Importing old backups

[zak2011]

I was using my Data Domain as the backup repository for Veeam backups. However due to space limitations..i used the option ' Transform previous full backup chains into rollbacks' and found that it the transform was almost a never ending process( took 20 hours to finish 2%).
So i changed the backup repository to the physical backup proxy still using the transform option and this time the job completed in 5 hours.
After that i moved the old backup files to the new repository. However ,accidentally the .vbk file of the old backup was removed. Now i have only the .vib files of the old backup.
If i try to import those files into Veeam , i don't see those files in the import window. Is there a way to point Veeam to the old backup files.
If using the transform option wouldn't be feasible on the Data Domain..what would be the best way to use it as the backup repository in order to take advantage of the dedup device along with Veeam's dedup functionality.

Thanks!

[Gostev]

If you don't have VBK, then VIBs are completely useless.

You most definitely do not need to enable transform when backing up to deduplicating storage. Just set the job to create periodic full, and they will be deduped by DataDomain.

[zak2011]

Thanks Gostev for that insight. Is it allright to use just the Synthetic full option ( in order to eliminate stress on the production VM) , instead of the active fulls on the Data Domain.?

[foggy]

Remember that synthetic full puts 2x more I/O load on target storage comparing to active full (not as much as transform though).

Also, it is recommended to schedule at least monthly active fulls to eliminate the risk of a single bad increment causing loss of weeks of backups.

[dellock6]

Uhm, anyway DataDomain does inline deduplication, I do not know how much could be the degraded performances doing synthetic full backups on it.

[zak2011]

@foggy..that is defintiely a good suggestion...but wont Sure backup verify those single bad increments..thus eliminating this risk?

[Vitaliy S.]

SureBackup cannot eliminate the problem of the block corruption on the disk/storage level, but it will definitely show you if the restore point is valid or not. If you're concerned about best practices, then I would also suggest performing active fulls once a month.

[zak2011]

Thanks Vitaliy...will do that.
just would like to get this more clear for me..
Is it good to have the 'Enable synthetic fulls' with the 'Transform previous full backup chains into rollbacks' along with the Active full backups once a month when backing up to a non-dedup device..? What would be the best scenario to use these settings together?
Thanks!

[Vitaliy S.]

The best practice would be to use our default scheduling settings for synthetic full backups, and run active full backup at least once a month.

[zak2011]

Thanks Vitaliy

[zak2011]

Initially when i started of with the backups..i used the 'Transform option' however as per the best practice would be to use default scheduling settings for synthetic full backups, and run active full backup at least once a month, I have deselected that option..and now vbks and vibs are being created.
would i be able to use the existing vrb files for recovery?
Thanks!

[foggy]

Sure. If you have a valid backup chain (VRB and/or VIB files along with the corresponding VBK file they rely on), you are able to restore to any of the existing restore points.

[zak2011]

Thanks foggy!

[zak2011]

Since i am backing up to disks now, would it be a good idea to use reverse incrementals if i am going to backup those vbks to tape?

[foggy]

Generally speaking, the more "tape friendly" backup mode is forward Incremental, because it allows to copy only changes, not the full backup file, which takes less time and requires less tape.