xtrabackup + prepare = works (but I only wanted a DDL backup + Data backup)

MySQL & MariaDB Percona XtraBackup
1
  1. Had no problem with xtrabackup + prepare (works great)
  2. But what I really want is just a simple DDL backup plus just the data backup (nothing else)
  3. I need that backup to be something that I can edit and modify (I can do this already with mysqldump)
  4. How do I get this simpler backup without the huge extras? (i.e. ibdata1)
2

XtraBackup is a physical backup, you can’t modify it.
If you need something you want to edit, you should use mysqldump or mydumper.