How to organize full and delta backups

[birney]

I'd like to be able to look at backups and know

a) which profile created it
b) if it's a full backup or delta backup
c) if it's a delta, which full backup does it belong to?

How can I set up my SFFS to be able to do this?

Thanks.

[birney]

Or does SFFS make this unnecessary somehow?

Thanks.

[superflexible]

The normal use case for this program is to keep a complete copy of your data on a separate hard drive or on some web storage. So in the normal use, there is no such thing as full and incremental. You always have a full copy of all the folders and files, and the program copies only the new or changed folders and files to it every day.

There is a way to keep initial and incremental backups in separate folders, but it's not the original intended use case for the software. Let me know if you would like instructions for that or if you have any other questions.

[birney]

The normal use case for this program is to keep a complete copy of your data on a separate hard drive or on some web storage. So in the normal use, there is no such thing as full and incremental. You always have a full copy of all the folders and files, and the program copies only the new or changed folders and files to it every day.

There is a way to keep initial and incremental backups in separate folders, but it's not the original intended use case for the software. Let me know if you would like instructions for that or if you have any other questions.

I think I understand what you mean, but let me propose an example that should make sure.

(This is not my strategy, but just for example's sake)

Say I do full backups on the 1st of each month and delta backups each night during the month. Now say I want to restore a copy of billing.mdb as it was on 5/13/10. Would I need the full backup created on 5/1/10 plus all the deltas from 5/1/10 - 5/13/10,? Or would I need the full from 5/1 and only the delta from 5/13?

[superflexible]

Hi,

there are two ways to achieve this. First, the native way in this program is to go to the Versioning tab sheet and choose "Keep multiple backup versions". You can specify how many older versions to keep for each file. Ideally you also choose "Filename encoding" which puts the files' "Last Modified" timestamps into the filenames on the backup.

Then when you use the Restore Wizard you can choose a target date (i.e. the older date from the version that you want), or you can pick the older version in the Sync Preview when restoring (by right-clicking a file).

All of this assumes that you are not using the "Zip Package" feature which puts multiple files into one zip file. Those work differently.

But the above is true when you don't use zipping or when you use "ZIP Each File Individually".

[superflexible]

If you prefer traditional full+incremental backup sets in separate folders (or separate ZIP Packages), then you can do it differently.

A) individual files in separate folders for each day:
Use a destination path such as D:\Backups\$MONTHDAY. This will create a separate folder for each day in the month. You could either keep a complete copy of all the data in these folders, or you could have a separate full backup and use these folders only as incremental backups.

To create a full backup, you need a separate profile from the incrementals.

The full backup would use the following option on the tab sheet Filters->General Filters:
"Clear Archive Flags"

Whereas the incremental profile would use:
"Copy Only Files With Archive Flag" as well as "Clear Archive Flags".

B) separate incremental backups in ZIP Packages:
Here you don't need a separate folder for each day because the ZIP Packages can all be in one destination folder. Their names should include the timestamp. Then you would also use the same archive flag filters as mentioned above.

[birney]

Thanks for the replies. I'm reading, and rereading, them to try to understand.

However, since you didn't mention it, let me ask you something just to make sure we're on the same page. Do all of these techniques you're referring to use delta backups for the backups that are done between full backups?

Thanks.

[superflexible]

Yes.

[birney]

If you prefer traditional full+incremental backup sets in separate folders (or separate ZIP Packages), then you can do it differently.

A) individual files in separate folders for each day:
Use a destination path such as D:\Backups\$MONTHDAY. This will create a separate folder for each day in the month. You could either keep a complete copy of all the data in these folders, or you could have a separate full backup and use these folders only as incremental backups.

To create a full backup, you need a separate profile from the incrementals.

The full backup would use the following option on the tab sheet Filters->General Filters:
"Clear Archive Flags"

Whereas the incremental profile would use:
"Copy Only Files With Archive Flag" as well as "Clear Archive Flags".

B) separate incremental backups in ZIP Packages:
Here you don't need a separate folder for each day because the ZIP Packages can all be in one destination folder. Their names should include the timestamp. Then you would also use the same archive flag filters as mentioned above.

Are restores for these backups done the same way as restores for the "native" backups?

[superflexible]

No, if you don't use the "native" backup scheme, then you have to restore files manually with Windows Explorer.