Embodiments are described for a system that automatically determines the ideal backup target to send backup data. Temporary backup targets are automatically created to handle backups for mobile data assets. A backup agent sends incremental backups to any temporary backup target (TBT), which are later consolidated with primary backup target (PBT) data. To facilitate data backup to a TBT and restore operations from data located on a PBT or TBT, a Backup Location Catalog (BLC) is created for each asset to reside on the asset. A Change Record Catalog (CRC) is created for each TBT backup per asset and each CRC resides on the asset until the associated data is consolidated back to the PBT. Assets thus have access to all backups, including the data on the TBT(s) before that data is consolidated back to the PBT.