Disk-Assisted Backup Whitepaper

How does virtual full position against synthetic full?

Figure 3.

Synthetic full Virtual full

Space efficient full No Yes

Storage type Disk and Tape Disk only

Competitors Yes No

HP HP Data Protector

software

Yes Yes

How HP Data Protector software synthetic backup works

HP Data Protector software synthetic backup enables you to merge a full backup (or a synthetic full

backup) and any subsequent incremental backup into a new, synthetic full backup. A synthetic full

backup can be created from a full backup (or a synthetic full backup) that is written to a disk or tape

device and incremental backups that are written to a disk-based device, called HP Data Protector

software File Library. The synthetic full backup can, again, be written to a disk or tape device.

If all the backups, full and incremental, are written to the same File Library, an even more efficient

type of synthetic backup is available, called virtual full backup. This solution uses pointers to

consolidate data rather than copy the data. As a result, the consolidation takes less time and avoids

unnecessary duplication of data.

The following figures explain the concept of synthetic backup and virtual full backup. They show how

a synthetic full backup or a virtual full backup is created from a full backup and any number of

incremental backups.