Synthetic full backups consolidate the data from the latest full backup or synthetic full backup together with any subsequent incremental backups, instead of reading and backing up data directly from the client computer. Since synthetic full backups do not back up data from the client computer, this operation imposes no load on the client computer.
During a synthetic full backup, a list of objects from previous backups is generated, and the latest version of each object is considered, in order to build a new backup image.
Advantages of Synthetic Full Backups Over Full Backups
Synthetic full backups have the following advantages over full backups:
- They impose a lighter load on the production environment because they are created by consolidated data from the backup repository, rather than from the client computer.
Note
Using synthetic full backups can cause unintentional expiration of data since retention periods are defined by the number of full backup cycles. For example, running a synthetic full immediately after a standard full backup does not consolidate any data (as the standard full already includes all the backup data); storage resources might be unnecessarily consumed.