Grandfather-father-son backup
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Grandfather-Father-Son Backup refers to the most common rotation scheme for rotating backup media. Originally designed for tape back up, it works well for any hierarchical backup strategy. The basic method is to define three sets of backups, such as daily, weekly and monthly. The daily or Son backups are rotated on a daily basis with one graduating to Father status each week. The weekly or Father backups are rotated on a weekly basis with one graduating to Grandfather status each month. Often one or more of the graduated backups is removed from the site for safekeeping and disaster recovery purposes.
