IDrive^® BMR’s Changed Block Tracking driver

IDrive BMR lets users perform an image backup of their computers. By default, the first backup is a full backup, and consecutive backups are incremental. Typically, during incremental backups, every block of data is checked for modifications which is time consuming. IDrive BMR, however, leverages the Changed Block Tracking (CBT) driver to identify and backup only the data blocks modified since the last backup.

The CBT driver, installed on your computer via the backup agent, tags modified blocks, thus marking them for backup. During an incremental backup, the backup agent uses these tags to identify the modified data blocks that need to be backed up to the IDrive BMR device.

Note: The CBT driver is installed via the backup agent and requires a system reboot to enable the drive. Click to view the CBT driver installation status on your computer.

Changed Block Tracking (CBT) driver boosts the user experience in the following ways:

• Reduces the volume of data queued for backup, resulting in faster incremental backups with shorter backup intervals
• Optimized network utilization

Note: If you force a full image backup the second time, a synthetic full backup is performed to save time and storage space.

Operating systems compatible with Changed Block Tracking driver

The CBT feature is supported by most latest operating systems. However, the CBT feature (via backup agent version 4 and older) is not supported for certain older operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and the 32-bit version of both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008R2.

Note: In case the operating system is not compatible with the Changed Block Tracking driver, regular incremental backup is performed.