Normalmente, um backup diferencial fornece um backup de arquivos que foram alterados desde que um backup completo foi realizado. Um backup incremental fornece um backup de arquivos que foram alterados ou são novos desde o último backup incremental.
Para obter mais informações, leia este artigo em Backups completos, incrementais e diferenciais da Microsoft ou a descrição da Wikipedia:
Incremental
A "normal" incremental backup will back up only those files that have been changed since the last backup of any type. This provides the quickest means of backup, since it makes copies only of files that have not yet been backed up. For instance, following a full backup on Friday, Monday’s tape will contain only those files changed since Friday. Tuesday’s tape contains only those files changed since Monday, and so on. The downside to this is that in order to perform a full restore, one needs to restore the last full backup first, followed by each of the subsequent incremental backups to the present day in the correct order. Should any one of these backup copies be damaged (particularly the full backup), the restore will be incomplete.
Differential
A cumulative backup of all changes made since the last full or normal backup, i.e., the differences since the last full backup. The advantage to this is the quicker recovery time, requiring only a full backup and the last differential backup to restore the system. The disadvantage is that for each day elapsed since the last full backup, more data needs to be backed up, especially if a significant proportion of the data has been changed.