Explanation of Backup Types: Full, Incremental, and Differential Backups [A When and How Guide]

All your data can be lost at any time due to unrecoverable deletion caused by system crashes, data corruption, or mistakes.

The only defense against data loss is a reliable backup strategy. Most companies back up their data regularly, but a third have experienced problems attempting to restore it from backups. The problem is that “backup” is not the same thing as “backup strategy.” If you need some guidance on how to do it right, there are plenty of articles on the subject.

A backup strategy typically starts with what needs to be backed up and ends with how and with what it will be done.

The ideal backup plan varies depending on a company's specific needs. This article will outline the pros and cons of full, incremental, and differential backups to help you make the right choice for your organization.

Larger organizations might choose any backup method, such as incremental or differential backups, while smaller businesses might opt for a daily full backup. Incremental backups are usually more appropriate for cloud backups, because they use fewer resources. You could start with a full backup in the cloud and then switch to incrementals.

You might want to know more about Cloud Backup:

Of course, the EU has no intention of following the US down the path of a trade war with China.

What is a backup?

Today, the term “backup” encompasses data protection, which can be achieved in many ways. Backup software can simplify the complexity of backup and recovery operations. But a backup is just one component of a disaster-recovery strategy that, if inadequately designed and tested, may fail to deliver the desired data and system restorability.

For a long time, backup software has offered several different backup options. The three most common are full, incremental, and differential. Synthetic full and mirroring are also backup types.

Data management is crucial, and it is essential to back up the data that you acquire. Backups protect against loss of information due to human error, hardware failure, malware, power outages, or natural disasters, and can save time and money in the event of any such problems. Here are some ways to create them:

1. Backup Software 2. Manual Backup 3. Backup Devices

Manually open the Control Panel, then click “System and Security,” and then click “Backup and Restore.” Select “Set up backup,” and follow the wizard if you've never used Windows Backup before, or if you recently upgraded your version of Windows.

There are three types of backups: full, incremental, and differential.

• Full Backup
• Incremental Backup
• Differential Backup

Video Tutorial: The Differences and Similarities Between Full, Incremental, and Differential Backups

This is a video about the differences between full, incremental, and differential backups, which you can watch to learn more.

0:06 Full backup 0:30 Incremental backup 0:50 Differential backup

Full Backup

A full backup, as the name suggests, copies everything to disk or tape. And, because each backup is complete, it provides a full copy of all data on a given storage medium – an important advantage, since it minimizes the time required to restore data (the so-called recovery-time objective).

As a result, full backups are often performed on a scheduled basis, perhaps daily in the case of smaller data centers, or even more frequently in some cases if the applications hosted are mission-critical. In a backup strategy, a full backup is typically combined with incremental or differential backups.

Incremental Backup

According to Crocetti, with incremental backups, only data that has changed since the last backup of any kind is copied. Organizations typically compare the timestamp of a file's last update with the timestamp of the most recent backup. To track changes to files after a backup operation, backup software records the time and date when the backup activity took place.

An organization can perform incremental backups, which store only the most recent data that has changed since the last backup. The advantage of incremental backups is that they copy less data than a full backup, so they can back up data more quickly and use less storage space.

Differential Backups

A differential backup, Crochetti explains, works like an incremental one the first time it's run, by copying all data that has changed since the last backup. But thereafter, each differential backup continues to copy all data that has changed since the last full backup. Thus, differential backups are usually much smaller than full ones, but larger than incremental ones. Though more time-consuming and space-hogging than incrementals, they still take less time and space than full backups.

Backups can vary. An organization should perform at least one full backup. Subsequent backups can be either full, incremental, or differential. The first partial backup (incremental or differential) backs up the same data. By the third backup, an incremental backup contains only the changes made since the last full backup. In contrast, "Backup 1" is the initial full backup, and "Backup 3," using a differential backup, would back up all changes since "Backup 1."

For larger organizations or those with significant data and server storage, a full backup once a week followed by incremental or differential backups daily is more advisable. In most cases, differential backups offer a higher level of data protection, require minimal additional storage space, and facilitate faster recovery times. Hence, we recommend that many businesses adopt a strategy combining weekly full backups with daily differential backups as a wise approach.

Which is better: full backups, incremental backups, or differential backups?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Full Backup

Advantages

• Rapid recovery
• Backs up the entire dataset
• It offers the best possible protection
• It consumes a lot of bandwidth

