Backup and Restore

Computer security is the safeguarding of computer systems and data against

theft, and illegal access, or against any disaster. It’s the method of guarding
against and detecting illegal access to your computer system. Data security
refers to the process of securing data from illegal access or any disaster. This
process includes the following terms:
 Data backup
 Data Recovery

Data Backup

Data backup is the process of storing additional copies of your data in physical
or virtual locations distinct from your data files in storage. Typically, backup data
includes all the data – documents, media files, configuration and registry files,
machine images, etc. required to perform the workload on your server. In
essence, any data that you desire to keep can be saved as backup data.
The main goal of backup is to generate a copy of the data that can be recovered
if the primary data fails. Failure can be – hardware or software failures, data
corruption, or a human-initiated event such as an attack (virus or malware) or
data deletion by an accident.
The act of backing up your data in the case of a loss and putting up secure
mechanisms that allow you to recover your data, as a result, this process is
known as data backup and recovery. It copies and preserves data in order to
keep it available in the event of data loss or damage. Suppose you have backed
up your data, so you can only recover data from a previous point in time. Data
backup is a type of disaster recovery that should be included in every plan for
disaster recovery.

Backup copies should be made on a constant, regular basis for optimal

outcomes, since this will reduce the amount of data lost between backups.
When recovering from a backup, the longer the gap between backup copies,
the greater the risk of data loss.
Note – Even if you back up your data, you may not be able to restore all of your
system’s data and settings.
Types of Backups:
1. Full Backup: As the name implies, backs up each and every file and folder
(hard drives and more) on the system. As the backup is full and complete, it
takes longer time and takes up more space than other backup options, but the
process of recovering lost data from backup is much faster.
2. Differential Backup: These backups begin with a full backup, which saves
all of your files. Then differential backups are performed, which save only the
data that has changed since the previous full backup. This saves a lot of time
and resources compared to doing continuous full backups. Its backups only
save changes to files that changed as compared to the previous backup and it
also makes a copy if new files if any. It also provides for a speedier restore time
than incremental although it requires more storage space.

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3. Incremental Backup: An incremental backup is similar to a differential
backup, but it only includes the data that has changed since the last backup.
The differential backup, on the other hand, includes all data since the previous
complete backup. Although incremental backups need the least amount of
storage space, they can take longer to retrieve data because they must be
executed independently during a recovery. However, because they are
significantly smaller than full or differential backups, they usually require less
restoral time.
4. Network Backup: It backs up a file system from one machine onto a backup
device connected to another machine. It is referred to as a remote or network
backup.
Note: The restoration speed of Full Backup is fastest, but its backup speed is
the slowest. Backup speed for incremental is fastest and it requires low memory
but its restoration speed is the slowest.
Backup Devices:
You can take backup of your data on any of the following devices:
1. CD and DVD: Because they have a small capacity ranging from 1000’s of
MB to a few GB, they are utilized for home/personal use where users can save
their papers, primarily personal or office-related papers.
2. USB sticks: USB sticks are small in size and cost, but they’re big in storage
capacity; you can obtain up to 128 gigabytes on a USB stick. They are small in
size but have a good transfer speed.
3. USB Drives: This sort of drive has a size range of 500MB to 2TB and is
compatible, and normally includes backup and recovery software. Encryption,
convenient automatic backups, and a cloud backup option are all included in
many models. The cost is high.
4. Solid-state drives (SSDs): They are more expensive than hard drives, but
they’re also more reliable, smaller, faster, and consume less power. SSDs are
ideal for applications where a speed improvement is worthwhile, such as system
files or multimedia production.
5. NAS (network-attached storage): A network-attached storage is a file
storage device that delivers centralized, consolidated disc storage to local-
area network (LAN) users via a normal Ethernet connection. NAS allows a
network with servers to add more hard disc storage capacity without having to
shut them down for maintenance and updates. You can use it solely for
backups, or you may use it for file sharing and streaming of multimedia as
well.

