Incremental backup

Handy Backup supports three different types of backup such as full backup, incremental backup and mirror backup. Each of these types has its advantages and disadvantages. Here we will consider the pros and cons of incremental backup as compared to full backup.

How it works
The first time Handy Backup does full backup of the data and then it only backs up the new and changed files upon each backup session. While doing the restore of the backup data, Handy Backup will take into account the first full backup and each successive incremental backup.

Thus the restore of incremental backup takes longer than the restore of full backup, as Handy Backup has to restore the first full backup and then, all successive incremental backups, while with the full backup, it is enough to restore only the last full backup.

Incremental backup assumes that only the new and changed pieces of information are backed up, unlike full backup when all older backup files are replaced with the new ones. Thus incremental backup does not transfer as much data as full backup does. As a result it takes less time to perform incremental backup than to perform full backup.

Because incremental backup only transfers the new and changed data, the risk of data loss during the transfer is less than with full backup.

Another advantage of incremental backup is that it requires less storage space so the backup data can be saved to a storage medium with relatively small storage capacity such as CD. This allows users to back up data on the Grandfather-father-son scheme. The Grandfather-father-son assumes flexible rotation of the backup media when full backup is recorded to a larger medium such as hard drive for example, and incremental backups are recorded to CDs and DVDs.