Incremental Backups vs Differential Backups

Developers should learn and use incremental backups when managing systems with large datasets or frequent updates, such as databases, file servers, or application deployments, to minimize backup windows and storage costs meets developers should learn differential backups when working with systems requiring regular data protection, such as databases, application servers, or critical infrastructure, to minimize downtime and data loss. Here's our take.

Incremental Backups

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use incremental backups when managing systems with large datasets or frequent updates, such as databases, file servers, or application deployments, to minimize backup windows and storage costs

Pros

• It is particularly valuable in DevOps and cloud environments for automating data protection and ensuring quick recovery points, but requires careful management of backup chains to avoid complexity in restoration
• Related to: full-backups, differential-backups

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Differential Backups

Developers should learn differential backups when working with systems requiring regular data protection, such as databases, application servers, or critical infrastructure, to minimize downtime and data loss

Pros

• Use cases include backing up SQL Server databases, virtual machine snapshots, or large file repositories where restoring from a full backup plus the latest differential is faster than from multiple incremental backups
• Related to: full-backups, incremental-backups

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Incremental Backups is a concept while Differential Backups is a methodology. We picked Incremental Backups based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Incremental Backups wins

Based on overall popularity. Incremental Backups is more widely used, but Differential Backups excels in its own space.