Backup types. Full vs. Incremental

An incremental backup stores all files that have changed since the last backup. The advantage of an incremental backup is that it takes the least time to complete. However, during a restore operation, each incremental backup is processed, which could result in a lengthy restore job.

Example: If you did a full backup on Friday and incremental backups on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and your computer crashes Thursday morning, you would need all four backup container files: Friday’s full backup plus the incremental backup for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.