I was having some trouble with system state backups and deduplicating the resultant VHD files on a NetApp controller. When I put a single system state backup onto the storage I was getting around 7% space back on the volume. The backup was around 7GB in size since it was just a lab system. Having put another system state backup from the same system I didn't see any benefits which, if you know the process, instantly shouts alignment at you. Well, I deleted the copy and did a backup of another DC and re-ran a full volume deduplication. The returned space was a mere 5%, hardly a compelling story.
At a time when I was thinking that the VHDs may have been the problem I hit upon the idea of putting two identical VHDs of 2008 R2 that are our sysprepped images. That's better, 55% deduplication. Now I'm copying a third one in there and will see what I get..
The problem exposes something wrong with the system state backup process of creating a VHD and laying the backed up files "inside" it. Going to see who I can ask but I'm not sure where to start!
Image 1. Two Sysprepped VHD files in the volume.
Image 2. Three Sysprepped VHD files in the volume.
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