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Which is beneficial to use? Incremental, differential, version chain ?

Thread needs solution

I'm a total Newbie when it comes to this.....
This is what I am running
Win7 64bit
SSD C drive (476gb) (414gb free) Operating system files
SSD D Drive (931gb) (916Gb free) Personal Documents

External X drive (2Tb) (1.81Tb free)
used for Media (video, music, pictures, games)

Dedicated External Backup Z Drive (6tb / mirrored 3tb)

Which is better to use for backup....
Incremental, differential, or version chain?

Any replies appreciated....

Thanks,

Newbie

0 Users found this helpful

Hi Tyler,

You need 2 things:
- a disk and partition backup containing all the partitions that are on the disk where the OS is, any Windows file (like page file, temp folder) or applications. The best thing is to click on multipe partitions, unti you get to disk mode and click the disk,
- a working recovery CD: you have tested booting your computer on it and you have recovered a couple of files from the backup above,
- a sync of your content that is (a) in compressed format, like music, videos, films, ZIP, photos, PDF and (b) that don't change often.

Incremental chains are the most space efficient, but more fragile: if any backup goes bad, the chain is compromised for any backup after the corrupted file. I personally do always incrementals, but I make sure that my last full is never too old for me to go back to if I ever had to.

Differential chains end up producing a backup file that becomes always bigger, since all the changes since the last FULL are accumulated in the last differential.

Version chain is a prepackaged type of differential. I prefer building my own scheme.

Do an incremental backup of your OS, weekly, a new full every 4 incrementals, keep only 3 chains (3 months), for example,
an incremental backup of your documents, daily, a new full every 6 incrementals, keep only 12 chains (3 months) for example,
a sync of your X drive, weekly or something.

Pat...
thanks for replying.....
I will look into everything you suggested.....
I'm whirlwinded......because I am new at this....

Thanks,

Ty

Pat...
thanks for replying.....
I will look into everything you suggested.....
I'm whirlwinded......because I am new at this....

Thanks,

Ty

Check out Grover's guide on the left pane of this forum. Worth a read definitely.

@Pat L would you mind copying a link to Grover's guide? I don't see anything on the margins like you mention. Thanks so much.

Kenneth, welcome to these public User Forums.

Grover's guides can be found in the Best Practices for data protection forum.