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Backup Calculator

Estimate how much backup capacity your data really needs — including retention, deduplication and offsite copies. All values are calculated live, nothing is stored.

Your starting values

Data volume to protect50 TB
Net primary data to be backed up.
Daily change rate5 %
Share of data that changes per day. Typically 2–10%, depending on workload.
Retention
GFS = Grandfather-Father-Son: daily, weekly and monthly restore points.
Deduplication & compression
Copies / replication
3-2-1 rule: at least one copy offsite / geo-redundant.

Your capacity requirement

Local (1 copy)
TB
Restore points
Required backup capacity · 2 copies
TB
Composition of net capacity
Backup strategy
Architecture approach
Retention

Non-binding guide value. Actual backup capacity also depends on your data's deduplication ratio, the change profile, backup windows and retention policies — we're happy to size this together with you.

Backup capacity, done methodically

Ransomware, hardware failures, human error: backup is your company's last line of defense. How much capacity it needs depends on retention, change rate, deduplication and the number of copies — which is why it is so often underestimated.

This calculator makes those relationships transparent. Our standard is the 3-2-1 rule with immutable restore points — and we are happy to work out the robust sizing together with you.

Frequently asked questions

What does the 3-2-1 rule mean?

Three copies of your data, on two different media, one of them offsite. That way your backup even survives the loss of an entire site.

Why does an immutable backup matter?

Modern ransomware deliberately encrypts backups too. An immutable restore point can neither be changed nor deleted within its retention period.

Which deduplication factor should I choose?

A conservative 3:1 for mixed data; 5:1 only for highly deduplicable data such as VMs and file shares. Already compressed or encrypted data barely deduplicates.