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JustTryinToGetI's avatar
JustTryinToGetI
Level 6
10 years ago

Incrementals, Differentials and Fulls

For example sake, 1st of month - Full backup 2nd-9th of month - Incrementals 10th of month - Differential 11th-19th - Incrementals 20 of month - Differential 21st - 29th - Increment...
10.x and Earlier
Backing Up
Backup and Recovery
Backup Exec
Restore
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • pkh's avatar
    pkh
    10 years ago

    You cannot delete something in the middle of the backup chain.  This will break the chain.  So, a short answer to your question is NO.

    Unless you have a VERY good reason, do not mix differential and incremental backups.  See first part of my article below

    https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/articles/pros-and-cons-various-backup-schemes

    The newer versions of BE makes it very hard for you to do so for very good reasons.  Also, for the newer versions of BE, you cannot delete part of a backup chain.

    It is better to run more frequent full backups, rather than trying to use fancy backup schemes.  If space is a concern, then all the more reason to keep your backup chains short so that they can be deleted as soon as they expire.  You should not just worry about backups, restores are actually more important than backups.  If you cannot do a restore easily, then your backups are useless.