What advantage does a differential backup provide?

A differential backup captures all changes made since the last full backup, which effectively speeds up recovery time. When a full backup is performed, it serves as a complete baseline of the data at that moment. After that, a differential backup only includes the data that has changed since that full backup, making it a quicker process than a full backup that would require every file to be copied again.

This method allows for a more efficient recovery process as, in the event of data loss, the system only needs the last full backup and the most recent differential backup to restore all data. This is in contrast to incremental backups, which would require multiple previous backups to reach a current state. Thus, the advantage of a differential backup lies in its ability to enhance recovery speed by reducing the amount of data that needs to be restored, streamlining the process effectively.