An administrator needs to make a file-level backup of a VM before deploying monthly updates. The backup should capture all changes since the last backup but should NOT reset the archive bit on any…

An incremental backup captures only changes since the last full or incremental backup and resets the archive bit, which contradicts the requirement.

A full backup captures all data, which is not what is asked for, and it also resets the archive bit.

A snapshot is a point-in-time image of a VM's state, not a file-level backup that considers archive bits.

A differential backup captures all data that has changed since the last full backup. Crucially, it does not reset the archive bit, allowing subsequent backups (like incremental) to still identify files changed since their own last run, which meets the specified requirement.

Delta Tracking is a general term for change tracking, often used in virtualization for snapshots or replication, but not a specific file-level backup type that manages archive bits in this context.