A differential backup is a data protection method that lies between two other common approaches to backing up your files and documents.
Differential backup: what’s behind it
Data backups are crucial to protect important data in the event of hardware failure, human error, or cyberattacks. In addition to full backup and incremental backup, there is another important backup method: differential backup.
- A differential backup backs up all files that are since the last full backup have changed.
- This means that with each new differential backup, all data is saved that added since the last full backup are or have been changed.
- An example, How a differential backup works: If a full backup was performed on Sunday and you created new files on Monday, the differential backup will back up those new files on Monday. Then on Tuesday, both the files changed or newly created on Monday and those on Tuesday will be backed up. The differential backup will grow each day until the next full backup is due.
These are the advantages of differential backup
While a full backup backs up all files every time and therefore requires a lot of storage space and time, an incremental backup only saves the changes since the last backup (regardless of whether it is a full or incremental backup). In comparison, Differential backup is a middle way: In contrast to a full backup, it saves time and storage space and can also be restored faster and easier than an incremental backup.
- Faster recovery: To restore data, you only need the most recent full backup and the most recent differential backup. This makes recovery faster and less error-prone than with incremental backups, where each individual backup must be restored.
- More efficient data protection than full backups: Since only the changes since the last full backup are backed up, the differential backup requires less storage space and time than a full backup.
- Good compromise between efficiency and safety: Differential backup provides a good balance between storage efficiency and recovery speed, especially when data does not change significantly on a daily basis.
- A differential backup is well suited for systems where regular backups be performed, which, however, do not change significantly on a daily basis. Businesses or individuals who need faster recovery in the event of data loss find differential backup a viable solution because they do not have to track back a series of incremental backups.