Data Recovery

Data recovery, often known as a restore, is required when data of any sort is no
longer readable or has been corrupted by a malicious alteration. The act,
process, or occurrence of recovering data following inadvertent loss or
corruption is known as recovery. The cost of recovering data is high.
Causes Of Data Recovery:
Businesses might lose data in a variety of ways. Mistakes in technology can
sometimes result in data loss that is irreversible. Other times, hackers manage
to breach or evade a company’s defense, taking data for their malevolent

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purposes or draining the company’s resources. The following are the most
prevalent reasons for data loss:
1. Virus/Spyware/Malware attack.
2. Natural calamities
3. Hardware Failure
4. Human errors.
5. Manipulation in software etc.

Sample Problem

Question 1. Do the backup process affects the performance of the

internet?
Solution:
Online backup use cutting-edge technology to reduce the influence on your
computer’s and internet’s performance. This ensures that you may keep
working while the backup is taking place. Most backups are performed late at
night to reduce the impact on your normal internet and PC usage. During
business hours, bandwidth can be throttled to reduce the impact of a big
backup on your end users.
Question 2. Compare and contrast different backup types.
Solution:
There are 3 types of backup types :
1. Full backup
2. Differential backup
3. Incremental backup
They can be differentiated in terms of :
 Data Backup : In full backup, all data is backup while in differential backup,
all data since last full is backup & in incremental only new/modified
files/folders are backup.
 Backup time: Time for Full backup is the most, moderate for differential
backup & lowest for incremental backup.
 Restore Time: Time to restore the data in Full backup is the lowest, for
differential backup is also low & moderate for incremental backup.
 Storage space: In full backup, memory requirement is the most while in
differential backup, memory requirement is moderate & in incremental ,
this requirement is the least.
Question 3. What kind of data is needed to be backup?
Solution:
You should back up anything that can’t be replaced if it’s lost as a starting
point. Individuals may be affected by the following factors:
 Photographs
 Excel Spreadsheets
 Documents
 Videos available.
 Files containing music

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 e-mail
 Databases having financial information
 Address Books
Data backups for businesses get a little more sophisticated — think of backing
up customer databases, configuration files, machine images, operating
systems, and registry files — and they’re usually managed by an IT
department.
Question 4. What are the causes for data recovery?
Solution:
The following are the cause of data recovery:
1. Virus/Spyware/Malware attack.
2. Natural calamities
3. Hardware Failure
4. Human errors.
5. Manipulation in software etc.
Question 5. List the device that can be used for backup of data.
Solution:
The devices that are used to backup data are:
 CD and DVD
 USB Stick
 USB Drives
 SSD
 NAS

What is backup and restore?

Backup and restore refers to technologies and practices for making periodic copies of data and
applications to a separate, secondary device and then using those copies to recover the data and
applications—and the business operations on which they depend—in the event that the original
data and applications are lost or damaged due to a power outage, cyberattack, human error,
disaster, or some other unplanned event.

Strategy and planning

How you back up your data and applications (i.e., how frequently you back them up and to
what device or location) depends on the cost of losing access to the data and applications for
any period of time and the cost of replacing or recreating the data if it’s lost for good.

Typically, the first step in creating a backup strategy—especially an enterprise backup

strategy—is to determine recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives for each data
source and application.

 Recovery time objective, or RTO, refers to maximum amount of time the business can
afford to be without access to the data or application—or, how quickly you need to
recover the data and application.

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  Recovery point objective, or RPO, refers to the amount of data you can afford to lose
and effectively dictates how frequently you need to back up your data to avoid losing
more.

RTOs and RPOs will vary depending on the business you’re in and the individual applications
and data in question. Mission-critical applications (e.g., the ecommerce system for a major
online retailer or the trading application at a brokerage) might require microscopic RTOs and
RPOs since, in each case, downtime could cost millions per minute. But the brokerage’s email
system may require shorter RTOs and RPOs than the retailer’s email system because the
brokerage may require a comprehensive email audit trail for regulatory compliance.

Beyond RTO and RPO, other factors that determine your choice of backup and restore
technology include your need for scalability, data security, and even physical distance (i.e.,
whether you need to maintain your backups far enough away from your production
infrastructure to ensure recovery from a local power outage or disaster).
Backup devices and services

What type of device or service will you use to back up your data? Generally speaking, you have
four choices.

