New
#150
I have always been unsure of the meaning of the terms "Differential" and "Incremental".
Is the following correct?
- Full > each image is totally independent of any other image (this is true)
- Differential > the new image references a "Master Copy" (i.e. linked to a specific past full image)
- Incremental > the new image references the previous image (i.e. chain of images)
Yes, that is correct.
With incrementals, if any image in the chain is corrupt, all incrementals after that can't be restored.
I personally don't use incremental or differential imaging; it's too risky. I only image my C: drive/partition (depending on the machine) along with the System Reserved partition so my images are only around 27GB. That's small enough I can easily keep several of them floating around.
I don't use imaging to back up my data; 'tis too inefficient and time and space consuming. I use a folder/file syncing program—FreeFileSync—for backing up my data.
Incrementals are too risky for anything important in my opinion. Differentials are less risky as there is only ever two involved. If the gap between full images is not too long the risk is acceptable to me. As I have said before I do weekly full images and daily differentials.
Since I don't image data, I only do a weekly image (and that is probably overkill) and also just before I make any changes, such as installing a new program or update (the latter and monthly would probably be plenty but I tend to beanalparanoidcautious).
I think we have both arrived at setups that suit our usage. I would be happy with just the weekly full image so the differentials are a bonus that take very little time or space.