One of our biggest issues in the past has been that whenever our customers rename a folder or move files to different folders, the files have to get reuploaded to Cloud Storage. In some cases it happens every month for 50-60GB that the client decides to reorganize. The re-uploads take days to complete.
I just did a test using version 7 with client-side deduplication. I uploaded a directory with 5 GB of files , then changed the name of the folder, which in prior versions would have resulted in a complete folder re-upload.
Instead, I got 100% deduplication - it took a mere five minutes for the entire plan to run, and I still ended up with both folders in Cloud Storage. Total upload amount? 417KB.
This is going to be very valuable for clients who frequently rename folders or move their files around.
Just gotta reupload everything using V7 File Format, but once that is done we will benefit greatly from the client-side dedupe.
Additional thoughts:
The new format demands a periodic backup of everything - like tape backups used to be.
So all of the files, even if they have never changed, will get backed up to the cloud again during a full backup.
If you are using a Cloud storage vendor that supports Synthetic full in-cloud copying ( Wasabi, Amazon, or BackBlaze B2 (not BB S3 compatible), the periodic "full" backups will not be a problem. But if you are using Google Nearline or Coldline, you would need to re-upload EVERTHING every month - which would take a VERY long time.
So I recommend that for Local and Google backups you stick with the legacy format and if you use Backblaze B2,Wasabi, or Amazon, switch to the Version 7 new format going forward fior new backup plans.
For existing clients, I would not recommend re-uploading everything just to get to the new format..