How large should backup files be for NT8?

[brownsfan019]

I recently noticed I was running out of hard drive space on a computer that I keep clean, but I use Dropbox to back it up.

Finally found the NT8 backup folder that is filled with files, many that are 50GB and larger!

Is this normal? Is there a setting that I can change so I back up the important stuff but don't kill my hard drive in the process?

ty!

[brucerobinson]

I don’t have access to NT atm so this is from memory:
- when you back up, you get a selection menu of what you wish to include. Select only data-light user-specific. There’s one which dwarfs the others in size stored. Sorry can’t be more specific but try each option separately and look at the file size it produces (you should be able to get mb file size, not Gb!)

You can change the backup directory path to a location with more space, rather than the default backup folder location

A supplementary fyi - the Workspace recovery feature in NT8 does the same thing (maybe for the same reasons as backup files - storing data for recovery), so you end up with numerous Workspace recovery files taking up Gb of your installation directory too over time. Take a look to see if you want/need them
KR

[jeronymite]

Although not always guaranteed to be up-to-date (though usually is), always worth trying the online Help. Here's the Help for Creating a Backup Archive.

The "big" items tend to be Database, Historical chart data, Log and Trace files, Market replay. Best to select only those categories that you really need to be able to restore. Unless you have a specific need to save data, it's not worth doing that -- the platform will reload recent data from your valid Connections if the accumulated data files are deleted for any reason. Similarly, if you're not concerned with the other "big" categories "disappearing" on, for example, a re-install, don't bother with them.

Thanks.

[Rainmakersg]

Hi, I have backed up and reinstalled NT8 many many times, emailed customer service many times and I am sharing this "hack" from experience.

I backup manually using the File Explorer. Directory is: Documents/Ninjatrader 8

For me, the relevant sub folders that I back up are only the following 3:
- bin
- templates
- workspaces

I have used NT 8 for years. I have more than 100 unused indicators saved in bin and for rmy case, the 3 folders add up to less than 200 Mb. Reason is all the indicators, templates and workspaces are all text files that don't take up a lot of space.

The folder that takes up the most space is the db folder. This is all the historical data downloaded by NT8. The longer you have used NT8, the bigger this file will be, To me, these can be downloaded when you reinstall Ninjatrader. So it is a waste of space backing it up.

Assuming you change a computer, all you need to do is install NT8 into the new computer and copy the above 3 sub folders to the new computer and it will work.

[brownsfan019]

Ty for the help!!

I remember what happened now -- I was doing the smaller backups and then needed to move my NT to a laptop because I was having surgery last October. No matter how many times I tried to import that smaller file, it never worked. When I added in everything that you could check, it worked.

But... I never un-checked those items post-surgery.

I couldn't tell you why it wouldn't work and NT email support had no idea so this was the best solution I could come up with so I could use my laptop.

[NinjaTrader_Zachary]

Hello brownsfan019,

Thank you for your post and thanks everyone for all of the community activity in assisting!

As the users here mentioned, if you are seeing an exponentially large backup file, it's likely just a few particular items that are contributing the most. Historical chart data, market replay, and log & trace files generally consume the most space and are not necessary to restore your vital user data such as configuration information, NinjaScript files, workspaces, templates, etc. While there may be some situations where you'd want to retain the market replay files or historical chart data files (such as if you have chart data and replay data saved on your PC that you cannot replace otherwise), these items can generally be excluded to control the size of the file.