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Backup Exec synthetic backup
How far can you trust synthetic backup under Backup Exec 10?
I felt fairly secure with a weekly full backup plus daily incrementals/differentials
Now I am faced with the version 10.0 option of creating a "synthetic" full backup every day. I am lead to believe this is the equivalent of merging yesterday's "full backup" with today's incremental and then calling the result today's "full backup." Is that really the case or am I missing a trick here? Does it rely on the archive bit or do they have some more guaranteed method of ensuring the the full/baseline [??] is reasonably up to date?
I felt fairly secure with a weekly full backup plus daily incrementals/differentials
Now I am faced with the version 10.0 option of creating a "synthetic" full backup every day. I am lead to believe this is the equivalent of merging yesterday's "full backup" with today's incremental and then calling the result today's "full backup." Is that really the case or am I missing a trick here? Does it rely on the archive bit or do they have some more guaranteed method of ensuring the the full/baseline [??] is reasonably up to date?
ASKER
>The synthetic backup feature enhances restore times without the need to take a full backup by seamlessly melding together smaller incremental backups into a single synthetic full backup, expediting data restores and consuming minimal network bandwidth.
I read that as well; they are great marketing words juxtaposed to meld seamlessly with each other but what the hell does it mean?
I read that as well; they are great marketing words juxtaposed to meld seamlessly with each other but what the hell does it mean?
Synthetic Backups should be fairly safe. Your just taking your last full, then all your incrementals and rebuilding your full. All synthetic Backups need to goto a Disk to Disk Backup. Setup a policy for it, then setup another policy to copy your Full on Disk to tape.
ASKER
I found the naswer myself, amongst the marketing blurb rather than in the manual since there doesn't seem to be a proper downloadable manual available yet...
"Leverage Windows Change Journal integration and use the Windows modified time instead of relying on the archive bit – allowing incremental and differential backups to run faster by eliminating the need to perform larger, full backups. "
If it uses the modified timestamp rather than the archive bit I no longer have to worry about someone inadvertently resetting the archive bit by doinga full backup with a different product.
I will ask CS to refund points since nobody pointed out that the archive bit is not used with synthetic backup unless anyone objects within the next few days.
"Leverage Windows Change Journal integration and use the Windows modified time instead of relying on the archive bit – allowing incremental and differential backups to run faster by eliminating the need to perform larger, full backups. "
If it uses the modified timestamp rather than the archive bit I no longer have to worry about someone inadvertently resetting the archive bit by doinga full backup with a different product.
I will ask CS to refund points since nobody pointed out that the archive bit is not used with synthetic backup unless anyone objects within the next few days.
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The synthetic backup feature enhances restore times without the need to take a full backup by seamlessly melding together smaller incremental backups into a single synthetic full backup, expediting data restores and consuming minimal network bandwidth.
I would expect this to REPLACE the need for continual FULL BACKUP, but I wouldn't completely depend on it. Probably for those users requiring full backup on multiple tapes on a daily basis. Less tape change, less band-width usage, easier to administer. Doesn't sound like it should replace FULL BACKUP, only enhance the normal routine, thus making RESTORE a lot easier (you never know WHEN something changed, you only what to restore it!).