Incremental backups depend on the last full backup. If you specify an incremental backup and there is no protected full backup, a full backup is performed instead.

Conventional incremental backup

Before running an incremental backup of a specific backup object, Data Protector compares the trees in the backup object with the trees in the valid restore chain of this object. If the trees do not match (for example, an additional directory in the backup object was selected for backup since the last backup or multiple backup specifications with the same backup object and different trees exist), a full backup is automatically performed. This ensures that all files that have changed since the last relevant backup are backed up.

With conventional incremental backup, the main criterion for determining whether a file has changed or not since a previous backup is the file's modification time. However, if a file has been renamed, moved to a new location, or if some of its attributes have changed, its modification time does not change. Consequently, the file is not always backed up in a conventional incremental backup. Such files are backed up in the next full backup.

Enhanced incremental backup

Enhanced incremental backup reliably detects and backs up also renamed and moved files, as well as files with changes in attributes.

Enhanced incremental backup also eliminates unnecessary full backups of an entire backup object when some of the trees selected for backup change. For example, if an additional directory is selected for backup since the last backup, a full backup of this directory (tree) is performed, whereas the backup of the rest is incremental.

Using enhanced incremental backup is a prerequisite for synthetic backup.

You can also perform enhanced incremental backup using the Windows NTFS Change Log Provider. Change Log Provider queries the Windows Change Journal for a list of changed files rather than performs a time-consuming file tree walk. As the Change Journal detects and records all changes made to the files and directories on an NTFS volume, Data Protector can use it as a tracking mechanism to generate a list of files modified since the last full backup. This improves the incremental backup speed, especially in environments containing millions of files only a few of which have changed, and allows to eliminate unnecessary full backups.

Types of incremental backups

Data Protector provides incremental backups of different types:

Concepts guide

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HP B6960-96035 manual Conventional incremental backup, Enhanced incremental backup, Types of incremental backups