HeatWave Service supports full and incremental backup types.

• Full backup: Backs up all data contained in the DB system. The backup size is usually smaller than the DB system storage size because unused storage space does not need to be backed up. If all data blocks in the DB system storage have been used before, the backup size may be slightly larger than the storage size because the backup also stores some metadata.
• Incremental backup: Backs up only the data that was added or changed since the last full or incremental backup. The first incremental backup is always a full backup.

For data recovery purposes, there is no functional difference between an incremental backup and a full backup. You can restore all data from any of your incremental or full backups. Both backup types enable you to restore all data to the point-in-time when the backup was taken. You don't need to keep the initial full backup or subsequent incremental backups in the backup chain and restore them in sequence, you only need to keep the backups taken for the times you want to be able to restore.

When you delete an incremental or full backup, it is merged into the following incremental backup. When the latest incremental or full backup is deleted, it is not merged as there is no subsequent incremental backup available. For example, you have created a full backup on day 1, and an incremental backup on day 2 and day 3 respectively. If you delete the full backup taken on day 1, it is merged into the incremental backup taken on day 2. If you delete the backup taken on day 3, it is not merged because there is no subsequent backup. See Backup Details for an illustration of how creating and deleting full and incremental backups affect the backup size.

Backups can be created manually, automatically, before deleting a DB system, or by an operator. Backups can also be copied to another region.

• Manual backup: You can create a manual backup by an action in the Console, CLI, or a request through the REST API. You can retain the manual backup for a minimum of 1 day and a maximum of 365 days. You can create a manual backup of an inactive DB system too. You cannot create a manual backup of an Always Free DB system. See Creating a Manual Backup.
  Note
  
  The manual backup can be a full or incremental backup.
• Automatic backup: The backup is created automatically at a time selected while creating the DB system. The default retention period is 7 days. You can define the retention period between 1 and 35 days. For Always Free DB systems, the retention period is 1 day, and it is not configurable. The automatic backup schedule backs up an inactive DB system too. When you delete a DB system, the Automatic backup retention setting in the Deletion plan determines whether all automatic backups of the DB system are deleted or retained. For a high availability DB system, the automatic backups are created on the primary instance.
  Note
  
  The first automatic backup is a full backup and all subsequent backups are incremental backups.
  Automatic backups can be scheduled to be copied to another region subscribed by the tenancy. Enabling this feature requires the MYSQL_BACKUP_COPY permission. The MYSQL_BACKUP_COPY permission is not included in the mysql-family aggregate resource type. When cross-region copy is enabled, each newly created automatic backup will be copied to the specified destination region. If a copy cannot be performed immediately, the copy is retried after a short delay. If the backup cannot be copied successfully after multiple retries, it sends a notification to the customer for further action.
• Final backup: You can create a final backup before deleting the DB system by selecting the Require final backup option in the Deletion plan tab. See Advanced Option: Deletion Plan. The retention period of a final backup is 365 days. The final backup of an Always Free DB system has a shorter retention period of 7 days.
  Note
  
  The final backup is a full and manual backup.
• Operator backup: The MySQL Support team creates this backup to assist in investigating potential issues with your service. These backups are deleted automatically. You can delete these backups too but it is not recommended. These backups do not affect your service limits.
  Note
  
  The operator backup is a full backup.

You can restore a backup to a new DB system.

You can restore data in either of the following ways:

• Point-in-time recovery: You can restore from an existing DB system to a new DB system at the latest available point-in-time or a specific point-in-time. See Point-In-Time Recovery.
  Note
  
  Point-in-time recovery is not supported on Always Free DB system.
• Restoring from a backup: You can restore from an existing backup to a new DB system in the same tenancy. See Restoring From a Backup.