What is Full, incremental and differential backups?
In short
A full backup copies all data. An incremental backup copies changes since the last backup of any kind, and a differential backup copies changes since the last full backup.
Key takeaways
- Restoring from incrementals needs the full backup plus every incremental since; a differential needs only the full plus the latest differential.
- Offline or immutable copies protect backups from ransomware.
- Restores should be tested, and backup frequency set by the recovery point objective.
Where it's tested
ISC: Incident Response & Monitoring — study notes, a five-minute revision sheet and practice questions.
Practise: 3 questions
Question 1 of 3 · 0 answered
A company takes a full backup on Sunday and differential backups on the other days. A server fails on Thursday. What is needed to restore it to Wednesday night?