Changing backup method

[mrhcarlin]

Hi,

I was wondering what happens to existing backup chains if the backup method is changed? Our backup location is running low on disk space, and while we do intend to expand its storage very soon, we would also like to change our backup method to the Forward Incremental-Forever method new in v8. We currently have regular Forward Incremental set up with a weekly Synthetic Full and monthly Active Full.

My understanding is that Forward Incremental-Forever updates a single VBK, and so should thus save space. In our current configuration, we have 3-4 VBKs for each of our 7 backup jobs, and each job produces a VBK in the region of 800GB to 1TB (so you can imagine how much storage is required to meet our retention policy of 21 days).

Reducing our retention policy isn't really an option because we are a school and performing restores up to 3 weeks in the past is, unfortunately, a regular occurrence due to students and staff alike losing or misplacing data.

So just to get back on point: given the limited space available on our backup location, would changing backup method before the drive expansion be a bad idea or will it use an existing chain (even if it was created under a different method)?


Thanks in advance!

[foggy]

Matt, after changing the backup method, the entire chain will still be subjected to the specified retention settings. So all previous VBK files will be removed with their corresponding increments, once the forever incremental part of the chain reaches the required number of restore points.