Backup – A copy of data, a file or database, used for data protection against loss, damage or deletion. It is stored separately from the original data and used to restore that data to its original state. There are three main types of backup;
- Full backup – A total copy of a data set which takes the most time to create.
- Incremental backup – a copy of the dataset changes made since the last backup. This takes a shorter time to complete than a full backup.
- Differential backup – this is a copy of all the data changed since the last full backup.
- Synthetic full backup – A full backup copy at a certain date created from the prior full backup and all the intervening incremental backups.
