CompTIA A+ Core 2 (220-1202)Operational ProceduresMedium
A server's data must be restored after a failure. Backups were performed as follows: a full backup every Sunday, and an incremental backup every other day of the week. The server failed on Thursday morning before that day's backup ran. In what order should the technician restore the backups?
- ARestore only Wednesday's incremental backup
- BRestore Wednesday's incremental backup, then Sunday's full backup
- CRestore Sunday's full backup, then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday incrementals in chronological order
- DRestore Sunday's full backup, then Wednesday's incremental backup only
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: C. Restore Sunday's full backup, then Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday incrementals in chronological order
Incremental backups only contain data changed since the last backup (full or incremental). To fully restore, you must apply the full backup first, then each subsequent incremental in chronological order (Mon, Tue, Wed) to rebuild all changes.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Missing the full backup and earlier incrementals means data would be incomplete.
- B. Restoring in reverse order is incorrect since increments depend on prior data being present.
- D. Skipping Monday and Tuesday incrementals would omit changes made those days.
Incremental Backup Restore
A restore process for incremental backups that requires restoring the last full backup first, followed by every incremental backup taken since, in chronological order.
- Incremental backups only capture changes since the last backup of any type
- Restore order: full backup, then each incremental in sequence
- Faster to back up, but slower/more complex to restore than differential
Memory trick: Full first, then follow the trail of increments in order.