Synthetic full backups

A synthetic backup can be a synthetic full or a synthetic cumulative backup.

The images that are used to create the synthetic image are known as component images. For instance, the component images in a synthetic full are the previous full image and the subsequent incremental images.

Figure: Creation of synthetic full backups illustrates the creation of synthetic full backups (B, C, D) from an existing full backup (A) and shows the incremental backups between full backups.

Figure: Creation of synthetic full backups

The traditional full backup (A) and the incremental backups are created in the traditional manner: data is scanned, then copied from the client's file system to the backup media. The synthetic backups do not interact with the client system at all, but are instead synthesized on the media server.

The following is an example of a synthetic full backup:

Create a Standard or MS-Windows policy for the clients (5.0 or later) you want to back up. Include the following schedules:
- A schedule for one full, traditional backup to run at least once.
- A schedule for daily (Monday through Saturday) differential incremental backups.
- A schedule for weekly full, synthetic backups.
Make sure that the traditional full backup runs. If the backup does not complete, run the backup manually.
Per schedule, run daily, differential incremental backups for the clients throughout the week. The last incremental backup for the week runs on Saturday.
Per schedule, run synthetic full backups for the clients on subsequent Sundays.

Note:

The synthetic full backups in the scenario are only as current as the Saturday incremental backup.