Difference between Incremental vs Differential Backup | CloudBacko

What is the difference between #incremental and #differential backups? Which one is better? Let us take a look.

In "incremental" mode, #CloudBacko will backup the delta after comparing to the previous backup job, while "differential" mode will backup the delta after comparing to the initial backup file (seed). As a result, incremental backup is faster than differential backup.

On the contrary, during file restoration, restoring file backed up through differential method is faster. Because it only requires 2 deltas to complete the restoring job, that is combining the seed file to the delta file which is needed to be restored. On the other hand, ALL deltas are required to restore a file backed up through incremental method.

In conclusion, both backup methods have their advantage and disadvantage. An optimal data protection strategy should includes both backup methods, so that it can achieve maximum backup performance and flexibility during backup and restore.