The Difference Between Differential and Incremental Backup Types

Oct.20, 2009 in Technology and Gadgets

If you are in the process of comparing backup systems for your computer data then there are some backup types you should be familiar with. The backup types to familiarize yourself with are incremental backups, differential backups as well as full backups. Each of these backup types are explained below including information about different backup combinations that work well.

The first line of action regarding any type of backup plan is to do a full backup of your data. What is meant by a full backup is selecting all your data and both backing up and archiving the whole set. A full back up is very time consuming but it is an essential starting point for any backup plan.

A differential backup is a system that just backs up any data files that have changed since the preceding backup was done on your computer or on your network. As an example, if a full backup of your data was last completed on Wednesday then when the backup starts its process on Thursday it will only back up the data that changed since the full backup that was completed on Wednesday. This type of backup is especially beneficial if you need to completely restore your data since only the latest differential backup is required for the restoration and this cuts back the time substantially.

Windows Backup Software

Another type of back up is called incremental and it differs in that it saves numerous backups of your data. Contrary to a differential backup, an incremental backup does not only save the last one. Each unique data set that gets backed up is only stored once. Successive backups are made up of merely the data files that underwent change since the preceding backup will carried out.

Disaster Recovery Software

If you are planning on using either a differential or an incremental backup system the best suggestion is to choose one of the following choices. You always back up all of your data whether or not any of your data has changed. The next choice is to combine a full backup with incremental backups. The meaning of this is to fully backup your data on a periodic basis but perform incremental backups on a regular basis. Your last choice is to do full backups periodically together with differential backups regularly. Differential backups preserve all the data that has been altered during the period in between your previous full back and your existing differential backup.

Continuous Data Protection

As has been outlined, the three main backup types are full backups, differential backups and incremental backups. Although it is very time intensive, a full backup is a mandatory function that needs to be carried out. The system called differential backup is based on the premise of solely backing up only data that changed between backups. Last is the incremental backup system which preserves several backups of your data. To create the best possible data backup plan for your office, it is a good idea to select a mixture of the different backup types discussed in this article.