MySQL 中文网

mysql 5.0 的手册上是这样写的。
Using the Binary Log to Enable Incremental Backups

MySQL supports incremental backups: You must start the server with the --log-bin option to enable binary logging; see Section 5.2.3, “The Binary Log”. The binary log files provide you with the information you need to replicate changes to the database that are made subsequent to the point at which you performed a backup. At the moment you want to make an incremental backup (containing all changes that happened since the last full or incremental backup), you should rotate the binary log by using FLUSH LOGS. This done, you need to copy to the backup location all binary logs which range from the one of the moment of the last full or incremental backup to the last but one. These binary logs are the incremental backup; at restore time, you apply them as explained in Section 6.3, “Point-in-Time Recovery”. The next time you do a full backup, you should also rotate the binary log using FLUSH LOGS, mysqldump --flush-logs, or mysqlhotcopy --flushlog. See Section 4.5.4, “mysqldump — A Database Backup Program”, and Section 4.6.8, “mysqlhotcopy — A Database Backup Program”.