Full vs Simple Recovery Model in MSSQL

MSSQL offers a number of recovery models that can be employed - of which 'Full' and 'Simple' are the most common types.

The simple recovery model provides you with a complete backup of the database that you can restore - although does not provide point in time recovery.

Typically it should be used for transient databases or very hot databases and where data loss is not critical.

Where as a 'full' recovery model keeps all of the logs for the database until a backup occurs or logs are truncated. This provides you with the ability to perform point-in-time recovery and is typically used for databases where data loss can't be afforded - although disk space from backed up logs comes at a premium with this model.