Which statement describes incremental backup and how it differs from full backup?

Which statement describes incremental backup and how it differs from full backup?

• A. Incremental backups copy all data each time; full backups copy only changed data.
• B. Full backup copies all selected data; incremental backs up only data changed since last backup.
• C. Incremental backups require no prior full backup.
• D. Full backups are faster than incremental.

Answer: (B)

Incremental backup focuses on efficiency: after an initial full backup, each subsequent backup records only the data that has changed since the previous backup. This creates a complete snapshot only when a full backup is done, while incremental backups capture only new or altered files, making the process faster and saving storage space. That aligns with the described statement: a full backup copies all selected data, while incremental backups save only what changed since the last backup. The other ideas don’t fit because incremental backups don’t copy everything each time, they do rely on a prior full backup to establish a baseline, and full backups typically take longer and use more storage than incremental ones. For restoration, you’d combine the initial full backup with all subsequent incremental backups to reconstruct the full dataset.

Incremental backup focuses on efficiency: after an initial full backup, each subsequent backup records only the data that has changed since the previous backup. This creates a complete snapshot only when a full backup is done, while incremental backups capture only new or altered files, making the process faster and saving storage space. That aligns with the described statement: a full backup copies all selected data, while incremental backups save only what changed since the last backup. The other ideas don’t fit because incremental backups don’t copy everything each time, they do rely on a prior full backup to establish a baseline, and full backups typically take longer and use more storage than incremental ones. For restoration, you’d combine the initial full backup with all subsequent incremental backups to reconstruct the full dataset.