Transcript for:
Understanding Different Backup Types

Hello everyone, in this video we're going to talk  about different backup types. Now fault tolerance   can be defined as the prevention of data loss if  a component fails. But in the event that fault   tolerance fails, then disaster recovery would  be our last option. Now disaster recovery is   the process of rebuilding an organization's data  after a disaster has happened, such as data loss.   So even if we have fault tolerance measures,  we still need to backup our data. And there   are three different types of backups: there's  full, incremental, and differential. Now in this   demonstration I'm going to use the old fashioned  tape backup as our storage device. Now even though   tape backups are fading away, some organizations  still use them. So whether you're backing up to   tape or disk, it doesn't matter, the backup methods  that I discuss will apply to all storage devices.   So let's talk about a full backup first. Now  a full backup is just like its name says,   it's a full backup. So it backs up all the data.  So in our example all the data is simply backed   into one tape. So as you might have guessed,  this is the simplest form of backup to perform   because only one tape is used. However if  your organization has a large amount of data,   then performing a full backup daily would  not be efficient because the disadvantage   of doing a full backup is that it takes the  longest to perform. But full backups do have   an advantage and that is during data restoration,  because if you ever needed to restore the data,   then the data can be restored in one session.  So in our example, the data is being backed   up into one tape and that single tape is  all you would need for data restoration,   so the data restoration is very simple. Now an  incremental backup is much faster than a full   backup because in an incremental backup, the only  data that is backed up, is that data that has been   changed since the last full or incremental  backup. So for example, let's say a company   does a full backup on Monday and does incremental  backups Tuesday through Friday. So again, the only   data that is backed up is that data that has been  changed since the last full or incremental backup.   So Tuesday will only backup Tuesday's data,  Wednesday will only backup Wednesday's data,   Thursday will only backup Thursday's data, and  so on. So as you can see on this illustration   each backup tape only backs up the data that has  been changed for that weekday. So the advantage   of an incremental backup is that it's the fastest  backup compared to a full or differential backup.   However the disadvantage of an incremental backup  is that it takes the longest when you have to   restore the data, because when you have to restore  the data after you've done an incremental backup,   you have to restore the full backup along with the  incremental backups, and you have to restore the   incrementals in the same order as you backed them  up. So for example, here we have a full backup   tape and a week's worth of incremental backups. So  to restore the data you have to restore the full   backup tape first and then you have to restore  the incrementals from Tuesday through Friday in   the correct order. And then once that is done, you  have a full data restore for that week. So you can   clearly see why an incremental restore takes much  longer to perform. Now a differential backup is   faster than a full backup but it's not as fast  as an incremental backup. Now in a differential   backup, the data that is backed up is that data  that has been changed since the last full backup.   So going back to our example here, a company does  a full backup on Monday and does differential   backups Tuesday through Friday. So as data is  being added to the database on those weekdays,   the differential backup will backup the data that  has been changed since Monday's full backup. So   Tuesday will backup Tuesday's data. Wednesday  will backup Tuesday's and Wednesday's data.   Thursday will backup Tuesday's, Wednesday's, and  Thursday's data. And Friday will backup Tuesday's,   Wednesday's, Thursday's, and Friday's data. So  as you can see on this illustration each backup   tape copies data not only from their own day  but also from the previous weekdays as well   since the last full backup was performed. Now  after a differential backup, if you ever needed   to restore the data, you would only need the last  full backup and the last differential backup to   completely restore your data. So for example,  if a crash were to happen on the weekend and   you have to restore the data, you would restore  Monday's full backup and then you would restore   Friday's differential backup and then once that  is done you'll have a full restore of your data.   So here is a final review and a comparison of the  three types of backups. So starting with a full   backup, a full backup simply backs up all the  data but it does take the longest to perform.   And as far as restoring the data, the only backup  that needs to be restored is the one full backup.   And since it only requires the full backup to  restore the data, the restore process is the   fastest. And an incremental backup backs up that  data that has been changed since the last full or   incremental backup. And this is a fastest backup  of the three because it only backs up the data   that's changed for that day. But during a data  restore, it takes the longest to perform because   you have to restore the full backup, along with the  incremental backups and you have to restore the   incrementals in the same order as you backed them  up. And a differential backup backs up that data   that's been changed since the last full backup. A  differential backup is faster than a full backup   but it's slower than an incremental backup. And as  far as restoring the data, a differential restore   requires the full backup and the last differential  backup and the restore procedure is in the middle.   The restore is faster than an incremental  restore but it's slower than a full restore you