Merge Full and Incremental Backups Easily with AOMEI Backupper

Full Backup + Incremental Backups Overview

To ensure everything on your computer is protected, it is important for you to choose the right backup routines. Usually, most users would like to make a full backup at the first time as a baseline and thereafter only do incremental backups, which only capture the files changed since the most recent backup. 

Therefore, it will take the least time to finish. It is a good backup routine that ensure you to get up-to-date backup versions. However, when restoring, the most recent full backup as well as every incremental backup you've made since the last full backup need to be processed, and this could result in a lengthy and complex restore job.

To make backup image files management easy and simplify restore job, AOMEI Backupper provides "Merge Images" feature which allows you to consolidate multiple incremental backups with initial full backup to build a new full merged backup.

How to Merge Increment Backups and Full Backup

Step 1. Install, and launch AOMEI Backupper. In the left Tab, select Advanced and then select Merge Images.

Step 2. In the list box, you will find the initial full backup and all incremental backups. Click on one of them and click "Next" to continue.

Step 3. In this window, you are able to name the merged new image, specify where to save the merged new image, and decide whether or not create a task. When all is completed, click "Proceed" to perform merging operation.

During the merging operation, AOMEI Backupper won’t delete the initial full backup, all versions of incremental backup, and the old backup task. After the images merging process is finished, you can manually delete the unnecessary backup versions for better management.

Tips:

• "Merge Images" can only merge all versions of incremental backup. If this backup task contains one or more versions of differential backup, AOMEI Backupper will prompt you that you can't merge them when you intend to do it.

• If a backup task is only one version (one image file), the program will not merge it.

• We suggest you tick "Create a task item for this merging operation", thus, after merging, in the "Home" window, you will be able to see this new backup item.