drawback

It requires the most storage space. If unencrypted, backups can be stolen.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Incremental Backup Incremental backup is a method of backing up data that only captures the changes made since the last backup, whether it's a full backup or an incremental one. Here are the main pros and cons of incremental backups: Advantages: 1. **Time and Resource Efficiency**: Incremental backups take much less time and storage space compared to full backups, as they only copy the new or modified files. 2. **Faster Recovery**: Restoring data from incremental backups can be faster, as you typically only need to restore the most recent full backup and subsequent increments. 3. **Reduced Network Traffic**: In network-based backups, incremental backups transmit less data over the network, reducing bandwidth usage. 4. **Cost-effective**: By requiring less storage space, incremental backups can save on backup media costs. 5. **Scheduling Flexibility**: Incremental backups can be scheduled more frequently, providing more granular recovery points. Disadvantages: 1. **Complexity**: The process of restoring from multiple incremental backups can be complex, as it requires chaining together the full backup and all subsequent increments. 2. **Risky Dependency**: If any of the intermediate incremental backups are lost or corrupted, the entire backup chain may become useless, making it impossible to restore data. 3. **Longer Recovery Time in Some Cases**: While restoration is generally faster, if many increments are involved, it might take longer to restore all the necessary data. 4. **Additional Management**: Managing multiple incremental backups adds complexity to the backup strategy, requiring careful monitoring and maintenance. 5. **Snapshot Vulnerability**: If the system crashes between an initial full backup and the first incremental, some data might be lost, as it was not yet backed up. Overall, incremental backups offer a balance between time efficiency and storage usage, but they come with their own set of challenges that need to be carefully managed to ensure reliable data protection.

Advantages

• Takes less time
• Minimizes space usage
• Relatively low bandwidth consumption
• Data accessibility

Drawbacks

A full restore cannot be performed if an incremental backup is missing or damaged. All backups in the backup chain are required for a restore.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Differential Backup

Advantages

• Takes up less space than a full backup
• Restores faster than incremental backups
• Results in shorter recovery time

Drawbacks

It uses more network bandwidth than incremental backups, but less than a full backup. It requires significant storage space.

Therefore, incrementals are usually more suitable for the cloud, as they tend to require fewer resources. What's more, incremental backups are generally smaller than differential ones, and smaller backups are better, because storage is an important cost factor in the cloud.

How do you create data backups using full, incremental, and differential backup strategies?

Which backup program would you choose? We must create a full backup of Windows 10 to protect against data loss. Backups help prevent your system and content from suffering irreparable loss or damage.

Protect your data and future with Todo Backup, a user-friendly yet powerful tool for backing up disks, partitions, OS, and data, and storing backups on local disks, NAS, networks, and clouds.

Free backup software doesn't mean a lack of necessary features. Free users can enjoy advanced backup options like incremental backup, differential backup, scheduled backup, encrypted backup, frequency settings, and image retention policies. The application can manually or automatically execute system, disk/partition, and file backup via a scheduled task. You can create incremental, differential, and full backups. If you want to have control over your backups, download the free Windows backup software first and create a full backup.

Then, if you're interested in creating a data backup with Todo Backup, follow these steps:

< strong > Step 1. When you first use Tools Todo Backup to back up your files, tap < strong > Create Backup on the main screen, then tap the large question mark to < strong > Choose backup content .

Step 2: Since you want to back up files and folders from your computer, go on and select the "Files" backup mode. Here, you can choose to back up photos, videos, documents, and all sorts of other file types.

Step 3: Browse and select the files, folders, or directories you wish to back up, then click "OK".

Step 4: You will now need to select a backup location to save and keep your backups.

Step 5. Todo Backup allows users to save backup files to any convenient device, such as a local hard drive, external USB drive, SD card, network drive, or NAS drive, as well as to tools' branded cloud drive. We personally recommend that users opt for a cloud drive before physical drives to save important backups, as it is more convenient, flexible, and secure.

To access the Tools cloud, you need an email account to register and log in.

6. If you want to set up an automatic and intelligent backup schedule for your next file backup, proceed with the “Options.” Here, you can encrypt your confidential files for backup, compress the backup image size, or customize your backup scheme to tell the software when to start the next backup.

Here you can configure advanced and automatic backup tasks:

Step 7: Click “Back Up Now” to start the backup process. When it's finished, the backed-up file will appear as a card in the left-hand pane.

In summary,

There are three types of backups, and you can choose any one of them, but be sure to keep the pros and cons in mind.

To use a full backup, do the following:

1. You need the safest and most reliable way to replicate your data.
2. With comprehensive backup data available at all times, recovery and restoration times are significantly reduced.
3. Version control is easy to manage, since all your data is backed up simultaneously.

For information about incremental backups, see:

You need fast backups and easier recovery in case of emergencies. You have low storage needs and modest networking requirements.

To use differential backups, do:

You need reduced storage requirements and recovery time. Because there are fewer files in a data warehouse than there are bytes of data to back up, this backup will take less time than a full backup.

And Todo Backup is a straightforward tool that should be more than adequate for most individual users. You can back up your system, disks/partitions, or files manually or via a scheduled task. You can create incremental, differential, and full backups. Start by downloading Windows backup software, and if you want to take control of your backups, create a full one.

Frequently Asked Questions About Backup Types

1. Which Backup Software Is Best?

Todo Backup is a straightforward backup utility that lets you create full backups of your PC. It supports three backup types: full, incremental, and differential.

Which kind of backup is best?

Incremental backups are better suited to the cloud and use fewer resources. You could make a full backup to the cloud before switching to incrementals.

What are the different types of backups in SQL Server?

SQL Server supports three basic types of SQL Server backups:

1. Full backup.
2. Differential backup.
3. Transaction log backup.