An administrator wants to back up several Microsoft Exchange databases in the shortest time possible. Which backup level should the administrator use to reduce the restore time?

Question

Options

• AVirtual Synthetic
• BSynthetic Full
• CFull
• DIncremental

• A
  16% (10)
• B
  71% (45)
• C
  5% (3)
• D
  8% (5)

Explanation

Synthetic Full backup achieves the best of both worlds: it is created by the backup server merging a previous full backup with subsequent incremental backups - without re-reading all data from the Exchange server - making creation fast. Because the result is a single consolidated full-backup image, restore time is also minimized since only one backup set is needed.

• A (Virtual Synthetic) is wrong because it is a variation used primarily in virtual environments and does not universally apply to Exchange database backups in this context; it is also the most commonly confused distractor.
• C (Full) is wrong because while it minimizes restore time, it requires reading and transferring all data from Exchange each time, making it the slowest to complete - not the fastest.
• D (Incremental) is wrong because although it is the fastest backup to create, it produces the longest restore time, since you must restore the full backup plus every incremental in sequence.

Memory tip: Think "Synthetic = Shortcut." A Synthetic Full takes a shortcut by assembling the full backup from existing pieces on the backup server, giving you speed on both ends - fast to build, fast to restore.

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