Force a Full Backup Out of Schedule

Full Backup Explained

In general, creating any backup starts with uploading a full copy of your data to backup storage, which serves as a reference point for subsequent incremental backups. However, it is not reasonable to create and upload a full copy of the backup dataset each time any changes are made locally. This is the reason a full backup is always followed by subsequent incremental backups.

An incremental backup is a backup whose successive copies contain only the part of the backup data that was changed since the preceding backup copy was made.

The way in which a full backup processes your data depends on the type of backed-up data:

• As an image-based backup is created, a full backup uploads a complete backup dataset copy to the target backup storage (and creates a new backup version) each time the backup plan is executed.
• As a file-level backup is created, the backup service re-uploads an entire file only if it has been changed since the last backup date (as in incremental backup). A file is not re-uploaded if its modification date is earlier than the last backup date.

In some cases, for example, when there is an issue with running a Synthetic Full backup, forcing a True Full backup that uploads all the data from scratch is required. The following options are available to perform this action:

• Forcing a Full Backup in the Management Console
• Forcing a Full Backup in the Local Backup Agent Instance

Force Full Backup in Management Console

1. In the Management Console, navigate to Computers.
2. Click the computer name to access the side panel.
3. Open the Backup Plans tab.
4. For the backup plan in question, expand the Start control and click Force Full Backup.

Force Full Backup in the Local Backup Agent Instance

1. Open the Backup Plans tab in the local Backup Agent instance.
2. For the backup plan in question, open the drop-down list next to the Play button and click Force Full Backup.