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How Infinite Incremental Backups Work

If left alone, the incremental snapshots (backups) would continue, as often as 96 times each day (every 15 minutes). These periodic snapshots will accumulate a large chain of backed up blocks to be monitored each time a new backup is performed, and require added space to store these ever-growing backup images. To minimize this potential problem, Arcserve UDP Agent (Windows) utilizes the Infinite Incremental Backup process, which intelligently creates incremental snapshot backups forever (after the initial full backup) and uses less storage space, performs faster backups, and puts less load on your production servers. Infinite Incremental Backups allow you to set a limit for the number of incremental child backups to be stored. When the Backup Data Format is Standard, configure the Recovery Points option from the Protection Settings tab on the Backup Settings dialog. When the Backup Data Format is Advanced (default), configure the Recovery Points option from the Schedule tab on the Backup Settings dialog.

When the specified limit is exceeded, the earliest (oldest) incremental child backup is merged into the parent backup to create a new baseline image consisting of the "parent plus oldest child" blocks (unchanged blocks will remain the same). This cycle of merging the oldest child backup into the parent backup repeats for each subsequent backup, allowing you to perform Infinite Incremental (I2) snapshot backups while maintaining the same number of stored (and monitored) backup images.

Incrementals Forever