Veeam Backup Calculator 2026
Estimate Storage, Repository & Bandwidth Requirements
Enterprise backup infrastructure planning tool
What is a Backup Storage Calculator?
💾 Backup Sizing Explained
A backup storage calculator helps IT administrators estimate the total storage capacity needed for backup repositories. It accounts for full backups, incremental backups, retention periods, and data reduction from compression and deduplication.
Key factors: Source data size, daily change rate, retention policy, compression ratio, and deduplication ratio all impact your final storage requirements.
Tip: Conservative estimates: Compression 1.5:1, Dedup 1.5:1. Optimistic: Compression 2.5:1, Dedup 2.5:1.
💾 Backup Storage Requirements
📊 Storage Breakdown
| Component | Size | % of Total |
|---|
⏱️ Backup Window Analysis
Backup Storage Formulas
Full Backup Size (After Reduction)
Daily Incremental Size
Total Repository Size
Backup Time Required
Total Reduction Ratio
- Assess Source Data: Determine total data size and daily change rate for all VMs/servers.
- Define Retention Policy: Set daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly retention requirements.
- Estimate Data Reduction: Apply compression and deduplication ratios based on workload type.
- Calculate Full Backup: Source data ÷ (compression × deduplication).
- Sum All Restore Points: Full backup + (daily incrementals × retention days) + GFS fulls.
Typical Data Reduction Ratios
| Workload Type | Daily Change | Compression | Deduplication | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File Server | 3-5% | 1.5-2.0x | 1.5-2.0x | High dedup for similar files |
| Database Server | 5-10% | 1.5-2.5x | 1.2-1.5x | Pre-compressed data limits reduction |
| Mail Server | 3-5% | 1.5-2.0x | 1.5-2.0x | Good dedup for attachments |
| Web Server | 1-3% | 2.0-3.0x | 2.0-3.0x | High compression for text/code |
| VDI / Desktop | 5-10% | 1.5-2.0x | 2.0-4.0x | Excellent dedup across images |
| Media/Images | 1-5% | 1.0-1.2x | 1.0-1.2x | Already compressed, minimal reduction |
Retention Policy Guidelines (GFS)
| Tier | Typical Retention | Storage Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily (Short-term) | 7-30 days | Fast storage (SSD/NVMe) | Rapid recovery, operational |
| Weekly (GFS) | 4-8 weeks | Primary backup storage | Weekly full restore points |
| Monthly (GFS) | 6-12 months | Secondary/Archive | Monthly full restore points |
| Yearly (GFS) | 1-7 years | Archive/Tape/Cloud | Compliance, legal holds |
Official Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
Multiply source data by retention points, apply compression/deduplication ratios. Formula: (Full backup × 1) + (Daily incremental × retention days) + GFS restore points. Add 20-30% buffer for growth.
Typical compression: 1.5:1 to 2.5:1 depending on data type. Text-heavy data (databases, code) compresses well. Media files and encrypted data compress poorly (1.0-1.2:1).
Grandfather-Father-Son (GFS) is a retention scheme with daily (son), weekly (father), and monthly/yearly (grandfather) full backup points. It provides long-term retention with minimal storage overhead.
Estimate: 1 full backup + 13 daily incrementals. If source = 1TB, change rate = 5%, compression = 2:1: Full = 500GB, Daily = 25GB. Total ≈ 500GB + (13 × 25GB) = 825GB.
Most workloads: 3-5% daily. High-transaction databases: 10-20%. Static file servers: 1-3%. Measure actual change rate using Veeam reports for accurate sizing.
Backup window = Data size ÷ (Bandwidth × 3600 ÷ 8). For 1TB over 1Gbps: 1,000,000MB ÷ (125MB/s × 3600) ≈ 2.2 hours. Add overhead for processing (20-50%).
Synthetic full: Creates full from existing backups (no production impact, requires repository I/O). Active full: Reads from production (impacts production, fresh full backup). Use synthetic for most cases.
Within backup chain: 1.3-2.0x typical. VDI environments: 2.0-4.0x (many similar images). Dedup appliances: 3x-20x for larger data sets. Plan conservatively with 1.5x.
Primary: Direct-attached storage or SAN for performance. Secondary: Dedup appliances, object storage. Long-term: Tape or cloud archive. Match repository to retention tier requirements.
Add 20-30% buffer for annual growth. Review and resize quarterly. Use capacity reports to track trends. Plan for 3-5 year growth when purchasing storage.
Created by OmniCalculator.space — Your trusted source for IT infrastructure calculators.
Last Updated: January 2026