IFD "wipe unused sectors" option
Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2018 7:09 pm
I have backed up my entire HD drive (one primary partition) after a clean Windows 7 installation (+ drivers & updates). Since then, I installed a LOT of programs, but now I want to restore to the same hard disk.
Then I will install Office and backup again.
Should I also check the "wipe unused sectors" during the clean Windows restore? At first sight it seems that it shouldn't matter, but since the restore state would use less hard disk than the already used, wouldn't it leave the rest of the disk show as "used" (sectors), so a future backup (after Office) would result in a much larger image file?
What I mean: let's say I'm now using 100GB (out of 320GB) HD space. Then after the clean Windows restore (10GB) plus Office and other essentials (say another 10GB), will the rest 80GB (up to the previous 100GN used size) get detected as used in a future backup? Will the future backup be of 100GB image size?
And if yes, would the "wipe unused sectors" write zeros before the clean Windows restore, so only 10GB of data show as used in HD? Then add Office and essential installations of another 10GB and the HD usage will be only 20GB with the rest sectors zeroed and thus the final new backup will result in an only 20GB image file?...
Then I will install Office and backup again.
Should I also check the "wipe unused sectors" during the clean Windows restore? At first sight it seems that it shouldn't matter, but since the restore state would use less hard disk than the already used, wouldn't it leave the rest of the disk show as "used" (sectors), so a future backup (after Office) would result in a much larger image file?
What I mean: let's say I'm now using 100GB (out of 320GB) HD space. Then after the clean Windows restore (10GB) plus Office and other essentials (say another 10GB), will the rest 80GB (up to the previous 100GN used size) get detected as used in a future backup? Will the future backup be of 100GB image size?
And if yes, would the "wipe unused sectors" write zeros before the clean Windows restore, so only 10GB of data show as used in HD? Then add Office and essential installations of another 10GB and the HD usage will be only 20GB with the rest sectors zeroed and thus the final new backup will result in an only 20GB image file?...