This lowers the chances of losing the backup chain completely and makes this backup method the most reliable. By doing regular full backups, the backup chain is split into shorter series.

Full backups can be created using synthetic full and/or active full method. When the forward incremental (FI) backup method is used, Veeam Backup & Replication creates a backup chain that consists of multiple full backup files (VBKs) and sets of forward incremental backup files (VIBs) following each full backup file. Restore to other restore points can be compared by speed with FI method.įor more information on the FFI backup method and how it works, see Forever Forward Incremental Backup. Restore to the earliest restore point from backup files created using the FFI method is the fastest compared to other methods because the first available restore point is always a full backup. Overall, the FFI method produces the moderate I/O impact on the backup storage compared to other backup methods. This operation produces additional I/O load on the backup storage. Such transformations can lead to the fragmentation of the full backup file, and you have to schedule the compact of full backup file operation. To meet retention policy settings, Veeam Backup & Replication injects data of an incremental file into the full backup file before deleting the increment. This backup method helps you save space on the backup storage because Veeam Backup & Replication stores only one full backup file and removes incremental backup files once the retention period is exceeded. When the forever forward incremental (FFI) backup method is used, Veeam Backup & Replication creates a backup chain that consists of the first full backup file (VBK) and a set of forward incremental backup files (VIBs) following it. Veeam Backup & Replication provides the following methods for creating backup chains:

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