Incrementals, Differentials and Fulls
- 10 years ago
Here is a similiar question/answer: https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/mixing-incremental-and-differential-backups
- 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.