PROBKUP compresses data immediately, allowing Database Administrators to reduce the disk space usage and save the time needed to back up the data in both, online and offline scenarios. PROBKUP lets you specify a desired compression level:
  • Level 1: Run-Length Encoding (RLE)
  • Level 2: ZStandard (ZSTD)—fastest, least compressed
  • Level 3: ZSTD—the default compression level, which is balanced for speed and space
  • Level 4: ZSTD—slow and most compressed.

With the ZSTD compression algorithm, a lower compression level value yields higher compression speed, while a higher level yields higher data compression but low speed.

To back up with data compression, run PROBKUP from the operating system prompt, using the following syntax:
probkup db-name device-name -com
For example, the following command backs up a file named mybackup.bk online, at compression level 3, which provides high speed but less data compression than a higher compression level setting:
probkup online sports2023 mybackup.bk -com -comlevel 3
The following command backs up a file named mybackup.bk online, at compression level 4, which yields higher data compression at a lower speed:
probkup sports2021 mybackup.bk -com -comlevel 4

For more information, see PROBKUP utility.