Changes-only restore

[Brian K]

It's not as though the entire image was being restored.

But it is. 26.6 GB plus 386,968 KB is being restored.

Your Macrium example is most likely a Delta restore. You could try this test. Do it manually. Create a new full image with IFW and in Options select...

Use Metadata Hash files
Faster Changes Only Backup

Then create a Changes only Backup and select this option...

Use Metadata Hash files

Then restore the Changes Only backup using these Options...

Write Changed Sectors Only
Metadata Based Restore

Speaking of speed, I restored a 28.6 GB image in 15 seconds with IFW and in 10 seconds using IFL. And that was with the Source and Target partitions on the same drive. That would have slowed it down.

[Brian K]

On another computer, a 107 GB image was restored in 9 seconds using IFL. Metadata restore, NVMe to NVMe.

[n8chavez]

Well I'm at a loss. I got no where near the results you did. As a test, I wanted to see what my restore times would be SSD to SSD. The result was, it was slower than HHD to SSD. This was using the same exact settings for both ; meta restore enable, write changes-only enabled.

Full Restore SDD to SSD.png (55.62 KiB) Viewed 10182 times

The restore from the HHD to the SSD, which is my normal method, was twice as fast.

Full Restore HDD to SSD.png (53 KiB) Viewed 10182 times

Here were the settings I used for both restores.

Restore conf.png (64.21 KiB) Viewed 10182 times

I'm at a complete loss to explain this. Do you have any ideas, or is this just computer @#!$?

[Brian K]

Nate, that's unexpected....

HD to NVMe 1:46
SSD to NVMe 5:07

Does anyone have an explanation?

Can you try one more test? Use IFL to do the restore. I'd be most interested to see both times using IFL instead of IFW.

[n8chavez]

I can, but not tonight. That'll be a chore; every iso, wim, bin, and uefi partition is based on ifw. I've never really used ifl, and would need to build the pe/re/wim first.

This, right here, is why I'm so frazzled. Things that work for everyone else don't seem to work for me, and I can never explain why.

[Brian K]

You can build the IFL UFD from the IFL folder in the IFW install. Double click makedisk.exe. It will only take a few minutes and you are ready to boot the UFD. See below for makedisk.exe instructions...

My folder is "C:\Program Files (x86)\TeraByte Drive Image Backup and Restore Suite\IFL"

To save a few brain cells if you are unfamiliar with IFL. Boot IFL UFD
Restore
Normal
File (Direct)
Linux
Select Backup drive
Browse to the backup
Single Pass
Select the partition to restore
Linux
Select the target drive
Select the partition to restore into
Yes
Choose the 2 Options
Start

[Brian K]

Edit...

After double clicking makedisk.exe choose...

Traditional - You have control over options (Custom)
Align partitions on 1 MiB Boundaries
Ignore next screen
Ignore ifl.ini screen
License name and Key
Boot Option Mounting Accept
Boot Option Scripting Accept
BootIt License and Key
Select the drive letter of your UFD
Accept the USB layout
Finish

[n8chavez]

I chose the ventoy method. I just dropped the .iso on my flash and let ventoy do the work. I successfully restored my system partition in ifl using the same settings as before. The screenshot below represents NVMe to NVMe. It was faster, but no where near the speeds you say you can get. Please forgive the screenshot. I didn't have access to my usual tools, so I had to take a picture with my phone and resize it to something acceptable for this forum.

20240830_002011.jpg (126.4 KiB) Viewed 10149 times

[Brian K]

Ventoy has done the job. Although I think Mr.X said it's not as fast as the dedicated UFD. I'll ask him.

1:28 isn't great for a NVMe to NVMe metadata restore. We don't have an answer for you.

[n8chavez]

I know. Therein lies the maddening problem.