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Backup Type: Full

A full backup copies all selected files and data every time it runs, regardless of what has changed since the last backup. This approach simplifies restoration by capturing a complete snapshot at each backup interval.

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About this video

A full backup is the most straightforward backup strategy available: every time the backup job runs, it copies all files in the target set in their entirety. Whether a file has been modified since the last backup or remains unchanged, it is included in every backup cycle. This behavior also resets the archive attribute on each file, marking it as successfully backed up regardless of its prior state. For database environments that use transaction logs, a full backup consolidates both the primary database file and all associated transaction logs into a single unified backup file. The transaction logs are rolled into the main database during the backup process, meaning the resulting backup represents a clean, complete state of the database at that point in time. The primary advantage of a full backup is the simplicity it brings to data recovery. Because each backup is entirely self-contained, restoring to any given point requires only a single restore operation. There is no need to layer multiple backup sets on top of one another or manage dependencies between jobs, which reduces both recovery time and the risk of errors during restoration.

What you'll learn

What's covered

Full Backup

Key terms

Full Backup
A complete copy of all selected data, serving as the baseline backup type from which other backup strategies operate.
Archive Bit
A file system attribute flag that is set whenever a file is created or modified, signaling that the file needs to be backed up; certain backup types clear this bit to track which files have changed since the last backup.
Transaction Log
A file maintained by a database that records every change made since the last commit, allowing the database engine to roll back incomplete operations or replay changes to restore a consistent state after a failure.
Disaster Recovery
DR
The process and procedures for recovering IT systems and data following a disruptive event.

Topics

Full Backup Backup Types Archive Bit Transaction Logs Disaster Recovery Data Backup

Transcript

How a Full Backup Works

A full backup is pretty straightforward. If we have 10 files inside of a folder and we're modifying those throughout time, every time we take a backup we're doing a full backup. So what's happening? At 9:00 a.m., we're backing up all 10 files. At 10:00 a.m., we're backing up all 10 files. At 11:00 a.m., backing up all 10 files. So we're always backing up all the files.

If these are the files that we're looking at and some of them have been changed, what happens is that when it does a backup, it still unchecks these. So now everything is unchecked. It says, "Yes, I've done a backup on these."

Databases and Transaction Logs

When we're looking at databases that have transaction logs, what happens? It backs up both the main file and all of these transaction logs, and what it will do is roll all the transaction logs back into the main database file. So everything is rolled up into one database file.

Restoring

This makes restoration easy. Let's say it is 5:00 p.m. now, and we want to do a restore from back here at 1:00 p.m. We just do one restore and it will restore all 10 files the way they were at 1:00 p.m. So restoring is pretty straightforward.

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