Tape drive

Tape is the oldest backup medium in use today. It offers low-cost, high-capacity data storage,
but relatively slow read/write performance makes tape a poor choice for incremental backup,
continuous data protection (CDP) or any other backup method that updates backups whenever
data changes (see the ‘Common methods and solutions’ section below). Tape is also more
prone to physical wear and damage than other storage media so it needs to be closely managed
and constantly tested to ensure that it will work when it’s time for recovery. For these reasons,
tape is a better choice for nightly or weekly backups or for cost-effectively archiving data that
your organization wants or needs to keep but doesn’t need in order to quickly bring the
business back online in the event of an outage or disaster.

Hard disk drives (HDDs) or solid-state drives (SSDs)

Most data today is backed up to a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SDD), whether
that drive is a standalone external drive or part of a backup server (see below). Both offer much
faster read/write performance than tape, making them a good choice for continually-updated
backups and short-RTO/RPO backup scenarios.

SDDs are increasingly popular because they offer faster read/write times than HDDs, require
less physical space to store the same amount of data, and consume less power (even if they are
more expensive to purchase per gigabyte). If HDDs and SDDs have a drawback, it's that they
aren’t particularly scalable—if you need more backup capacity, you have to purchase and
install a new physical disk.

Backup server

A backup server is a dedicated server built specifically for backing up files stored on multiple
client computers on the same network. The server is outfitted with significant disk storage and
specialized software for scheduling and managing backups. Backup server disks are often
configured for redundancy to protect backup data and ensure that backups continue in the event

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of a disk failure. An onsite backup server can be a cost-effective backup solution for a small
office but does not protect backup data against local outages or physical disasters.

Cloud backup

Cloud backup backs up your data and applications via a corporate network or internet
connection to a physical or (more likely) virtual backup server at a remote data center operated
by your company, a hosting provider, or a cloud services provider.

Cloud backup is typically the most flexible type of backup. You can use it to back up files,
application data, or entire physical or virtual servers. You can schedule backups as frequently
or infrequently as you like. Because cloud backup servers are typically virtualized, you can
scale easily and cost-effectively as needed. Cloud backup eliminates the need to physically
move backup media to another location (and the significantly larger RTOs and RPOs that can
result) for protection against local power outages or disasters.
Common methods and solutions

What follows is a list of the most commonly used backup an restore methods. The method or
mix of methods you choose will depend on the factors mentioned earlier (RTO, RPO,
scalability, security, geographic distance requirements) as well as the following factors:

 Whether you’re protecting personal, small business, or enterprise data

 Whether you’re backing up just data, data and applications, or entire physical computers
or virtual machines

 The backup methods your backup service provider offers

 Your budget
Full-image only

Full-image only backup periodically backs up a complete copy the data source you want to
protect. To restore lost data, you simply replace it with the most-recent full-image backup. Full-
image restores are fast, but because full-image backups can be time-consuming and can’t be
performed as frequently as other backups, this method isn’t well suited to shorter
RTOs/RPOs.

Incremental

Incremental backup starts with a full-image backup and then performs periodic backups of only
the data that changed since the most-recent backup; typically, after a set number of incremental
backups, another full-image backup is performed and the cycle starts again. To restore data,
you first apply the most-recent full-image backup and then apply each subsequent incremental
backup to the desired RPO. Incremental saves backup time by allowing fewer full backups and
speeds restore times for recently-changed files.

Differential

Differential backup backs up all data that has changed since the last full-image backup. To
restore data, you first apply the most-recent full-image backup and then the most-recent

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differential backup. Backup time increases with each successive differential backup, but
restoring requires applying just two backup files—the latest full image backup and the
differential backup).

Continuous data protection (CDP)

Also called continuous backup or real-time back-up, CDP instantly saves a copy of every
change to your data to a separate storage device and tracks each of those saves. CDP eliminates
the interruption of discrete backups since backup happens constantly. And because CDP can
restore data from the most recent change or from any specific point in time, it provides the most
comprehensive and granular protection for your data.

