Veracrypt: Size on disk folder more than 5 times bigger

[lawinia]

Dear Sourcforge.net Team

In my Veracrpyt encrypted backup, various files and folders with a size of
about 87GB occupy 491GB on the USB drive.

I can't figure out exactly which file type is responsible for this huge
increase.

The other articles I have found about this problem do not provide a
solution.

Thanks for your help

Lawinia

[RealTehreal]

It is not possible to give a clear answer to your question without useful information, like used filesystems, VC container or partition, etc. But your issue may be related to the following topic on superuser:

https://superuser.com/questions/682809/how-much-space-do-directories-consume

Greets

[lawinia]

@RealTehreal: Thanks for your answer.
filesystem is: exFAT
its a VC container
Encryption Algorithm is AES
the VeraCrypt Volume Properties:
Size: 644244832256 bytes
Type: Normal
Read-Only: No
Hidden Volume Protected: No
Encryption Algorithm: AES
Primary Key Size: 256 bits
Secondray Key Size (XTS Mode): 256 bits
Block Size: 128 bits
Mode of Operation: XTS
PKCS-5 PRF: HMAC-SHA-512
Volume Format Version 2
Embedded Backup Header: Yes
Data Read since Mount: 1.5 GiB
Data Written since Mount: 6.5 GiB

what information do you still need?
i coundn't find a solution in your linked post.
so is there a way to avoid this huge increase?

[Enigma2Illusion]

What is the filesystem type of source data?

Is the source data encrypted by VeraCrypt?

What software are you using to backup to the VeraCrypt volume that is causing the extra large disk usage results?

What options do you have enabled in the backup software?

[lawinia]

Dear Enigma2Illusion:
The source is ntfs
No the source isn't encrypted.
The large amount of storage space is required without using the backup software. Copying the files to the USB stick with Windows creates this large amount of storage space.
So there are no options in the backup software that cause this problem. it's just simple copying.
Thanks for your help

[Mark]

this seems to be a typical file system block size issue.
The exFAT filesystem might probably use a block size of 128KB. This means, the filesystem will allocate at least 128KB for each file on this filesystem.
NTFS uses a default block size of 4KB.

The default block size for exFAT depends on the size of the volume,
see Default cluster size for NTFS, FAT, and exFAT.

A file with a filesize of 2048 bytes will use 128KB diskspace on exFAT but only 4KB on a NTFS filesystem. You may want to reformat the veracrypt volume with NTFS or use exFAT with a smaller blocksize. A smaller blocksize may introduce other issues like slower performance and a worse volumesize / usable volume size ratio, though.

[lawinia]

@ Mark:
So it would be the best to use the same filesystem on both sides? thanks a lot for this hint. i will try it tomorrow and write a short feedback

[Mark]

NTFS would be the easiest option, unless you need exFAT for portability reasons like Apple.

If you need to use exFAT, you should determine the usual file size of your files and select a suitable block size for the file system.

UPDATE: I just read this is a USB flash drive?
is this a encrypted partition/drive or a file container?

if encrypted partition/drive use exFAT
if it's a file container you may try NTFS but exFAT may be here the better option too.

[lawinia]

using NTFS solves my problem. thanks a lot for yout help.
it's a file container and i do not need exFAT.
i also thought that exfat was better, that's why i chose it. but ntfs does it too. it's just that the files are protected from direct access...
thanks a lot!!!