Synthetic vs differential backup

A differential backup only backs up the files that have changed since the last backup.

 

 

 

Synthetic backups are created from a full backup and from all subsequent incrementals.

 

When you do a synthetic full, you roll up the incrementals back to the last full and create in esscence an aritificial new Full backup without actually having to do any backup on the client.

 

This is useful if the full backups take a long long time to run. You only need to have the initial hit of the backup taking a long time on the first full backup.

 

Editted: for correction