differential backup

differential backup

[‚dif·ə‚ren·chəl ′bak‚əp] (computer science) Backup of only files that have been changed or added since the last backup.

differential backup

(operating system)A kind of backup that copies all filesthat have changed since the last full backup. Eachdifferential backup will include all files in previousdifferential backups since the full backup so to restore aversion of a file, you only need to search the full backup andthe relevant differential backup.

Some systems support differential backup by associating an"Archive" flag with each file and setting this flag wheneverthe file is modified to indicate that it should be included inthe next backup. A differential backup does not change thisflag, whereas an incremental backup resets it.