Protecting Data Using Arcserve Backup › Back Up and Restore Data › Backup Media Rotations and Scheduling Options › Types of Rotation Schemes

Types of Rotation Schemes

You can configure backup jobs using custom schedules, using the pre-defined rotation schemes provided by Arcserve Backup, or specifying your own rotation parameters. You can select a repeat method and choose from among the following three backup methods in your rotation scheme:

• Full Backup--Backs up all of your files. This backup method requires more time to process compared to incremental or differential backups. However, because all of your data is backed up, this strategy requires only the last backup media to restore your data completely.
• Incremental Backup--Backs up only those files that have changed since the last full or incremental backup was performed. Since this strategy backs up only new or newly changed files, incremental backups require less time to process. However, this strategy requires the full media set and every incremental set, including the latest set, to fully restore your data after a disaster.
• Differential Backup--Backs up only those files that have changed since the last full backup was performed. Since files that were backed up in the last differential job are backed up again, differential backup jobs require more time to process than incremental backup jobs. However, this strategy requires only two sets of media to restore a differential backup, the full media set, and the differential media set.

Note: For any rotation scheme that you use, you should include at least one full backup per week.