Macrium Reflect 8.1 Image: What data is missing and where did it go

PowerSpec G355 Gaming Desktop PC
Windows 10 Pro, Ver. 22H2 (OS Build 19045.4170)
Macrium Reflect v8.1.7909 Date 11th March 2024
Image Date: 04-08-2024
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Howdy Folks

I'm looking for what changed with my weekly Macrium Reflect Backup Images [size from 98GB to 62GB] and what data is missing.

The attached screen-grabs tells the story: after the issue came up yesterday I ran a new image just now with no significant change.

Let me know if you'd like more information.

TIA to all who read this post and those who reply.
Cheers

@jdUnionngarden

It's probably not Macrium... it seems the "Used Space" on C:\ has dropped by 39GB. That's a pretty BIG drop.

Have you...

1. Deleted the... Windows.old folder?
2. Deleted another operating system?
3. Disabled a really big Hibernate?
4. Deleted a previous backup that you had saved on C:\ ?
5. Moved a seriously large folder or group of folders to a storage drive? Like 19... 2GB movies?
6. Uninstalled a really large game or program?
7. Changed the "backup Compression" in Macrium?

The default compression in Macrium is "Medium". Some folks set it to "None" to speed up the backups.
You, or something may have changed it from "None" back to the default of "Medium".

It's safe to say "No" to all 7 of Ghot's questions.
Since there are no quirky events to report, I'll sit tight for now and think over all comments here without making any changes yet.
Also: Staying tuned for any other replies.
Thanks to all.

jdUnionngarden said:

It's safe to say "No" to all 7 of Ghot's questions.
Since there are no quirky events to report, I'll sit tight for now and think over all comments here without making any changes yet.
Also: Staying tuned for any other replies.
Thanks to all.

Maybe try Option #3, here...

Clean Up Component Store (WinSxS folder) in Windows 10


I'm sorry but I can't think of anything else.

As others have mentioned, you can mount the two backups (one at a time), and "explore" them.
See if you notice any differences.

Tree Size (free) will show you where the extra 39GB is...






You can dig down into the images, to find the extra "obesity".
I just used the portable version of Tree Size (free), from here... (scans clean locally and at Virustotal)

Find Space Hogs with TreeSize Free | JAM Software




1. Right click your Macrium image and choose "Explore"
2. Wait for Macrium to assign it a drive letter.
3. Open Tree Size (as Admin), and browse to the new drive letter (N:\ in my case)
...and this is what I see. Of course... you can dig down in Tree Size to see where the difference in your two images, is located.







NOTE: I don't know if this matters, but on Win 11... I noticed that Microsoft has once again, turned ON System Restore.
It added 5GB to my "Used Space" on my C:\ drive. :/

It might also have been Tree Size that turned System Restore ON.

You could run Wise Disk Cleaner to see what 'rubbish' it finds to delete which may be taking up that huge amount of space but take care what you permit it to delete.

Ghot said:

It's probably not Macrium... it seems the "Used Space" on C:\ has dropped by 39GB. That's a pretty BIG drop. Have you.......

jdUnionngarden said:

It's safe to say "No" to all 7 of Ghot's questions.
Since there are no quirky events to report, I'll sit tight for now and think over all comments here without making any changes yet.
Also: Staying tuned for any other replies.
Thanks to all.

Ghot is absolutely correct, the big drop in image size is due to there being less on the C: drive to back up.

Ghot said:

As others have mentioned, you can mount the two backups (one at a time), and "explore" them.
See if you notice any differences.

Tree Size (free) will show you where the extra 39GB is...

The best way to identify what has disappeared from C: is to mount one of the older/larger images and compare it with the current C: drive. TreeSize Free is a great tool for this. With TreeSize Free opened twice, sorted by '% of parent' and displayed as side-by-side windows the discrepancy should stick out like a sore thumb.

Here's one of mine where C: is the current C: drive and E: is the mounted Macrium image of the drive made two months ago. I do know exactly why today's C: drive is some 22GB less than it was a couple of month ago, I've been deliberately tidying it up.

1. I'll mount 2 versions of C: for a quick look-see.

2. Then, likely will install TreeSize Free to see what I can glean from that.

3. Thanks Ghot for mentioning System Restore. I *use to* use it regularly. Just checked and see that a new Restore Point was added Apr 6th when I updated my Garmin GPS with Garmin Express. I may give that a try.

4. Please Advise: as a last resort: Will my Macrium Rescue Boot save/keep all my personal data while reloading Windows 10? If so I could re-install my March 31 image. And, I also regularly save all important new/changed files on a separate USB thumb drive so I could replace them as needed.

Again, Thanks for all!