ShadowProtect incrementals

I'm trying to get my head around SP's incrementals, which backup strategy is best and how ImageManager integrates with the whole thing.

I've been playing around with SP incrementals for someone who I recommended it to for their web design business (a small, two person setup). They are not overly computer literate and so wanted something with the least intervention possible but that could keep them pretty much current in case of human or PC failure.

So, looking at SP's scheduling options, we've got:

Now - good but not automatic

Later- a delayed version of 'Now' .

Weekly - You get the option to make a full backup on one or, slightly surprisingly, more days. You then tell it which days to carry out incrementals, between which hours and at what intervals. This is good and understandable. However, if you select multiple days for a full backup, what are the incrementals based on....or does it do parallel incrementals for each of the full backups?

Monthly - This gives similar options to Weekly with the possibility of multiple full backups. However, the incrementals only have a start time and no finish time. What am I missing here?

Continuous Incrementals - OK, the final option has me even more confused . I understand that this option will make a full backup first and then you have the option to make VSS incremental backups on one or more days, starting at a set time. Is this a one-off incremental? I guess it must be as there is no period between backups. You can then set other incrementals which will be between set times and at set intervals and which can be made using VSS or StorageCraft's own method. What are the diffferences between the two methods?

Also, with Continuous Incrementals it states that the ImageManager service must be used. Why is that?

I set up ImageManager and tested it out on some 15 minute incrementals. It was set to do this hourly. The odd thing was, it didn't seem to do it for the first 3 or 4 hours, but then it kicked in and started generating incrementals. But what is a good strategy for this?

I guess you would want to keep the 15 minute incrementals for a few days in case disaster happens but then a consolidated daily incremental may well be enough. The trouble is that a novice user looking at the backup folder would probably have a fit . It would be nice to move the 'keepers' somewhere else and named in a slightly more user-friendly way.

Any input an clarification on any of this would be greatly appreciated .

Graham

 

Thanks Pete, that was a lot clearer than the manual . So, in the weekly backup schedule, do you select a day to do a weekly backup? I noticed that it allows you to not select that at all in which case I guess it does a full backup as the first incremental. Also, if you create weekly backups, do the following incrementals belong to the latest weekly backup?

I need to do a bit more playing around with it but some of the features would take me a week or a month to discover .

Graham