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Description of Full Backup:
It would be ideal to make full backups all the time, because they are the most comprehensive and are self-contained. However, the amount of time it takes to run full backups often prevents us from using this backup type.
Full backups, if you have the time to perform them, offer the best and easiest solution in data protection. In effect, a single backup can provide the ability to completely restore all backed-up files.
However, you should be aware of a significant security issue. Each full backup contains an entire copy of the data. If the backup media were to be illegally accessed or stolen, the hacker or thief would then have access to an entire copy of your data.
Advantages:
- Restore is the fastest
Disadvantages:
- Backing up is the slowest
- The storage space requirements are the highest if kept more than one copy
Description of Incremental Backup:
Incremental backup provides a much faster method of backing up data than repeatedly running full backups. During an incremental backup only the files that have changed since the most recent backup are included. That is where it gets its name: each backup is an increment since the most recent backup.
The time it takes to execute the backup may be a fraction of the time it takes to perform a full backup. Genie Backup Manager uses the information it has recorded in its index files to determine whether each file has changed since the most recent backup.
The advantage of lower backup times comes with a price: increased restore time. When restoring from incremental backup, you need the most recent full backup as well as every incremental backup you've made since the last full backup.
For example, if you did a full backup on Friday and incremental on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and the PC crashes Thursday morning, you would need all four backup container files: Friday's full backup plus the incremental backup for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. As a comparison, if you had done differential backup on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, then to restore on Thursday morning you'd only need Friday's full backup plus Wednesday's differential.
Advantages:
- Backing up is the fastest
- The storage space requirements are the lowest
Disadvantages:
- Restore is the slowest
Description of Differential Backup:
There is a significant, but sometimes confusing, distinction between differential and incremental backup.Whereas incremental backs up all the files modified since the last full backup or incremental backup, differential backup offers a middle ground by backing up all the files that have changed since the last full backup. That is where it gets its name: it backs up everything that's different since the last full backup.
Restoring a differential backup is a faster process than restoring an incremental backup because only two backup container files are needed: the latest full backup and the latest differential.
Genie Backup Manager uses the information it has recorded in its index files to determine whether each file has changed since the last full backup.
Use differential backup if you have a reasonable amount of time to perform backups. The upside is that only two backup container files are needed to perform a complete restore. The downside is if you run multiple differential backups after your full backup, you're probably including some files in each differential backup that were already included in earlier differential backups, but haven't been recently modified.
Advantages:
- Restore is faster than restoring from incremental backup
- Backing up is faster than a full backup
- The storage space requirements are lower than for full backup if more than one full version is kept
Disadvantages:
- Restore is slower than restoring from full backup
- Backing up is slower than incremental backup
- The storage space requirements are higher than for incremental backup
Description of Mirror Backup:
A mirror backup is a straight copy of the selected folders and files at a given instant in time. That is, the destination becomes a "mirror" of the source.
Any mirror operation after the first will only copy new and modified files, making the operation faster. And deleted files will be removed from the set as well.
Advantages:
- It creates a snapshot of selected files and folders in the destination which you can browse and access later without needing to run Genie Backup Manager
Disadvantages:
Cannot track different versions of files
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