Backup service using full allocated disk space, not just what's used
I've recently re-joined Linode having been inactive for several months.
I've noticed that the backups taken of my Linodes state they're using the full space - 25GB for my Nanode, and 80GB for my 4GB Linode.
Last time I was here, this used to reflect the actual used disk space of the filesystem - circa. 12GB on my 4GB Linode.
Have things changed on the underlying backup storage? Does this mean they're now backing up the volume data (raw block data) as opposed to the ext3/4 filesystem data?
I know the backup system previously didn't support custom disks such as FreeBSD due to it not being an ext3/4 filesystem, just wondering if this has changed?
3 Replies
You write:
Have things changed on the underlying backup storage? Does this mean they're now backing up the volume data (raw block data) as opposed to the ext3/4 filesystem data?
I have observed the same thing. I would assume they are backing up the volume data.
I know the backup system previously didn't support custom disks such as FreeBSD due to it not being an ext3/4 filesystem, just wondering if this has changed?
I believe this is still the case.
-- sw
jdutton
Linode Staff
Hey @andysh - welcome back! Hope I can clear some of this up.
So the backups are still only comprised of the files/space used on your system (the backups themselves are file-based). The only difference now is that the Cloud Manager automatically expands your disk during the deployment of the backup. This means that the "space required" for deployment is the same amount that was allocated on the original disk from which the backup was taken.
This note is from our Backups guide:
When restoring to a new Linode, the size of the disk(s) created by the restore process will be equal to the amount of space allocated to the disk when the backup was created. In some cases, this means you may want to to reallocate disk space once the restore is complete.
You can see the amount of space allocated to your disk from your Linode's configuration profile tab.
Regarding FreeBSD: This is something that we've talked about internally for a long time, but there has been quite a bit more traction recently. It's still not something we offer for deployment, but we're hoping to make something happen in the future.
