Further testing reveals that if "Keep Bitlocker" is disabled for a system volume for an image based backup then the files c:\pagefile.sys, C:\swapfile.sys & c:\hiberfile.sys do indeed get excluded automatically for an image based backup which is good news for keeping your storage requirements as low as possible. It seems though that the option "Keep Bitlocker" is enabled by default so you have to remember to disable it when you create or deploy a backup job.

I'm still using version 6.3.8.12.

Just thought I'd add to this as I have a ticket open at the moment for a related issue.


Even though there is mention above and here: https://forum.msp360.com/discussion/360/windows-image-based-backup-keep-bitlocker about not being able to do "File Restores" I have a different experience of file restores on "Keep Bitlocker" backups of Bitlocked system drives. I have tested a "file restore" from an Image Backup (block level) and successfully restored a .png file (from my c:\temp folder) from my block level image backup created of a Bitlocked Encrypted system drive (C:) using the "Keep Bitlocker" option. Also I had AES256 turned on. It seems some clarification is needed here.

Yes it will not let you exclude any files/folders if "Keep Bitlocker" is enabled so it will back up things like c:\pagefile.sys, C:\swapfile.sys & c:\hiberfile.sys which can added up to 10+GB of space required for full image backups. This also makes block level backups much bigger.

In this thread (https://forum.msp360.com/discussion/comment/5170) it mentions pagefile.sys and Recycle bin being excluded automatically from the backups but this is not the case if "Keep Bitlocker" is enabled - hence larger backup storage being required. I'm not sure if any of the above files are even excluded even if "Keep Bitlocker" is disabled - maybe someone else can let me know.

When I went to do the restore it asked for my AES256 encryption key (success) and then for my Bitlocker (BL) key for which I gave my BL recovery key (success).

I can imagine corruption (confusion) may occur if the source drive bitlocker key changes between backups. I've not had any problems with restores when using "Keep Bitlocker" as long as you have your BL recovery keys!

I agree with not having "Keep Bitlocker" enabled unless you have a specific reason - the only reason I can think of is if you have tonnes of storage/fast network/fast internet!

The best I can see at the moment is to have "Keep Bitlocker" disabled and to exclude c:\pagefile.sys, C:\swapfile.sys & c:\hiberfile.sys to keep backup storage requirements to a minimum for image backups.

I'm currently using version 6.3.8.12.

Quite a few of our client sites are in rural locations and they don't have good enough bandwidth to do imaging to the cloud so traditional disk rotation is more appropriate. Additionally, for all clients, we like to backup (less frequently) to disk so we know we have some true air gapped backups off site, we also use drive rotation for this.

At this point I need to rotate hard drives. The reason I was hoping disk rotation was on the way is because I'd read between the lines in this thread. I made the assumption that the format changes you were referring to may be those being rolled out in v7.

Yes, after a bit more tinkering I got it!

Thanks for confirming.

Hi Matt

Win 10 Pro v1809 build 17763.557

I'll see if I can replicate and then send the logs.

I have just run into this problem.

Cloudberry prompts to install ADK when it's already installed if there is a pending Windows restart due to Windows updates.

A reboot fixes it (until the next Windows update).

Can this erroneous message be fixed please?