How Backups Can Save Your Life (Or Just Your Data)

How Backups Can Save Your Life (Or Just Your Data)

We all store media on our computers; photos, videos and everything that has been captured from the private moments in our lives. Imagine that one day you try to start your computer and it doesn’t turn on, well if your disk is still operating, you can retrieve your data back using some techniques.

 

However, what if your disk is totally destroyed? Think about losing those memories forever, photos videos and data from your personal life, do you think that is bad? Now imagine you have a big company and you are responsible for the company’s data and something goes wrong and one moment to next the data is no longer there. Would you like to jump from the balcony? You don’t have to! There is a way to save your life, using something called BACKUPS.

 

There are many reasons that a company needs to make backups: a computer virus could affect your data, you could delete data by accident, or connection problems could cause files to become corrupted etc.

 

A company can back up data using big enterprise server’s software and techniques can vary depending on the requirements. For your home computer and personal data there are a number of free software programmes that can help you and for businesses there is also a range of paid-for software that can keep company’s critical data backed up.

 

As well as these files on a computer there are also Linux files and other things required to be backed up and these can also be protected: SQL databases, Active Directory Databases, Oracle VM, Citrix XenServer backups, HyperV, Exchange Server backups, VMware backups and more.

backups

There are 3 types of backups: Full Backups, Differential Backups and Incremental Backups:

 

1) Full backups are the most common and comprehensive type of backup operation. It makes a full backup of the data as and when you configure it. However the disadvantage of this type is the length of time the procedure takes to complete the backup, but taking full backups is essential to be carried out on a regular basis.

 

2) Differential backups compare to the full backups with the time stamps in order to identify any disparities so that only files which are different from those in the full backup are backed up.

 

3) Incremental backup compares to the full backups the first time it is run in the same way as the differential backup, however any subsequent time it compares the previous copy of the last backup taken and backs up any files which have changed.

 

backups2

Backups are often scheduled and backed up into NAS or SAS. Full backups are completed either on a weekly or monthly basis and incremental or differential on a daily basis. Additionally, you can store your backup on external disks, cloud servers or other servers in order to be fully confident to never lose any data as a result of a disaster happening with the NAS, SAS etc.

There are many different companies that offer backup services, from home products to enterprise backup solutions.

Here is a list from Wikipedia regarding the proprietary backup software with the package and the publisher.

 

 

Package Publisher Version for Windows Version for Mac OS Version for Linux Graphical user interface Continuous Data Protection
@MAX SyncUp @MAX software Yes No No Yes Yes
Acronis True Image Acronis Yes Yes Yes Yes
Aomei Backupper Aomei Tech Yes No No Yes
Argentum Backup Argentum Software Yes No No Yes No
Backup4all Softland Yes No No Yes No
BackupAssist Cortex IT Labs Yes No No Yes No
Backup Exec Veritas Software Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Catalogic DPX Catalogic Software Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Bitser Bitser Yes No No Yes No
Bvckup 2 Pipemetrics SA Yes No No Yes No
ChronoSync Econ Technologies No Yes No Yes No
Argentum Backup Argentum Software Yes No No Yes No
Comodo Backup Comodo Group Yes No No Yes Yes
Crashplan Code42 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Dmailer Backup Dmailer Yes Yes No Yes No
Double Image Backup Host Interface International Yes No No Yes No
Druva InSync Druva Software Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
EMC NetWorker EMC Corporation Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Genie Backup Manager Genie-Soft Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Handy Backup Novosoft LLC Yes No Yes [3] Yes No
HP Data Protector HP Software & Solutions Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
IASO Backup IASO Backup Yes Yes Yes Yes No
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager IBM Yes Yes Yes Yes No
InMage DR-Scout InMage Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Image for Windows TeraByte Unlimited Yes No Yes Yes No
Iperius Backup Enter Srl Yes No No Yes No
KeepVault KeepVault Yes Partial No Yes Yes
Langmeier Backup Langmeier Software Yes No No Yes No
LazySave LazySave Yes No No Yes No
.Mac Backup aka MobileMe Apple Inc. Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Memopal Memopal Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Mozy Mozy / EMC Yes Yes No Yes No
NetVault Backup Dell Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Novabackup NovaStor Yes No Partial Yes No
NTBackup Microsoft Yes No No Yes No
NetBackup Veritas Software Yes Yes[4] Yes Yes Yes
Norton 360 Symantec Yes No Yes Yes No
Norton Ghost Symantec Yes No Yes Yes No
EMC RecoverPoint EMC Corporation Yes No? No? Yes Yes
Retrospect Retrospect Inc Yes Yes Yes Yes No
ShadowProtect StorageCraft Yes No Yes Yes Yes
System Center Data Protection Manager Microsoft Yes No No Yes No
SpiderOak SpiderOak Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
SyncBack 2BrightSparks Yes No No Yes No
SyncToy Microsoft Yes No No Yes No
Time Machine Apple Inc. No Yes No Yes No
Tonido Backup CodeLathe Yes Yes Yes Yes No
TotalRecovery Pro FarStone Technology Yes No No Yes No
UltraBac UltraBac Software Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Windows Home Server Computer Backup Microsoft Yes Yes[5] No Yes No
Windows Backup and Restore Microsoft Yes No No Yes No
Yosemite Server Backup Barracuda Networks Yes No Yes Yes No

 

There are various data encryption methods that can be used in the event that our data is stolen to prevent data from recovery. Only when the user has the encryption key can this then decrypt the data; there are some encryption methods that are almost impossible to be cracked, such as the 256 AES encryption.

 

Data recovery methods are really powerful, and once you have successfully recovered the data, all NTFS permissions and timestamps will be restored identically to before the files were corrupted.

 

With backups you can have peace of mind that all your data files, sql databases and any other critical data you have is safe and fully secured.

Leave a Reply