Which type of backup allows for the fastest recovery time?

The fastest recovery time is achieved with a full backup. A full backup captures all of the data at a specific point in time, which means that when a recovery is necessary, the entire dataset can be restored from a single backup copy without the need to piece together information from multiple backups.

In contrast, incremental backups only store data that has changed since the last backup (whether that was a full or another incremental backup). This means that during recovery, you must restore the last full backup and then apply all subsequent incremental backups, which can be time-consuming.

Differential backups capture all changes made since the last full backup, requiring the restoration of the last full backup followed by a single differential backup. While this process is faster than restoring multiple incremental backups, it is still not as quick as restoring a full backup.

Partial backups involve saving only certain parts of the data rather than the entire dataset, which can complicate recovery if a complete restore is needed.

Therefore, because a full backup consolidates all data into a single file, it allows for the quickest restoration, making it the preferred choice for minimizing downtime during data recovery operations.