Question about Cyclic Backups

Just double-checking myself here:

Here's my scenario: I want to create a complete, bootable copy of my disk, and then maintain that with differential backups nightly. If possible I'd like to capture multiple backup images for the week in case I want to restore to a day earlier than a hypothetical 'yesterday'.

I've run a full backup, and created a differential backup (or do I want incremental.. ) to backup only changed files. This, of course creates two files...one for the full backup, another for the differential. How do I combine these two archives if I need to restore? Should I set it to run a full backup once a week, or are simple differential backups adequate.

I'm looking for a setup robust enough that if the computer drops out I can run a complete restore onto a new machine from the archive.

Sorry if my explanation or terminology are unclear, I'm a bit of a novice here.

I'd appreciate any insight you guys can offer here.

-ben h.

 

Hi capaneus,

The incremental backup option is strictly for file-based backups, and does include the entire system state. This does not sound like your preference.

Differential is strictly for image (sector-based) backups. When restoring from a differential, there is no need to merge it with the base image. Simply point to the differential and it will automatically restore the necessary content from the base archive.

If you do wish to combine a differential with a base image, you can do so with the Synthetic Backup Wizard (Pro + only). Point it to the differential, and a new archive will be created with all of the content from the base image and differential combined together.

You can also choose to restore specific files or folders from an image (differentials included), without restoring the entire backup. Please refer to the attached document for instructions on the various methods for retrieving files.

The Cyclic Backup Wizard would simplify the creation of this, but you can only choose 1 partition per cyclic task. If you need to backup several disks or partitions I would recommend scheduling the differentials independently (this way you can choose all the partitions you want together) and ensure that 'Generate unique names' is disabled on the schedule page to ensure the backup overwrites each time. With this you would have 1 task per day the backups run, instead of 1 cyclic task per partition.

I have also attached an outline for creating a 2 week alternating backup set that behaves similarly to the cyclic backup, but is configured in a way that allows for the base image to automatically be updated and consolidated so that your differentials don't continue to get larger and larger as time goes on. It requires that you have 2 base images, but you end up saving space over time as the differentials would normally be getting larger; here they will not. Even if you don't want to use this scenario, following the steps should help you configure your own policy.