How does RollBack Rx use disk space, RollBack Rx?

Unlike conventional backup/recovery solutions, RollBack Rx protects the system and data without creating duplicated copies of the files.It's a pioneering concept, it is very often a confusing idea to many users who are used to how backup/recovery solutions work. The following questions and answers outlines the fundamental ideas of how RollBack Rx uses disk space.

How much disk space do I need to setup RollBack Rx?

RollBack Rx protects the system and data in real time without creating duplicate copies, it doesn't take or reserve a lot of disk space to setup. RollBack Rx takes about 0.07% of hard disk space plus another 10 or 20MB for help and other graphic files to setup.

For example

1. You have a 10GB hard drive with 5GB data and 5GB free space.

2. RollBack Rx setup would take about 20MB disk space (10000MB*0.07%=7 MB, the other 10-20MB for help files, graphics and etc).

3. After setup RollBack Rx, you would have about 4.98GB free space.

How much disk space do I need to take a snapshot?

The space taken by a new snapshot is amount of data that's added (changed) since last snapshot, which is also the size of the snapshot as shown in RollBack Rx Snapshot Management console.

For example

1. You install RollBack Rx, setup creates a baseline snapshot, and you have 5GB free space.

2. You install Microsoft Office 2003, it takes about 800MB. You have 4.2GB free space.

3. You take a snapshot "Office-snapshot", the size of this snapshot is 800MB. You have about 4.2GB free space. (Note RollBack Rx didn't take any additional disk space to take this snapshot)

How can I delete files and free disk space from snapshots?

To free disk space from snapshots, you must meet one condition: the files are not in any snapshots. The rule of thumb is that if a file is no where to be found, it shouldn’t take any disk space. But if it’s found in a snapshot, it will take disk space.

For example

1. You install RollBack Rx, setup creates a baseline snapshot, and you have 5GB free space.

2. You install Microsoft Office 2003, it takes about 800MB. You have 4.2GB free space.

3. You take a snapshot "Office-snapshot"; the size of this snapshot is 800MB. You have about 4.2GB free space.

4. You uninstall Office 2003, it removes all the office files. (The free space is still 4.2GB, because the office files are in “office-snapshot”. If you restore to the “office-snapshot”, Office 2003 will be there; therefore, it’s on the hard drive).

5. You take a snapshot "no-office"; the space taken by this snapshot is almost nothing, because no data has been added since last snapshot. You have about 4.2GB free space.

6. You delete snapshot "office-snapshot". At this point, we only have Baseline snapshot which does not have Office 2003 and "no-office" snapshot which does not have Office 2003. So the 800MB space used by Office 2003 should be freed.

7. Run snapshot defragmenter. The free space should be about 5GB.

I deleted a snapshot, ran snapshot defragmenter, but free space remains unchanged. What's wrong?

It's very likely the snapshot you just deleted has children snapshots which inherited the data.

For example

1. You install RollBack Rx, setup creates a baseline snapshot,and you have 5GB free space.

2. You install Microsoft Office 2003, it takes about 800MB.

3. You take snapshot "Office-snapshot", the size of this snapshot is 800MB. You have about 4.2GB free space.

4. You then take a new snapshot "new-snapshot"; "new-snapshot" is a child snapshot of "office-snapshot". There is no data added since "office-snapshot", so the size of "new-snapshot" is almost nothing. You have about 4.2GB free space.

5. You delete "office-snapshot", run snapshot defragmenter. But the free space is still at 4.2GB, no free space gained from deleting snapshot "office-snapshot". This is because the "new-snapshot" has the Office 2003 files, the space taken by Office 2003 cannot be freed