This thread has been really helpful for me as I try to firm up the way I want to backup my desktop PC going forward. I really appreciate the time and thought that went into your response to Alan. One thing I am still uncertain about is your suggestion for "Cloud File Backups" where you mention backing up to Amazon OZ-IA. Could I substitute Backblaze B2 for my Cloud File Backups using the technique you described? Pros/cons?

@Steve Putnam Thanks for your response. My understanding is that MSP360 legacy backup format is in "low maintenance mode" so I have assumed it best to transition to the new backup format. I may need to rethink that.

@Alexander Negrash To clarify, with the paid version (not Ultimate) if I store 5TB in Backblaze can I also store 5TB (or more) in my NAS at the same time? In other words, does the 5TB limit apply ONLY to cloud storage?

If I schedule daily incrementals and weekly fulls, is there a way to have the fulls save only if the scan finds changes from the previous full? If so, this would be the strategy I believe would work on these largely static collections.

@Alexander Negrash

Never mind, I see it now in your follow up response. Your detailed explanation is very helpful!

@Alexander Negrash

Your response has been helpful for me as I try to understand "GFS Rentention on Top of Base Retention". I'm still not clear as to what the GFS settings would be for your example in the Retention Policy dialog.

Very well explained and exactly the information I was seeking. Thanks!

From a year ago:

That's what I do with my work system. I perform weekly image backups and daily file-level backups of my User folder - each with different retention.

Are you still performing weekly image and daily file-level backups? I was thinking that the ability to now restore file-level backups to their respective folders kind of eliminated the need for image backup in your scenario (which is similar to my scenario).

I've also read through different recommendations here regarding legacy vs new backup format and I am in the process of rethinking my data (not system) backup strategy. I have about 2 TB of data (documents, music, photos and videos). At this point and going forward I have very little additions or changes - probably 2-3% max in a year. I want to back up to a local NAS and Backblaze. I want to rely on the NAS to recover accidentally deleted files, previous versions etc. I am thinking legacy file-based backups are appropriate for that. I view Backblaze B2 as my disaster recovery where I would have them ship me a drive if I lost my PC and NAS. For those backups I assume the new backup format file-based makes the most sense. Also, I am hoping to keep my total storage under 5 TB to comply with CBB licensing. Am I on the right track?

I appreciate your recommendations.

Now that legacy FLR provides the option to restore the entire set of files to their original location is there any reason other than possible speed of restoration to also perform image backups as you described? Also, is the FLR now able to create folders that may have been deleted?

How best to manage that without a working PC? I am am trying to recover my only PC. Can we do support over phone?

Yes, same pc. I have to go out for rest of day but will get back to this tonight.

OK, I assumed it was like Windows recovery which puts image on USB stick. My backups are on synology nas. I enter my storage credentials and it properly displays with green check and "Restore only" indicator. However, it then throws a dialog saying "Cannot find any prefix in this backup storage". What do I do now?

@David Gugick I've used the new format to complete a Files and an Image backup to my NAS. I'm impressed with the performance and especially the new ability to automatically test the system image restore in a VM.

I appreciate the offer of guidance for retention. I will get back to you later this week with some specifics.

@David Gugick my goal is to be sure I understand the nuances so I don't get into a situation where retention works differently than I had assumed. My background is engineering... I ask a lot of questions ;-).

@David Gugick, I am trying to understand the implications of legacy vs GFS retention in the new files backup format. I believe legacy retention can be set to keep every version that is backed up over the retention period, whereas GFS would normally purge some of the intermediate file versions. Is this generalization correct, assuming they are both set to one year maximum retention?

@David Gugick

Block level backup does not exist in the new format because we perform client side deduplication automatically and that effectively replaces the block level backup option. — David Gugick

David, am I correct that this section of the documentation should include the statement that block level backups apply only to legacy format? Or better, place this whole section under the legacy format section.

@David Gugick first, thanks for taking time out of your Saturday to respond. Your explanations have helped me better understand the nuances/characteristics of CBB backup types. I do think there are some opportunities for your tech writers to provide provide that same kind of information for each backup type in their documentation.

If I use the new files backup type and in the future need to do a full data restore from Backblaze, would I be able to do that locally from the hard drive they provide (which contains my entire bucket)? What would I need to do to point the restore at that drive?

@David Gugick I found the article that I was remembering when I made the comments about "Forever Incremental" and the need for periodic full backups. This article is undated so hopefully this has changed in version 7. Please advise.

It implies that you want incremental backups to be done at regular intervals after the initial full backup was performed. It is very helpful that you don’t need to worry about full backups afterward.

However, with each subsequent backup, the chain of incremental backups becomes larger. As a result, it takes more time and computing capacity for backup software to analyze the full backup and all increments so as to determine the difference between the data on your server/workstation and the data in your backup repository.

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This backup type reduces recovery reliability. It also becomes harder and takes longer to recover the whole data set, as it takes time to analyze and recover each backup in the chain.

That is why periodical full backups are highly recommended, in order to start a new sequence of incremental backups. The frequency of full backups depends on your business needs. You may want to conduct it weekly, monthly, or once every couple of months. There is an advanced backup technique to simulate full backups, called a synthetic full backup.

@David Gugick I am starting to understand why I am so confused. First, in the msp360 Windows 10 Backup-Restore Full Guide I find this:

"Full Backup Options help keep backup sizes low and ensure you can restore data quickly. If you can only run incremental block-level backups for data that changes often, you can get a Windows 10 cloud backup archive that significantly exceeds your actual data size (each incremental copy stores all data changed from the last full backup). To avoid such situations you need to schedule full backups or look to creating a full data copy if the total size of your previous block-level backups is larger than that certain amount of your data. The second option can help if you are unsure of a desired full backup schedule."

My version 6 file level backups DID use the block level option. Now, when I drill down in the version 7 Legacy File Backup wizard I find it has removed the block level backup from advanced options. What would happen if I transition an existing version 6 file backup plan that uses block level option to version 7? Does that break my existing backups? Are there other changes I haven't discovered yet. Are these documented anywhere?

Again, thanks for your help in my quest to figure this out.

@David Gugick Thanks for the explanation. Let me restate what you are saying in a different way to be sure we are understanding each other. Let's say I have been doing a "forever incremental" backup using the legacy file level backup every day for one year, with a new source file every day. Separately at the one year mark I do a legacy full file level backup of the same files. So assume each backup repository has exactly the same files in it. If I do a full restore from either I think you are saying the time to restore would be the same. Correct?

One other question... with the legacy hybrid backups my cloud backup is a file level backup to Backblaze. My intention is if I ever need to do a full restore from Backblaze I would have them send me my backup on hard disk. How would I use CBB to restore from the BB hard disk?