Bare-metal backup

Bare-metal backup backs up an entire computer or server—applications, data, operating

system, etc.—in a way that allows it to be restored to bare metal hardware (hardware without a
previously installed operating system or preinstalled software).

Instant recovery

A backup and restore method for virtual machines (VMs), instant recovery maintains a
continually-updated backup VM for the production VM. When it’s time to restore, the system
redirects to workload to the backup VM in real time so that users can continue working without
interruption while IT staff restores the original VM. Instant recovery offers the advantages of
zero RTO and RPO but, in many cases, the performance of the backup VM is somewhat slower
than that of the original VM.
Special use cases
Windows 10 Backup and Restore

Windows 10 Backup and Restore makes periodic full image backups of your files on a
schedule you specify. It can also create a backup image of your entire system—OS,
applications, files, settings, etc.—so that you can recover everything if needed. An additional
tool called File History can be set to automatically save multiple versions of a file so you can
recover the file to a desired version or point in time.

Time Machine

Built into the Apple MacOS, Time Machine automatically performs hourly, daily, and weekly
backups of your entire Mac system. It can save the backup to your Mac, an external drive, or to
an AirPort Time Capsule (if you have one—Apple no longer makes them). When it’s time to
restore files, Time Machine lets you flip through dated backups to choose the recovery point
you want. You can also back up files on your Mac—such as documents, photos, and songs—to
iCloud.

SQL database backup and restore

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You can back up and restore MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL databases easily from the
command line or with third-party tools available separately.

iPhone

You can back up your iPhone to your computer by using iTunes or to the cloud by using
iCloud. Depending on the amount of data you’ve stored on your phone, you may need to
purchase additional iCloud storage.

Android Backup and Reset

Android Backup and Reset is a backup tool built into all Android mobile devices that backs up
your data and settings to Google Drive. In addition, certain Android phone vendors, such as
Samsung, offer their own backup and restore apps and data storage services.

What is Backup? (Data Backup)

Comprehensive Guide

What is data backup?

Data backup means creating a copy of the data on your system that you use
for recovery in case your original data is lost or corrupted. You can also

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use backup to recover copies of older files if you have deleted them from
your system.

Many businesses and organizations protect their critical data with backup,
making it one of the key components of a company's disaster recovery plan
and business continuity strategy.

Data backup — Why is it important?

Companies are very dependent on data. Whereas a person cannot survive
without air, water, and food, businesses cannot survive without data. Forty
percent of companies that do not have proper backup or disaster recovery
plans do not survive a disaster.

data backup

Every company must designate a backup administrator to handle the entire

backup strategy, including backup solutions and tools; the backup scope,
schedule and infrastructure; the network and storage; recovery time
objectives (RTOs); recovery point objectives (RPOs), etc.

Your company must have a backup strategy and solution in place.

Otherwise, you can be a statistic.

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Data backup — What to back up?
The backup administrator's primary initial task is to understand, define, and
manage what data to back up and protect. To reduce the risk of data loss,
you want to back up files and databases and back up your operating
systems, applications, configuration — everything you can. If you use
virtualization, you want to back up your hosts and management console, not
just your virtual machines (VMs). If you use a cloud infrastructure-as-a-
service (IaaS), you want to include that in your scope. And don't forget
mobile devices — your CEO's tablet could hold critical company data that
can be more important than the data stored on some of your servers.

Revisit your backup scope every time you change the infrastructure. New
devices, solutions, and services all use data. Your mantra is "back up
everything, back up often."

When you choose a backup solution, be sure that it can protect all your data.
Otherwise, some data will go unprotected, or you may need multiple backup
solutions. For example, if you have a physical server in your data center, a
solution that only backs up your VMs isn't enough. Instead, it would be best if
you implement multiple, disparate solutions — or better still — use a solution
that backs up every device and system in your backup scope.

Types of data to back up

Every business should back up all important data files and documents,
including financial data (e.g., credit card transactions, invoices and billings,
accounts receivable and payable files, payroll), customer information, vendor
information, partner information, communications and email accounts, all
applications and databases, project management files, personnel records,
the operating system, configuration files and any other files created by your
employees.

