Backup format

This option defines the format of the backups created by the protection plan. It is only available for protection plans that use the legacy backup format version 11. In this case, you can change it to the new format version 12. After this change, the option becomes inaccessible.

This option is not effective for mailbox backups. Mailbox backups always have the new format.

The preset is: Automatic selection.

You can select one of the following:

• Automatic selection

  Version 12 will be used unless the protection plan appends backups to the ones created by earlier product versions.

• Version 12

  A new format recommended in most cases for fast backup and recovery. Each backup chain (a full or differential backup, and all incremental backups that depend on it) is saved to a single TIBX file.

  With this format, the retention rule By total size of backups is not effective.

• Version 11

  A legacy format preserved for backward compatibility. It allows you to append backups to the ones created by earlier product versions.

  Also, use this format (with any backup scheme except for Always incremental (single-file)) if you want full, incremental, and differential backups to be separate files.

  This format is automatically selected if the backup destination (or replication destination) is a managed location with enabled deduplication, or a managed location with enabled encryption. If you change the format to Version 12, the backups will fail.

  You cannot back up Database Availability Groups (DAG) by using the backup format version 11. Backing up of DAG is supported only in the version 12 format.

Backup format and backup files

For backup locations that can be browsed with a file manager (such as local or network folders), the backup format determines the number of files and their extension. You can define the file names by using the backup file name option. The following table lists the files that can be created per machine or mailbox.

	Always incremental (single-file)	Other backup schemes
Version 11 backup format	One TIB file and one XML metadata file	Multiple TIB files and one XML metadata file (traditional format)
Version 12 backup format	One TIBX file per backup chain (a full or differential backup, and all incremental backups that depend on it)

Changing the backup format to version 12 (TIBX)

If you change the backup format from version 11 (TIB format) to version 12 (TIBX format):

• The next backup will be full.
• In backup locations that can be browsed with a file manager (such as local or network folders), a new TIBX file will be created. The new file will have the name of the original file, appended with the _v12A suffix.
• Retention rules and replication will be applied only to the new backups.
• The old backups will not be deleted and will remain available on the Backup storage tab. You can delete them manually.
• The old cloud backups will not consume the Cloud storage quota.
• The old local backups will consume the Local backup quota until you delete them manually.
• If your backup destination (or replication destination) is a managed location with enabled deduplication, the backups will fail.

In-archive deduplication

The version 12 format supports in-archive deduplication.

In-archive deduplication uses client-side deduplication and brings the following advantages:

• Significantly reduced backup size, with built-in block-level deduplication for any type of data
• Efficient handling of hard links ensures that there are no storage duplicates
• Hash-based chunking