OK, I will try again. Please forgive me if this is driving me crazy, lol.
First, compression. Compression is either lossless or lossy. The latter only being used for types of graphics, audio or video. It is highly compressible because it loses data that is not regained. Lossless is what is used for data. It compresses less.
Zipping software such as Winzip, PKZIP, and the compression program in ACBU all use certain algorithms and methods to compress their data. 7-zip is one of the standards that can compress at a high level. Compression many times is not compatible with tape backup and will not always allow appending of data such as incremental and differential backups.
While zipping or compressing a file obviously makes it smaller it also allows uploading multiple files easier. If you have plenty of room on your backup device, compression takes longer and may not be necessary.
Encryption on the other hand is just that. It encrypts files so they can only be opened by those who made them, hopefully. It's really not important to encrypt files saved locally for obvious reasons. But, files going over the Internet should be encrypted. Both compression and encryption take time. Compression is generally done prior to encryption.
The type of file makes a big difference. A 3MB PDF may get compressed to 2.3MBs whereas a 7MB bitmap file will get compressed to 234KBs.
There are also other variables to consider. How long it takes to compress and encrypt depends on disk speed, processor speed and even RAM.
Using Backup Assist, a backup program which utilizes Microsoft's ntBackup is an extremely good backup program that can cost anywhere from $295 to over $1,000 depending on add-ons. Backing up the AC folder which had 22GB of data to the local drive took 13 minutes and compressed it to 17GBs. In contrast using ACBU to back up 4.7GB (sorry for the different sizes) to the desktop took 13 minutes and compressed to 3.9GBs. I would expect Backup Assist or any commercial backup program to have a more robust backup engine and perform better. But, the backup to the local drive is where it stops as far as the point here.
First, to clarify, ACBU DOES back up, compress and encrypt EVERYTHING needed to get back in business. That means IMPORTED ITEMS and the databases. Again, it does back up imported items if you want it to. And, no matter how big your Imported Items are, you can rest assured that while you sleep, ACBU will have plenty of time to put ALL of your needed files on the local or external or tape drive of your choice.
Now, can we all forget about ACBU and all backup programs for a second. Let's just say that we want to upload a file using FTP or another method to a server on the Internet. Let's say this file is 1.2GB. Now, you can compress it with any compression software you wish, but you probably won't get it any smaller than 1GB unless it is all bitmaps. OK, so we have 1GB. And, let's say your Time-Warner cable gives you 1Mb/s. That's a pretty good upload speed.
This will take 2 hours and 15 minutes.
A 4GB files will then take 9 hours.
So DocLon's statement that it took nearly two hours to upload nearly 1GB makes perfect sense. I would guess his upload speed is around 950KB/s.
There is no "bug" in the system. It is doing exactly what it is supposed to do. You can go to any number of backup offsite programs such as Mozy or Carbonite.com, etc.
Just for fun, I uploaded exactly 1GB of compressed data (1GB = 1GB whether it is compressed or not) to
www.box.com. I had a 1Mb/s connection speed and was able to upload it in exactly one and one-half hours. Why faster than the predicted. Probably due to fluctuating upload speed.
So, that is my point. Upload your Imported Items anyway you want offsite. It is going to take you a lot of time over an Internet connection. There just isn't that much bandwidth. So, ACBU has to
1. Shut down SQL server and find files
2. Compress files
3. Encrypt files
4. Upload the compressed and encrypted file
So, yes, ACBU will back up databases and/or images and/or imported items locally rather quickly (depending on size).
And, yes, ACBU will back up databases and/or images and/or imported items offsite rather slowly (depending on size).
I wish Paul were here to at least jump for glee that there is an actual backup program.
What I don't understand is before V4 we had V3 with ONLY offsite backup. And, of course, to upload a file you have to make it first so there was that benefit of having a compressed encrypted file (just like now) in the AC folder or sometimes located elsewhere. It was the exact same thing except for images. You could back up the databases offsite (took about three minutes) or you could back up both the databases and your imported items (took about one or two or three hours depending on the size of your imported items again. But, no one complained about how long it took to do an offsite backup. I guess this was because it cost $250 a year and no one did it or very few. It seems like only yesterday everyone was backing up their entire program to a flash drive and taking it home in his or her pocket.
Anyway, if anyone wants to check their upload speed at dslreports.com and give me the size of their backup including the imported items, I would be glad to calculate how much time it will take. But, I still don't see why everyone wants to backup offsite.
Bert, you've made it clear that one click backup of the entire chart (and imported items are indeed an important part of the chart)is not possible with AC Backup. I think most of us understand that with the affordability that we enjoy with AC we trade off some of the slick features of the more expensive programs. But this limitation can be relatively significant depending on how you practice and good to know about when making a decision about purchasing AC Backup.
I have never said, much less made it clear, that one click backup of the entire chart is not possible. It is completely possible. In fact that is what it does. Not sure where you are getting that from. It is possible to back it up with one click locally, and it is possible to back it up with one click offsite. It's just that you have to know that 1GB is going to take from 1.5 to 2 hours and 20GB is going to take 20 times that long or over a day. But, that would be true with ANY backup program. And, if what you are saying is that it only backs up the databases, _001Folder, and .xml file along with imported items, well that is all you need. But, if you really want it to back up ALL the files, then copy and paste the rest into a folder and put it in the ImportItems folder. It will then get backed up. But, that is not necessary.
There is nothing that AmazingCharts.com needs to tell anyone before they buy. There is nothing about this backup program that should make anyone wish to look at other programs.
I am really trying to be helpful here. That is why I am spending at least two hours timing and testing backups and writing this.
Maybe I am missing the point. That may very well be. If so, I am truly sorry and am certainly willing to listen to what I am missing. Until then, happy backups.
