General
      Back to home
      1. Help Center
      2. Get started with Turbo backup
      3. General

      Understanding storage discrepancy between SysCloud vs clouds at user-level

      Key factors leading to storage discrepancy

      1. Shared files calculation

      SysCloud behavior

      • Includes every file a user can access—even if they don’t own it—in the backup storage calculation.

      GDrive/Box behavior

      • Counts only files owned by the user; shared-in files don’t inflate individual quotas.

      Impact

      • SysCloud may report higher usage by capturing shared files, ensuring a more complete backup footprint.

      How SysCloud calculates storage for a user

      Let’s consider two Box users:

      • User A owns 1 GB

      • User B owns 2 GB

      Now imagine User B shares 0.5 GB with User A. SysCloud’s archives become:

      • User A:

        • 1 GB (owned)

        • 0.5 GB (shared by B)

        • = 1.5 GB

      • User B:

        • 2 GB (owned)

        • 0 GB added (the 0.5 GB shared with A is already backed up under A)

        • = 2 GB

      Archives & storage reports

      • On SysCloud’s Archives page, each user’s total reflects owned + any shared files backed up.

      • This will not match the GDrive/Box Admin Console’s per-user storage numbers.

      Note: Assuming no backup errors or other exclusions, SysCloud captures all files—owned and shared—so there are no gaps in a user’s protected data.

      2. Deleted files retention

      SysCloud behavior

      • Deleted files are retained within SysCloud backups until they are either purged manually or expire under a defined retention policy.

      GDrive/Box behavior

      • Once a file is deleted from the user’s account and then permanently removed from Trash (or Recycle Bin), it no longer counts toward the user’s storage quota.

      Impact

      • Because SysCloud includes deleted items in its archives, its reported storage usage may appear larger than what you see in the native GDrive or Box console.

      3. Skipped file types in backup settings

      SysCloud behavior

      • Admins can configure SysCloud backup jobs to skip specific file types, for example:

                        Video files (.mp4, .mov)

                         Audio files (.mp3, .wav)

                         Image files (.jpg, .png, .gif)

      Impact

      • If large media files are skipped, SysCloud will report a smaller total storage value compared to Box. These excluded files simply aren’t backed up and therefore don’t appear in the SysCloud archives.

      4. File renaming behavior

      SysCloud behavior

      • When a file is renamed in Box or Google Drive, SysCloud treats it as a new file during backup. This means:

        • The original file (with the old name) is retained as part of the historical backup.

        • The renamed file is backed up as a new entry, occupying additional storage.

      Box / GDrive behavior

      • Renaming a file updates its name only; the underlying object and its storage footprint remain the same.

      • No additional storage is counted when a file is renamed.

      • Only one version of the file exists, with the updated name.

      Impact

      • SysCloud’s approach may lead to a higher reported storage usage in the backup archives, but ensures that all historical filename states are preserved for recovery.

      5. File version history

      • SysCloud behavior:
        SysCloud retains every backed-up version of a file according to your retention policy, and counts each version toward the user’s storage footprint. When a file is edited (content change, metadata change, or even renaming), a new version snapshot is stored. Older versions remain accessible for point-in-time recovery.

      • GDrive/Box behavior:
        Google Drive and Box maintain version history under the hood, but only the latest version’s storage size typically counts against a user’s quota. Previous versions are stored separately by the service, and—unless explicitly downloaded or restored—do not add to the user’s reported storage usage.

      • Impact:

        • Higher reported usage in SysCloud: If a 100 MB file is edited ten times, SysCloud will store ~1.1 GB (the original plus ten deltas/full snapshots), all of which count toward the user’s backup storage. GDrive/Box, however, will continue showing ~100 MB used by that file.

        • Complete recovery options: By preserving every version, SysCloud ensures you can roll back to any point in time—even to recover an earlier draft that was subsequently overwritten—without gaps.

        • Retention policy considerations: The storage impact scales with your retention window. A longer or infinite version retention policy means more versions and thus more storage. Conversely, a shorter retention period or a cap on version count will limit how much extra storage versioning consumes.