What are the 3 types of backup?

The optimal backup strategy varies depending on each organization’s needs. This topic will address the main types of backup methods—full, incremental, and differential—along with their advantages and disadvantages to help you choose what’s best for you and your business.

Full Backup

A full backup is when a complete copy of all files and folders is made. This is the most time-consuming backup of all methods to perform and may put a strain on your network if the backup is occurring on the network.

But it’s also the quickest to restore from because all the files you need are contained in the same backup set.

Full backups on a regular schedule require the most storage out of each method.

​

Advantages

Quick restore time

Disadvantages

Requires the most storage 

Uses a lot of network bandwidth

Can be stolen if you don’t encrypt your backups

​

Incremental Backup

This method requires at least one full backup be made, and then afterward only the data that has changed since the last full backup will be backed up again.

Incremental backups take the least space and time to perform than differential and full backups, but it’s the most time-consuming out of all of the methods to restore a full system.

You first have to restore the latest full backup set and then each of the incremental backup sets in order. If one of these backup sets is missing or damaged, then a full restoration is impossible.

Advantages

Takes the least amount of space

Uses relatively little network bandwidth

Disadvantages

Time-consuming restoration 

Full restoration impossible if one of the incremental backups is missing or damaged

​

​

Differential Backup

Differential backups are a compromise between performing regular full backups and regular incremental backups.

Incremental backups require one full backup to be made. Afterward, only the files that have changed since the last full backup are backed up. This means that to restore, you only need the latest full backup set and the latest differential backup set.

There’s no need to restore more than those two backup sets, which saves more time than restoring from an incremental backup, but still takes a bit longer than restoring from a full backup. It also takes up less space than incremental backups, but more space than full backups.

Advantages

Takes less space than full backups

Faster restoration than incremental backups

Disadvantages

Uses much more network bandwidth than incremental backups, but less than full backups

​