Data Backup

In Information Technology, backup is the term used for making copies of data and keep them in a safe place. Because if we loss those data in some event then we could restore the original with the backup. These additional copies of data are called “backups”.

There are primarily two purposes when we can use backups. The first is, when there is some disaster like: hard disk crashing…and we have to restore the original data…its full recovery. The second is when some files have been deleted or corrupted accidentally and we have to restore those files.

Backups are typically the last line of defense against data loss. A backup system always contains at least one copy of data, so the storing space requirements are also minimized. Organizing this storage space and managing the backup process are very complicated things. There are many types of data storage devices in market, which are very useful for making backups.

There are different types of backups available with usefulness and cost requirement------

Full:
A full backup contains all the files and folders of a system in compressed format with password protection (if needed). So it needs minimum storage space. As to store this backup, it takes longer time.

Differential:
Differential backup contains all the files that have been changed, since the last full backup. It is a bit faster than other backup to restore and takes less space than full backup. But it takes more space than any other backup.

Incremental:
It contains all files that have been changed ever since the last backup (full, differential or incremental). It takes least time to restore and less space to store.

Mirror:
This method of backup is identical to full backup. The only difference is that, it is not compressed or protected. So it needs maximum storage space. But it is the fastest method of practice to take the backup, as we need to copy the files and folder to the destination storage space only.

There are some storage media we can use for data backups like:

Magnetic tape – It is the most commonly used storage system for bulk data backup. The access time is poor! It is very fast, if we want continuous data reading.

Hard disk – It provides more capacity compared to its price. It’s very fast to access too.

Optical disk – Like CD, DVD….these can be used to store backup files.

Floppy disk – This is an old type of storing device with low capacity.

Data backup will provide a strong support, when system turns vulnerable. Moreover, it helps the users to retrieve the data without troubles.

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