Delta restore is now available!!!!

[al3x]

I just thought about the delta feature while testing around. One thing I'm still wondering is this:
When you dual-boot your PC and make some changes to the NTFS partitions from within Linux, does it still backup and restore all changes that were made outside of Windows?

So what I'm basically asking:

• Does HBS use any kind of drivers/services that need to be loaded in Windows to track changes correctly?
  
• Or does it figure out changes with the help of information from the Master File Table (MFT) or other NTFS properties?
  

I know that Macrium Reflect used to have problems with these scenarios because their changed block tracking wasn't perfect. I submitted a support ticket to them about this and they told me they couldn't fix it because it apparently was a bug within NTFS-3G (a linux driver) and they need to contact that developer. I never heard from support again and later versions somehow fixed that AFAIK.

During my testing I couldn't find any problems with HBS so far so I'm wondering how it's done.

Thanks and keep up the good work on this amazing tool!!

[Froggie]

I just thought about the delta feature while testing around. One thing I'm still wondering is this:
When you dual-boot your PC and make some changes to the NTFS partitions from within Linux, does it still backup and restore all changes that were made outside of Windows?

So what I'm basically asking:

• Does HBS use any kind of drivers/services that need to be loaded in Windows to track changes correctly?
  
• Or does it figure out changes with the help of information from the Master File Table (MFT) or other NTFS properties?
  

I know that Macrium Reflect used to have problems with these scenarios because their changed block tracking wasn't perfect. I submitted a support ticket to them about this and they told me they couldn't fix it because it apparently was a bug within NTFS-3G (a linux driver) and they need to contact that developer. I never heard from support again and later versions somehow fixed that AFAIK.

During my testing I couldn't find any problems with HBS so far so I'm wondering how it's done.

Thanks and keep up the good work on this amazing tool!!

In the history of "changed block tracking" (very limited # of apps using such a feature), the initial method did not use any sort of recording driver to determine changes, the app simply looked at cluster time stamps in the $MFT to determined if a cluster changed, then imaged only those clusters for their particular "delta restore" feature. Then they got pickier by developing drivers that kept track of actual sector changes... this allowed even smaller images as the whole cluster didn't need to be imaged, only the changed sectors.

I believe (only a guess here), since HBS uses no special changed block tracking driver, they are using the $MFT timestamp method for their DELTA operations.

[al3x]

I believe (only a guess here), since HBS uses no special changed block tracking driver, they are using the $MFT timestamp method for their DELTA operations.

Funny thing about this: HBS is faster in creating incremental images than Reflect, I can do incrementals in seconds and it's saving data at almost 4 GB/s in my test.
So if HBS really doesn't use any drivers for keeping track of changes, it probably should never do so. It just works

But let's wait for an official answer first 

[admin]

I believe (only a guess here), since HBS uses no special changed block tracking driver, they are using the $MFT timestamp method for their DELTA operations.

Funny thing about this: HBS is faster in creating incremental images than Reflect, I can do incrementals in seconds and it's saving data at almost 4 GB/s in my test.
So if HBS really doesn't use any drivers for keeping track of changes, it probably should never do so. It just works

But let's wait for an official answer first 

Yes, we don't use changed block tracking driver (We can't get the driver signing certificate, thanks Microsoft.), so we can only compare timestamps. In fact, there is another problem with using changed block tracking driver, there is no way to track block changes in Linux, unless the backup software provides a changed block tracking driver for Linux.

[al3x]

In fact, there is another problem with using changed block tracking driver, there is no way to track block changes in Linux, unless the backup software provides a changed block tracking driver for Linux.

Then Macrium probably uses a combination of both, CBT and timestamp method, to track changes. After making changes from within Linux, the first backup always takes forever for which their timestamp method implementation is probably to blame.

But still, HBS is faster than Reflect in comparing changes in incremental and differential backups (at least in v8, never tried v10), so it doesn’t really matter. And programs that would update sectors on the disk without touching timestamps hopefully don’t exist. I know of some old software activation methods that stored activation data hidden in some sectors on the disk, but that’s hopefully a thing from the past.