Shadow Copy

Question

Hello,

If i have a drive with capacity 1TB and the used space is 300GB, then i need to enable shadow copy.

For shadow copy i have some question :

1. Where actually the shadow copy stored? Example if he production data stored on E:\Test\1.txt will the copy of that file stored on same path?
2. If the production data is 300 GB then for one shadow copy i need 600 GB (300 GB production and 300 GB for the copy)?

Answer 1

1. Shadow copies are stored on a dedicated volume called the "shadow copy storage area". It is typically located on the same drive as the volume that is being shadowed but it can can also be located on a different drive.
   If the production data is stored on E:\Test\1.txt, the copy of that file will be stored in the System Volume Information folder. The shadow copy storage area will be located on the same drive as the E:\ drive, unless you have configured it to be located on a different drive.
2. The storage space required for shadow copies is not as much as creating a full duplicate of the data. Shadow copies use the Copy-on-Write mechanism. When a file changes, the original version of the file is stored in the shadow copy, and the modified version is stored elsewhere. This means you don't need an additional 300GB for each shadow copy.
   If your production data on the E: drive is 300GB, enabling shadow copies might initially consume some space, but it won't necessarily double the storage requirements. The actual space used will depend on how frequently your files change and the retention settings for shadow copies