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Types of backup
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Last Updated: Oct 21, 2022
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Types of backup

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Note: We strive to keep our articles as
What is a Mirror
accurate as possible. If youBackup?
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please let us What
know.is an Incremental Backup?

L AT E S T A R T I C L E S

How to Backup to Azure

Backing-up is a crucial process that everyone should do in order to have a fail-safe, for when the inevitable happens. The princi
make copies of particular data in order to use those copies for restoring the information if a failure occurs (aHow to loss
data import backup
event d jobs?
deletion, corruption, theft, viruses, etc.) How to shutdown computer after
backup
You can perform the backup manually by copying the data to a different location or automatically using a backup program. Eac
How to con�gure email sending
program has its own approach in executing the backup, but there are four common types of backup implemented and generall
How to clear the backup
most of these programs: full backup, differential backup, incremental backup and mirror backup. A type of backup actually de
data is copied from source to destination and lays the grounds of a data repository model (how the back-up is stored and struc
POPULAR PLUGINS
The table below provides an overview comparison between these backup types, for detailed information about each read the re
article: Opera

Mozilla FireFox Pro�les

Backup type Date backed up Backup time Restore time

Google Chrome

Mozilla Thunderbird
Full backup All data Slowest Fast
Internet Explorer Favorites

Incremental backup Only new/modi�ed �les and folders Fast Moderate

L AT E S T P L U G I N S

Differential backup All data since last full Moderate Fast

Ableton Live

FL Studio
Mirror backup Only new/modi�ed �les and folders Fastest Fastest
Rambox

Smart backup Automatically decided by algorithm Fast Fast Wondershare PDFelement

OnlyO�ce Desktop Editor
Incremental backup is the recommended backup type.

Full backup type

A full backup stores all �les and folders that exist in the backup source. In Backup4all, the full backup is the starting point for a
types of backups and contains all the data in the folders and �les that are selected to be backed up. Because full backup store
and folders, frequent full backups result in faster and simpler restore operations. Remember that when you choose other
backup, restore jobs may take longer. As an example, for a full backup job that runs four times the representation below is con
on how the backed up data will grow with every run:

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Types of backup - Backup4all https://www.backup4all.com/backup-types-kb.html

full backup

Since this is the foundation of all other backup types, a detailed article explains it thoroughly: What is a full backup?

Differential backup type

The differential backup contains all �les that have changed since the last FULL backup. The advantage of a differential backup
shortens restore time compared to a full backup or an incremental backup. However, if you perform the differential backup too
times, the size of the differential backup might grow to be larger than the baseline full backup. In the image below you can see
example of how a differential backup would look like for a backup job that runs four times:

differential backup

Read the differential backup page for more details.

Incremental backup type

Incremental backup stores all �les that have changed since the last FULL, DIFFERENTIAL OR INCREMENTAL backup. The adva
an incremental backup is that it takes the least time to complete. However, during a restore operation, each incremental backu
processed, which could result in a lengthy restore job. The representation below shows how a backup job running four times w
like when using incremental:

incremental backup

This is one of the most popular backup types.

Mirror backup type

The mirror backup is identical to a full backup, with the exception that the �les are not compressed in zip �les and they can not
protected with a password. A mirror backup is most frequently used to create an exact copy of the source data. It has the bene
the backup �les can also be readily accessed using tools like Windows Explorer. The image below shows how a mirror backup
would look after four iterations (the �rst mirror will backup everything, subsequent fast mirror backups will backup only new/m
�les):

mirror backup

Smart backup type

Smart backup is a backup type which combines the full, differential and incremental backup types with cleanup operations in o
e�ciently manage the backups in accordance with the backup settings and the free disk space in the destination. The Smart b
type starts with a full backup. The advantage is that you don't need to worry about the number of backups to store in order to �
destination drive, which backup version to clean or merge, as Backup4all will take care of that.

Backup No. Action Smart Incremental

1 add 2 GB 2GB - Full 2GB - Full

2 modify 500 MB 500 MB - Incr 500 MB - Incr

3 modify 500 MB 500 MB - Incr 500 MB - Incr

4 modify 500 MB 500 MB - Diff 500 MB - Incr

5 modify 500 MB 500 MB - Incr 500 MB - Incr

6 modify 500 MB 500 MB - Diff & backup 2 and 3 are deleted not enough space

7 modify 500 MB 500 MB - Incr

8 modify 500 MB 500 MB - Diff & backup 4 and 5 are deleted

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9 modify 500 MB 500 MB - Incr

10 modify 500 MB 500 MB - Diff & backup 4 and 5 are deleted

    never gets full  

For details visit the mirror backup page.

Types of backup implemented in Backup4all

Backup4all is one of the pioneer backup applications that implemented all four fundamental backup types. It is able to keep tra
�les added/modi�ed/deleted in a unique way as Backup4all stores a summary snapshot of the �le information into a backup c
�le (.bkc). Each time a backup job is run the catalog �le is updated. For every �le backed up, the snapshot contains the �le nam
and attributes as well as the date and time of creation, modi�cation, and access.

Backup Types

This method of keeping track of �les is the most accurate one. In contrast, some other backup applications inspect each �le's
�ag to identify which �les have been modi�ed. Backup4all will not interfere with any other backup software, because it does no
change the Archive �ag.

Related articles

What is an Incremental Backup?

Incremental backup stores all �les changed since the last FULL, DIFFERENTIAL OR
INCREMENTAL backup. The advantage of an incremental backup is that it...

What is a Full Backup?

The full backup type copies all selected �les and folders. Full backup is time consuming (when
compared to incremental and differential backup types)...

Using Backup4all - FAQ 4

This section contains answers for frequent questions regarding the registration process of
Backup4all.

Backup Terms Glossary

This article contains a glossary of backup terms that that are used in relation to backup and
restore operations.

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