Updated on 2025-01-02 GMT+08:00

Backup Types

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

Full backups and incremental backups based on data volume

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 how many days automated backups can be retained for. 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.
  • The system automatically backs up data modifications made after the most recent automated or incremental backup every 5 minutes.
  • Incremental backups can only be created automatically.
  • 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.

Automated backups and manual backups based on backup methods

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.
  • 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 732 days.

Manual backups are always retained until you delete them manually.

How to Configure

See Configuring an Intra-Region Backup Policy.

See Creating a Manual Backup.