An administrator wants to minimize the amount of time needed to perform backups during the week. It is
also acceptable to the administrator for restoration to take an extended time frame.
Which of the following strategies would the administrator MOST likely implement?

A.
Full backups on the weekend and incremental during the week

B.
Full backups on the weekend and full backups every day

C.
Incremental backups on the weekend and differential backups every day

D.
Differential backups on the weekend and full backups every day

Explanation:
A full backup is a complete, comprehensive backup of all fi les on a disk or server. The full backup is
current only at the time it’s performed. Once a full backup is made, you have a complete archive of the
system at that point in time. A system shouldn’t be in use while it undergoes a full backup because some
fi les may not get backed up. Once the system goes back into operation, the backup is no longer current.
A full backup can be a time-consuming process on a large system.
An incremental backup is a partial backup that stores only the information that has been changed since
the last full or the last incremental backup. If a full backup were performed on a Sunday night, an
incremental backup done on Monday night would contain only the information that changed sinceSunday night. Such a backup is typically considerably smaller than a full backup. Each incremental backup
must be retained until a full backup can be performed. Incremental backups are usually the fastest
backups to perform on most systems, and each incremental backup tape is relatively small.
Incorrect Answers:
B: Full backups on a daily base would be too time consuming and impractical.
C: A differential backup is similar in function to an incremental backup, but it backs up any files that have
been altered since the last full backup; it makes duplicate copies of fi les that haven’t changed since the
last differential backup. However this together with incremental backups on the weekend will not provide
a complete backup since the administrator want to minimize time required to perform backups during
the week.
D: Full backups on a daily basis is exactly the opposite of what is required when you want to minimize the
time required to make the backups during the week.

Dulaney, Emmett and Chuck Eastton, CompTIA Security+ Study Guide, 6th Edition, Sybex, Indianapolis,
2014, pp. 436-437