Incremental backup
A backup capturing only what changed since the previous backup.
Incrementals are fast and small, which is what makes frequent backups practical. The cost appears at restore time, when the last full plus every incremental since must be applied in order.
The chain is the risk. One corrupt or missing incremental can break everything after it, which is why synthetic fulls and periodic chain verification exist.
Where this comes up
Incremental backup sits inside our backup and disaster recovery work. If you are trying to work out what this means for your own environment rather than in the abstract, that is the page worth reading next, and a short call will get you a straight answer faster than either.
Related terms
Full backup A complete copy of all selected data, independent of any other backup. Backup A separate copy of data kept so it can be restored after loss, corruption, deletion, or encryption. Recovery point objective The maximum amount of data, measured in time, you can afford to lose. Restore test Actually recovering data from backup to verify the backup works and the process is understood.