joseph_cheney AT symantec DOT com said:
> Correct -- the cumulative incremental uses the 'full' effectively as an
> exclude list for your backup; a diff inc would use the full + any intervening
> incrementals as an exclude list. The point being it's only required at the
> time of backup.
> 
> What it does mean is that, if your original full expires, you can only
> restore the files captured by the still active incremental.  
> . . .

One other thing can get thrown into the mix.  If the incremental backup is of
the TIR variety (one that tracks deletions & renames), there is an additional
"tir_info" file that gets stored on the backup client (well, for Unix-based
clients anyway -- dunno about Windows).

Those tir_info files are kept around by default for 10 days, but once
they are gone, incrementals start acting like full backups.  You'll get
a warning message in the backup logs when this happens, though.

Regards,

Marion


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