I'm really confused about backup types

[monk3y]

So, I ran a full backup yesterday of all my files. I now want to just backup whatever has changed since the last backup on a daily basis. Should I perform an incremental backup or a differential backup? Is there a difference?

[Luc401]

What are you using to perform these backups?

[monk3y]

1 minute ago, Luc401 said:

What are you using to perform these backups?

EaseUS Backup Free

[Mira Yurizaki]

Differential backup is backing up only the files that have changed.

 

Incremental backup is saving the differences of those files. This is a space saving measure if you want file history, otherwise the backup may copy the whole file. So for example, if you have a 10KB file and make a 1KB addition, a differential backup will save just the 1KB you added and the file will be 11KB total in the backup. Otherwise it'll save the entire 11KB and now this file in your back up consumes 21KB.

Edited November 8, 2016 by M.Yurizaki
I got my backups reversed

[TidaLWaveZ]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

Incremental backup is backing up only the files that have changed.

 

Differential backup is saving the differences of those files. This is a space saving measure if you want file history, otherwise the backup may copy the whole file. So for example, if you have a 10KB file and make a 1KB addition, a differential backup will save just the 1KB you added and the file will be 11KB total in the backup. Otherwise it'll save the entire 11KB and now this file in your back up consumes 21KB.

I thought incremental backs up everything changed since the last incremental backup while differential backs up all changes since the last Full backup.

[Mira Yurizaki]

1 minute ago, TidaLWaveZ said:

I thought incremental backs up everything changed since the last incremental backup while differential backs up all changes since the last Full backup.

You're right, I got them reversed.

[TetraSky]

This site explains it better than I ever could
http://www.codetwo.com/admins-blog/difference-differential-incremental-backup/

 

I would suggest just using Incremental, since it backs up everything since the last incremental backup, while differential backup everything since the last Full backup, so if you want a daily backup kind of thing, I hope you have a ton of free space if you opt for Differential.

Though if you want to save even more space, consider buying Acronis. I tried EaseUS Backup Free(and many others, like Macrium free) before and the backup sizes were a hell of a lot bigger than what Acronis can do with the same files.

[Mira Yurizaki]

This is only if you want file history and the ability to revert to an older state. If this is a feature you don't care about, then you should do neither type of backup.

[TidaLWaveZ]

1 minute ago, M.Yurizaki said:

You're right, I got them reversed.

I don't know if that's always the case, but that's how it is in veritas backup exec(what the last company I worked for used).

 

It makes sense because an incremental backs up the changes between each increment while the differential backs up the difference since the last full backup.

 

I think this is correct but I'm not 100%

[monk3y]

I now have no idea what's true this thread and my head hurts

[TetraSky]

6 minutes ago, B3h3m0th said:

I now have no idea what's true this thread and my head hurts

Incremental backup everything since the last Incremental backup, resulting in smaller files but longer to access if you want to restore.(maybe a a few seconds longer after a few increments.) 

Differential backup everything the last FULL backup, resulting is much bigger files but faster to access if you want to restore.

[TidaLWaveZ]

21 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Incremental backup everything since the last Incremental backup, resulting in smaller files but longer to access if you want to restore.(maybe a a few seconds longer after a few increments.) 

Differential backup everything the last FULL backup, resulting is much bigger files but faster to access if you want to restore.

^^^^^ Correct. Final Answer.

[monk3y]

33 minutes ago, TetraSky said:

Incremental backup everything since the last Incremental backup, resulting in smaller files but longer to access if you want to restore.(maybe a a few seconds longer after a few increments.) 

Differential backup everything the last FULL backup, resulting is much bigger files but faster to access if you want to restore.

Thanks lol