manager window -
- Enable VSS
- Disable "Backup anyway if VSS fails".
This way you would have been given a backup failure message instead of a warning.
Again I hope this helps :) And thanks once again for all your help.
Thanks,
Simon
Simon(Altaro):
Hi Armando,
Just saw your second post now... Thanks for the offer. It would be best to contact us on our support email or forum.
Thanks,
Simon
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version