Server 2003 incremental backups using ntbackup are too large

Question

I have a week day nightly incremental backup that compliments my once a week full backup but even when I know very few files have not been modified since the last incremental or full backup, a substantial amount is always backed up! It seems to be always around 700 MB. Before you jump the conclusion it is my mailbox's I do exclude my exchange MDB data, here is the command and arguments:

START ntbackup backup "@C:\Backup Scripts\FullBackupSelection.bks" /F "G:\IncrementalBackup1.bkf" /FU /V:no /R:no /L:s /M incremental

UPDATE: FullBackupSelection.bks:

C:\
C:\Program Files\Exchsrvr\MDBDATA\ /Exclude
D:\
D:\Exchsvr\ /Exclude
SystemState

I am running MS Server 2003 for Small Business Server SP2.

Is there more to your backup selections? It doesn't appear like you are including anything. — Zoredache, Sep 23 '10 at 01:15

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 23 '10 at 01:20

It isn't clear to me if the backup selections you mention is complete. But if I was wildly speculate based on the size of your backup I would bet that your backup selections include the SystemState.

A system state backup cannot be incremental. It also happens to take up about about 700MB on a small domain.

Server 2003 incremental backups using ntbackup are too large

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