Methods of backup typically include full backup, incremental backup, differential backup, and virtual full backup. These methods vary by how they back up changes to data. Whereas full backup backs up a complete snapshot of your data on a regular basis, incremental and differential backup types only back up the changes over time. Each give you a complete set of data to restore, but incremental and differential backup is much more efficient in terms of resources and storage space. Differential backup captures any changes since the initial full backup. Incremental backup captures changes since the last incremental backup, making it the more efficient of the two even though it is quite similar. The virtual full backup is a combination of these techniques whereby incremental backup is used, combined with periodic full backups. Advanced backup software will utilize all of these methods and present options that allow you to maximize performance and the resources available to you.