Comparison of Backup Repository Types

Product version: 10.6
Last modified: 1 December 2021

Question

What is the difference between forever-incremental and incremental-with-full-backups repository types?

Answer

With a forever-incremental backup repository ("Store backups in separate files" not enabled), a full backup is performed initially. After that, only incremental backups are performed, accumulating changed data blocks without any subsequent full backups. The appropriate blocks are backed up. Block references are included in recovery points indicating related blocks that are necessary to restore the corresponding VM as of the specific point in time. The forever-incremental backup repository type is recommended for simple disk-based DAS and NAS backup destinations.

For an incremental-with-full-backups repository ("Store backups in separate files" enabled), the starting point is creating a full backup file. On subsequent backups, data blocks that have changed since the previous backup are stored in incremental backup files. To start a new incremental chain, a new full backup is made at the time defined in the job settings. The previous incremental chain cannot be deleted until the new incremental chain is started. The incremental-with-full-backups repository type is recommended for enterprise-scale deployments where high reliability and top performance are major concerns, and deduplication appliances are widely used.

Comparison Table