What is a data backup strategy and how do incremental backups differ from full backups?

What is a data backup strategy and how do incremental backups differ from full backups?

• A. A strategy to copy data for recovery; incremental backs up only changes since last backup, full backups copy everything
• B. A process to delete old data in place
• C. A method to encrypt data for security
• D. A plan to only back up metadata

Answer: (A)

Backing up data means making copies you can restore from after a loss. A data backup strategy defines how to schedule backups, what data to copy, and how long to keep them. Incremental backups capture only the changes since the last backup, whereas full backups copy everything in the data set at that moment. That makes incremental backups quicker and use less storage, but restores require the latest full backup plus every subsequent incremental to rebuild all changes. Full backups give a complete snapshot in one pass, simplifying restoration but needing more storage and time to create. The other options describe data deletion, encryption, or backing up only metadata, which are about security or data management, not the core idea of backing up data or the difference between incremental and full backups.