Incremental Backups and Restoration

[lancekidd]

Hi,
I have a question about Windows 7 Pro backup utility. I've been using it for awhile, but it doesn't appear to be making incremental backups all the time. I have the settings set and during the first three to four backups I could tell it was doing an incremental backup because of the small amount of time that it took to finish, and also the file size, but sometimes it makes a completely new backup. Is there a way to set Win7 to do an incremental backup every time?

Also, one of the most important things that I don't know the answer to is: Is it possible to restore the files from one backup to another PC running Windows 7?

Thanks in advance guys!

 

[rclarke250]

it is not something you would want. If something were to happen, would you want to restore from a years worth of incremental backups, or just a month. I know my answer.

 

[goombawaho]

In other words, the proper utilization (if you're at all smart) of incremental backups is a PERIODIC full backup followed by incrementals.

 

[xwb]

To answer the original question, yes.

If it is a small system, just do full backups every time.

 

[lancekidd]

I understand it a little better now. The first backup took a little time because it was a full backup. The next four backups just backed up the changed files and the size of the first backup kept increasing. When I clicked to "manage space used by this backup," there was only one backup available. The dates that the one backup covered kept increasing to cover the dates of the original and the three or four incremental backups.

The other day though, I clicked "Backup Now" and it began doing a full backup with a new date. When it was done, I went in and erased the first backup that included the incrementals (although it was showing as one file and about a one month time period.

I hope I'm making sense and I know this is something you guys already know, but I was curious if Win7 gave a choice as to when to begin a new backup, or else continue doing incremental backups. It doesn't appear to give a choice. I guess it sets its own schedule as to when to do an incremental or when to start a new full backup.