What is Thin Backup?

Thin Backup Option™ Speeds Exchange Backups

Face it. Exchange databases become more valuable and more bulky by the day. They must be backed up, but the time it takes just to scan for changed files daily can take hours. Then backup begins.

DataPreserve partner, ROBOBAK™, allows us to offer a valuable feature called the Thin Backup Option ™. Using Exchange database delta differentials that are available through Microsoft's ESE API, the Thin Backup Option™ for Exchange (TBO-E) cuts the time needed to complete Exchange backups by 90% or more, even for very large Exchange databases. This results in faster backups and greener backups that require less processor power to accomplish the backup.

In a report issued at the end of last year, Taneja Group analyst Eric Burgener offers the opinion that TBO-E "offers significant advantages in dealing specifically with backup window, recovery point objective (RPO), and bandwidth issues. In particular, Burgener states, "The TBO is well matched to deal with large Exchange data stores while minimizing the time and bandwidth required to consistently maintain a solid data protection regimen."

TBO-E represents a vast advantage over anything that's on the market today. DataPreserve projects that our customers will be able to cut the time needed to perform the backup and restore operations. Further, they can automate the process, depending on the size of their data load, which means that existing IT resources can be more efficiently deployed to handle other tasks. IT administrators can once again get a handle on email data protection requirements that have been increasingly spiraling out of control. They also have the assurance that their email databases, containing multiple gigabytes or terabytes of corporate-critical information, can be easily and reliably backed up offsite.

Combined with other ROBOBAK features, such as "instant backup" technology that discovers changes on the host or networked machine within second, TBO makes subsequent backups extremely fast. The technology also includes an "instant restore" feature that adds a search engine index to its server software, making it possible to locate specific files in a fraction of the time required by competing products.