Help Center/ Relational Database Service/ User Guide (Ally Region)/ Working with RDS for PostgreSQL/ Data Backups/ Backup Types
Updated on 2026-04-24 GMT+08:00
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Backup Types

RDS for PostgreSQL supports multiple backup types. Based on different dimensions, there are the following backup types:

By Data Volume: Full Backups and Incremental Backups

Table 1 Comparison between full backups and incremental backups

Backup Type

Full backups

Incremental backups

Description

All data in an instance is backed up.

Only data changes within a certain period of time are backed up.

Enabled by Default

Yes

Yes

Retention Period
  • You can specify the number of days for which automated backups can be retained. If you shorten the retention period, the new backup policy takes effect for existing backups.
  • Manual backups will not be deleted until you delete them manually.

Incremental backups will be deleted along with automated full backups.

Characteristics
  • A full backup is to back up all data of your DB instance in the current point of time.
  • You can use a full backup to restore the complete data generated when the backup was created.
  • Full backups can be created automatically or manually.
  • RDS automatically backs up data updated since the last incremental backup every 5 minutes.
  • Restoring data from incremental backups relies on the most recent full backup, as shown in Figure 1, so the most recent full backup that exceeds the retention period will not be deleted to ensure successful restoration.
    Figure 1 Incremental data restoration

How to Check Backup Size

Click the target instance name. On the Backups & Restorations page, click the Full Backups tab and check the backup size.

Click the target instance name. On the Backups & Restorations page, click the Incremental Backups tab and check the backup size.

By Backup Method: Automated Backups and Manual Backups

Table 2 Comparison between automated backups and manual backups

Backup Type

Automated backups

Manual backups

Description
  • You can set an automated backup policy on the console, and the system will back up your instance data based on the time window and backup cycle you set in the backup policy and will store the backups for the retention period you specified.
  • Automated backups cannot be manually deleted. To delete them, you can adjust the retention period specified in your automated backup policy. Retained backups (including full and incremental backups) will be automatically deleted at the end of the retention period.
NOTE:

Once a DB instance is created, a backup is restored to a new instance, or a minor version is upgraded, a full backup is automatically triggered. Automated backup cannot be disabled. Backups that are being created can be stopped. If such a backup task is stopped and the first full backup of your instance is not complete, no backup is available for restoration.
  • Manual backups are user-initiated full backups of your DB instance. They are retained until you delete them manually.
  • Regularly backing up your DB instance is recommended, so if your DB instance fails or data is corrupted, you can restore it using backups.

Enabled by Default

Yes

Yes

Retention Period

Automated backups are retained for the number of days you specified.

The retention period ranges from 1 to 3660 days.

Manual backups are always retained until you delete them manually.

How to Configure

See Configuring a Same-Region Backup Policy.

See Creating a Manual Backup.
Parent topic: Data Backups