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Calcimator

Backup Storage Calculator

Calculate backup storage requirements from source data volume, daily change rate, retention policy, and compression ratio using a GFS backup model.

Inputs

%

Results

Total storage (TB)

1.83

Total storage (GB)1,875
Incremental backups (GB)375
Full backups (GB)1,500
Peak throughput (Mbps)142.2
Avg daily transfer (GB)25
Est. monthly cost ($)$39.88
How to Use This Calculator
  1. Enter source data (GB) and daily change rate (%) -- typical: 3-5% for databases, 1-2% for files.
  2. Set retention period (days) and compression ratio -- 2:1 for text, 1.1:1 for already-compressed data.
  3. Review total storage needed in TB, incremental backup storage per day, and full backup size.
  4. Add 30% overhead to storage estimates for deduplication metadata, indexes, and catalog data.
  5. Plan for offsite or cloud replication -- 3-2-1 rule: 3 copies, 2 media types, 1 offsite.

How the result changes with Retention period (days)

Retention period (days)Total storage (TB)
36620.58
1,27870.78
2,373131.26
3,285181.7

What each input means

Source data (GB)
Total volume of production data to back up, in gigabytes.
Daily change rate (%)
Percentage of source data that changes each day (typically 2-10% for databases, 1-3% for file servers).
Retention period (days)
Number of days to retain backup copies. Compliance may require 90-365 days.
Compression ratio
Expected compression ratio (2:1 is typical; databases may achieve 3-4:1, media files ~1.1:1).

What each result means

Total storage (TB)
Total backup storage required in terabytes across all retention tiers.
Total storage (GB)
Total backup storage in gigabytes.
Incremental backups (GB)
Storage consumed by daily incremental backups.
Full backups (GB)
Storage consumed by weekly and monthly full backups.
Peak throughput (Mbps)
Network bandwidth needed to complete a full backup in an 8-hour window.
Avg daily transfer (GB)
Average data transferred per incremental backup.
Est. monthly cost ($)
Estimated cloud storage cost (hot tier $0.023/GB + archive $0.01/GB per month).

How this is calculated

Worked example, using the default values

  1. Identify Input Parameters
    4 parameters
    Source data (GB) = 500, Daily change rate (%) = 5, Retention period (days) = 30, Compression ratio = 2 = 4 input(s) provided
  2. Calculate Total storage
    Total storage = totalStorageGB / 1024
    1.83 = 1.83
  3. Calculate Total storage
    Total storage = incrementalStorageGB + weeklyFullStorageGB + monthlyFullStorageGB
    1875 = 1875
  4. Calculate Incremental backups
    Incremental backups = dailyIncrementals * compressedIncrementalGB
    375 = 375

Engine last updated .

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