Incremental vs Differential Backup: Which One Wins?

Incremental and differential backups play a crucial role in safeguarding essential data against loss, corruption or unexpected disasters. These backup methods are highly efficient because they focus on deltas (the changes made since the last full backup) rather than duplicating entire datasets. In this article, we’ll break down how incremental and differential backups work, explore their key advantages and disadvantages, and highlight the scenarios where each is most effective. By the end, you’ll have a clear understanding of which backup strategy best fits your data protection and recovery needs.

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What is Incremental Backup?

An incremental backup captures only the data that has changed since the last full backup or the most recent incremental backup. This approach is generally quicker to perform and requires significantly less storage space compared to full backups. As a result, it’s an excellent choice for organizations managing large datasets or extensive databases, where efficiency and speed are critical.

How Incremental BackUp Works?

• Perform an initial full backup.
• Next time, back up only the changes since the last backup (full or incremental).

This creates a chain of backups:
Full Backup → Incremental 1 → Incremental 2 → Incremental 3 …

Real-World Example

Imagine you run an e-commerce store with a large product database:

• Day 1: Full backup (20 GB)
• Day 2: Only new orders and updates (500 MB) → Incremental Backup
• Day 3: Another 300 MB of changes → Incremental Backup

Instead of backing up the entire 20 GB every day, you only back up the new changes, saving time and storage.

What is Differential Backup?

A differential backup copies all the data that has changed since the last full backup. While this method requires more storage space than incremental backups, it significantly simplifies the recovery process. To restore your data, you only need the most recent full backup and the latest differential backup, making it faster and less complex compared to incremental backups.

How Differential Backup Works?

• Perform an initial full backup.
• Each subsequent differential backup includes everything changed since the last full backup.

Example of backup sequence:
Full Backup → Differential 1 → Differential 2 → Differential 3 …

Real-World Example

Using the same e-commerce store:

• Day 1: Full backup (20 GB)
• Day 2: Differential backup (500 MB) – changes since Day 1
  Day 3: Differential backup (800 MB) – still since Day 1

Unlike incremental, differential backups grow larger over time until the next full backup is taken.

Difference Between Incremental and Differential Backup

Aspect	Incremental Backup	Differential Backup
Backup Speed	Faster, as it only saves changes since the last backup (full or incremental).	Slower, because it saves all changes since the last full backup.
Recovery Speed	Slower, since every incremental backup must be restored in sequence.	Faster, as you only need the last full backup and the latest differential backup.
Storage Requirement	Minimal storage usage because only small changes are stored.	Requires more storage as changes keep accumulating after the full backup.
Bandwidth Usage	Lower bandwidth due to smaller backup files.	Higher bandwidth since more data is backed up each time.
Risk Level	Higher risk—if one incremental backup is missing, restoration may fail.	Lower risk—requires fewer backup sets for complete recovery.

Conclusion

Both incremental and differential backups are essential components of a strong data protection strategy. Incremental backups are highly efficient, storing only the changes made since the last backup. This approach minimizes storage requirements and speeds up the backup process. In contrast, differential backups consume more storage space but provide quicker recovery by backing up all changes since the most recent full backup. The best choice between these two methods depends on your specific requirements, such as how frequently your data changes, how much storage you have available, and how quickly you need to restore data during an outage or disaster.

How Does AWS Simplify Your Data Backup Process?

Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides a wide range of solutions to help you build a reliable and scalable backup strategy. Whether you’re looking for simple storage, hybrid solutions, or automated policies, AWS has you covered.

Here are some key AWS services for data backup:

• AWS Backup: A fully managed, cost-effective, policy-driven service that simplifies data protection at scale. It allows you to automate backups across AWS services and ensure compliance with organizational policies.
• AWS Storage Gateway: Ideal for hybrid environments, this service connects on-premises applications to virtually unlimited cloud storage, enabling seamless backup and recovery without infrastructure complexity.
• Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3): A leading object storage service that offers unmatched scalability, durability, and security for storing backup data. It’s perfect for archiving, disaster recovery, and long-term data retention.

With these services, you can easily implement cloud-based backup policies, improve reliability, and even evolve beyond traditional backups toward comprehensive disaster recovery and archiving solutions.

Ready to protect your data? Start your AWS journey today by creating an aws account and setting up your first backup in just a few clicks.

Need expert help in choosing the right backup strategy? Techwrix provides customized solutions for incremental, differential and cloud backups to keep your data secure. Contact us today!