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zcd's avatar
zcd
Level 3
12 years ago
Solved

SSR 2011: Can independent recovery points contain incremental backups?

It would seem not, but I can't find a definitive answer.

Here's the scenario behind my quesion:  I'm backing up an SBS 2008 SP2 server to a couple of external drives.  When creating the backup job for the second backup drive, I'm forced to choose the independent recovery point option, because apparently that's how SSR is designed.   Problem is, I'd like to have incremental backups on the second drive, rather than creating a full backup every time the job runs for that drive.  Is it possible for independent recovery points to do incremental backups?  Again, it seems not, but for some reason I'm hoping. . .

Here's what I do NOT want to do:  I do not want to use the "offsite copy" option.  After all, the main point of backing up to external drives (at least in my case) is so that one can be taken offiste while the other is backing up!  If I make the second backup drive an "offisite copy" of the first backup drive, this defeats the purpose, as both drives have to be connected for the offsite copy job to run.  

The only "solution" I can see is to use yet another drive as the primary backup location, and make the other two external drives offsite copies.  I really don't want to do that for a couple of reasons:  it will hog a drive bay, and it's irksome to shell out more money.  But looks like that's what I'm stuck with, eh?

Thanks in adavance for any info.

Backup and Recovery
SSR 2011
System Recovery
Windows Server (2003-2008)
  • zcd's avatar
    zcd
    12 years ago

    Grant, thank for taking the time to reply.  And I don't wish be rude, but apparently, you didn't read my post completely.  I do not want to use the offsite copy function, as this requires both drives be connected and "on site" while the offsite copy job runs.  Since the primary backup drive is an external drive, using offsite copy defeats the purpose of striving to have at least one backup drive off site.  As I said in my first post, it seems the only way to accomplish this with SSR is to use at least three backup drives:  a primary backup drive that is always on site, and two swappable drives, one of which can be kept offsite while the other completes its offsite copy job. 

    I opened this thread with the suspicion that my analysis was correct, but still hoping I was missing something, and that there existed at least a workaround.  In any case, I'm going to now make the bold assumption that a) incremental backups aren't possible with independent recovery points and b) a minimum of three backup drives are required for (what many IT folks would consider) a true, off-site backup strategy. 

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  • grantpsd's avatar
    grantpsd
    Level 4
    12 years ago

    Instead of making a new backup for the second location, use the offsite copy in the first backup job. It is located on the same page where you setup the backup destination. This is exactly the scenario it was designed for.

    If this solves your problem, please mark as the solution.

    Regards,

    Grant

  • zcd's avatar
    zcd
    Level 3
    12 years ago

    Grant, thank for taking the time to reply.  And I don't wish be rude, but apparently, you didn't read my post completely.  I do not want to use the offsite copy function, as this requires both drives be connected and "on site" while the offsite copy job runs.  Since the primary backup drive is an external drive, using offsite copy defeats the purpose of striving to have at least one backup drive off site.  As I said in my first post, it seems the only way to accomplish this with SSR is to use at least three backup drives:  a primary backup drive that is always on site, and two swappable drives, one of which can be kept offsite while the other completes its offsite copy job. 

    I opened this thread with the suspicion that my analysis was correct, but still hoping I was missing something, and that there existed at least a workaround.  In any case, I'm going to now make the bold assumption that a) incremental backups aren't possible with independent recovery points and b) a minimum of three backup drives are required for (what many IT folks would consider) a true, off-site backup strategy. 

  • criley's avatar
    criley
    Moderator
    12 years ago

    Some comments on this...

    a) incremental backups aren't possible with independent recovery points

    That is correct. The whole point of an independent backup is that it does a one-off full backup of the selected volumes. If it did incremental backups as well, it would be no different to the default option of a recovery point set backup.

    Also, based on what I see most of the time, a lot of people are using a fixed disk or network location (NAS for example) as their primary backup destination. They then use offsite to removable storage that can be taken to an offsite location. In your example, as I understand it (2 removable disks, 1 being used as primary and the other as offsite location), you are correct in saying that both would have to be onsite at the same time because offsite copy is just that - it does a copy. The drive must be available otherwise the copy clearly cannot take place. I think you need to re-think your strategy or purchase additional drives.

    Let us know if you have further questions.

  • grantpsd's avatar
    grantpsd
    Level 4
    12 years ago

    My apologies, I did get interupted in the middle of reading your post and when I got back to the computer, I thought I had read the entire post.