Incremental backup vs Differential backup

[wallflower_1]

So , I have been using AOMEI Backupper [Standard free version] for the past 10 days to backup my partition data to my new hard disk, nothing new there. I took a image of my 3 partitions[about 750 GB] and set it to incremental backup[schedule] for every week. Now ,I have a basic understanding of how incremental and differential backup solution works. Incremental backup method backs up the data like, if I took a full image on Wednesday,it will back up the changes done after Wednesday on Thursday,and on Friday it will back up the changes done on Thursday , and so on. Differential backup works like, if I took a full image on Sunday, this method will back up the changes that were done every day since the last full backup i.e after Sunday.

What I did not know was that, there is a possibility of losing data by using the incremental backup method over time . So, can anyone tell me how that works, and should I start using the differential method over the incremental method?

And yeah, a merry christmas and happy new year to anyone who reads this

 

[RealBeast]

Best to use differential backup IMO because then you only need two files, the original and latest differential.

Incremental requires the original and each successive incremental image, so yes if you lose one of those images you would lose data. The advantage of an incremental approach is you can potentially save some space and time as the increments are smaller so quicker, but the differential is more reliable as you only need the two files.

Depends a lot on how much you want to deal with file management, but good on you for backing up (most users are very bad at that)!

 

[wallflower_1]

Best to use differential backup IMO because then you only need two files, the original and latest differential.

Incremental requires the original and each successive incremental image, so yes if you lose one of those images you would lose data. The advantage of an incremental approach is you can potentially save some space and time as the increments are smaller so quicker, but the differential is more reliable as you only need the two files.

Depends a lot on how much you want to deal with file management, but good on you for backing up (most users are very bad at that)!

Yep,as I do weekly backups after a full backup, a differential backup would be the best solution for me.I can just add a rule 'after every 3 differential backup(s),delete any before it' .Would save me a lot of time and hassle,thanks for replying 👍

 

[USAFRet]

Incremental - Just the changes since the last Incremental image
Differential - All the changes since the last Full image

Both have pro and con.
Incremental - small, faster. But requires ALL the intervening Incrementals, as well as the previous Full image.
Differential - Larger and slower as time goes on until the next full. Only requires the last (or whichever) Differential and the previous Full.

I use Macrium Reflect.
Currently, my C drive does A Full, and 14 days of Incrementals.
I'm about to change that to a Full, and Differentials.

 

[USAFRet]

The main things is to actually have this in place and tested.
In that, you are ahead of 98% of the population...

 

[wallflower_1]

Incremental - Just the changes since the last Incremental image
Differential - All the changes since the last Full image

Both have pro and con.
Incremental - small, faster. But requires ALL the intervening Incrementals, as well as the previous Full image.
Differential - Larger and slower as time goes on until the next full. Only requires the last (or whichever) Differential and the previous Full.

I use Macrium Reflect.
Currently, my C drive does A Full, and 14 days of Incrementals.
I'm about to change that to a Full, and Differentials.

Does Macrium Reflect allow for setting backup rules?

 

[wallflower_1]

The main things is to actually have this in place and tested.
In that, you are ahead of 98% of the population...

😛 ,my father has that knack of backing up, which he passed onto me and my brother[with other things such as reading,eating,etc],that's why I understand the importance of regular backups,technology this days is just not reliable[or was it before , I do not know],even a brand new hard drive purchased a month before can fail on you[and the company refunds you,but takes no responsibility for the data lost], this has happened to me,but thank god for my backups,I just plug in ,restore the images and done

 

[RealBeast]

The main things is to actually have this in place and tested.
In that, you are ahead of 98% of the population...

😛 ,my father has that knack of backing up, which he passed onto me and my brother[with other things such as reading,eating,etc],that's why I understand the importance of regular backups,technology this days is just not reliable[or was it before , I do not know],even a brand new hard drive purchased a month before can fail on you[and the company refunds you,but takes no responsibility for the data lost], this has happened to me,but thank god for my backups,I just plug in ,restore the images and done

Now that's what I call good parenting. 😉