Which type of backup collects daily changes and may take longer as it accumulates data?

The correct answer emphasizes the concept of how data changes are collected over time during the backup process. An incremental backup captures only the changes made since the last backup, and this method can lead to increased backup times as more changes accumulate.

As you perform incremental backups day by day, each subsequent backup only adds the changes from the previous backup, which can result in faster initial backups compared to full backups. However, over time, the number of changes may grow, potentially leading to longer backup durations as the system has to track and copy an increasing amount of data.

Differential backups, on the other hand, capture all changes made since the last full backup, and therefore may take longer as more data is accumulated from that point. Full backups involve copying all the data each time, which is a different process altogether. Online backups typically refer to backups conducted over the internet and do not inherently describe a method of change tracking.

Understanding these distinctions is crucial in determining the most efficient backup strategy, especially in environments with constantly changing data.