There are several methods you can choose from for backup and recovery of databases. Some deal with full backup and some deal with selective backup. Make a checklist of files on your computer. This will help you decide what to backup and what isn't really necessary or important, in case of lost data.Full backups are exactly as they sound; a full copy of the database is stored on the backup media. Full backups can be done without taking the database offline. Full backups can take longer to complete than some of the others.Next we have what is called the differential backup. The differential backup only stores a copy of the data that has changed since the last full backup was completed. It is very important to remember that if you do have a database failure, since a differential backup would not be helpful with recovering lost data. You would need both the full and differential backups to restore your database properly.