Disk Repository

The sizing for the local disk repositories (DAS, SAN, NAS) differs based on the stored data. The given formulas are based on experiences but dependent on your individual data the real usage can vary.

Please also read about Teams data.

Exchange Data

The given formula applies to both item-level and snapshot based repositories.

For primary mailboxes

(Current primary mailboxes total size) + ((Daily change rate * 2) * (Days of retention)) + (10% working area)

For archive mailboxes

(Current archive mailboxes total size) + ((Daily change rate) * (Days of retention)) + (10% working area)

If you run an existing M365 or on-premise Exchange use the PowerShell commandlets Get-Mailbox and Get-MailboxStatistics on your infrastructure to get input to the following formulas.

You can get the Total size of current primary mailboxes with Get-Mailbox and Total size of current archive mailboxes with Get-Mailbox -Archive.

The following example returns the size of all primary mailboxes and can be adapted for archive mailboxes using the -Archive option:

Get-Mailbox | Get-MailboxStatistics | Select-Object DisplayName, ItemCount, TotalItemSize | Format-Table –autosize

In the field we experience typical daily change rates from 0.2 to 1%. For normal mailbox backups the change rate is multiplied by 2 because of archiving and file versioning which takes up additional backup space. More optimistically this factor can be also calculated with 1.5.

While processing the backups transaction protocols and database checkpoints can take up to 10% of the repository space which is calculated as the workspace.

SharePoint and OneDrive Data

You can view current and previous data usage for SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business in the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, e.g. for SharePoint at Reports > Usage > SharePoint > Site Usage > Storage. Be aware that this only reflects your current usage in the cloud and the backup on disk will be larger because of metadata and backed up item versions.

With this data you can estimate the daily change rate and the total source data size for this formula. Consider the “total data size” to be the size planned for (including growth & migrations) when calculating for repository size in the future.

The formula for SharePoint and OneDrive data is the same (OneDrive for Business is basically SharePoint under the hood).

(Total data size) + ((Daily change rate) * (Days of retention)) + (10% working area)

From our field experience we see daily change rates of about 0.5 to 1%.

To limit the overall backup size you can reduce the number of item versions in document libraries and lists.

Bitlocker encryption

Bitlocker encryption of volumes used to store backup data is fully supported and we did not recognized a mayor impact on the backup and restore times when working with such volumes. However, if you want to encrypt or decrypt a volume we recommend to no run any restore od backup processes on this volume in parallel since it can heavily impact the performance of the Bitlocker process.

Jet database files

The local VB365 Repository consists of multiple folders created for each year of retention. For each year folder there is one or more Jet based repository files (.adb) plus a transaction and check log (.jrs and .chk). The maximum size per .adb file is 64 TB. To counter that limit an automatic rule triggers the generation of a new repo file in the same storage location when reaching 59 TB. For example, three-year retention creates three folders with one or multiple .adb files in it which each can grow up to ~60TB.