How often to back up data?

Once you decide on the scope of your backups, the next important decision
is how often you need to back up and define a backup schedule.

Your backup schedule depends highly on the volume of data you create
daily. Best data protection practices suggest initiating a full backup at least
once a week. You can make one outside of business hours or on the
weekends.

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However, it's crucial to create incremental (or differential) backups once a
day between full backups. That way, you ensure that all business- and user-
created data is stored securely should a data loss event occur.

While the above follows a general rule of thumb, some businesses manage
extensive volumes of data. In such cases, creating one backup per day may
not be sufficient. On the other hand, SMBs handling smaller data volumes
may opt for a more affordable backup plan, packing less storage space. In
such cases, creating daily backups may quickly fill up your storage unless
you audit it frequently.

To ensure the right backup frequency approach, companies must calculate

the data they handle daily (or weekly) and schedule backups to complement
their data creation averages.

Data backup — RPO and RTO

Your colleagues are constantly changing data, and in the event of a disaster,
all the data created from the latest backup to the moment of failure will be
lost. This period is called the recovery point objective (RPO) — the maximum
period that you are willing to lose data on your systems because of an event.

A shorter RPO means losing fewer data, but it requires more backups, more
storage capacity, and more computing and network resources for the backup
to run. A longer RPO is more affordable, but it means losing more data.

Many small and medium-sized companies usually define an RPO of 24

hours, which means you need to back up daily. With modern backup
solutions, you can implement RPOs in as little as a few minutes. You can
also have tiered RPOs — shorter RPOs for critical systems and longer RPOs
for secondary systems.

Another essential variable is recovery time objective (RTO) — how fast you
can recover from the moment of a disaster to the moment you return to
normal operations. When systems are down, your company loses money,
and you need to recover fast to minimize losses. However, as with RPO, a
shorter RTO requires faster storage, networks and technologies — so it is
more expensive.

For many companies, an RTO of a few hours is the norm.

Involve your business stakeholders in discussions on system RPOs and

RTOs. Once these are defined, you can decide on your solutions and
storage.
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Data backup solutions
Multiple types of backup solutions and tools are available on the market to
deliver different RPOs and RTOs, and handle different scopes. Here are the
most popular ones.

Hardware appliances

These appliances often include storage, a 19" rack-mounted device that you
install and connect to your network. The machines are easy to install and
configure. In most cases, you do not need to provision a separate server or
operating system or install any software. The agents installed on your
systems perform the backups, and you access the solution via a graphical
interface provided with the appliance.

However, remember that if you have a hardware appliance and it fails, you
lose your entire data backup solution. Even if you backed up to a secondary
location, you need to reprovision the backup solution before recovering,
which increases your recovery times.

Software solutions

Software solutions are installed on your own systems and handle the backup
process. Many solutions allow you to use existing systems, but some require
dedicated servers provisioned just for backup. For these, you need to install
and configure the operating system and the backup software. In many cases,
you can install the software on a virtual machine (VM).

Software solutions offer greater flexibility than hardware appliances,

especially if your infrastructure changes often. Also, software solutions can
be less expensive than purchasing a hardware appliance bundle, and they
also allow you to choose and provision your own storage.

Cloud services

Numerous vendors offer backup-as-a-service (BaaS) — a cloud-based

offering that allows you to provision and run your backups from the vendor's
or service provider's cloud infrastructure by installing lightweight agents on
your machines. The BaaS is even simpler than software because there are
no systems to provision and no operating systems to configure.

Of course, if your organization deals with sensitive data or is subject to

regulatory requirements, you will need to check if a BaaS solution is
acceptable.
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Hybrid data backup solutions

The latest innovation in the backup world is an all-in-one hybrid backup

solution, allowing you to install the software or use it as a cloud service.
These solutions combine the best of both worlds, making them the best
choice for many organizations.

Different approaches to the data backup

process
There are three types of data backup vendors offer to ensure the best
storage utilization and the best backup/recovery speeds:

Full backup

Copy everything you wish to protect. The first time you back up a system,
you want to perform a full backup. But full backups take time, so software
providers also resort to other types of data backup.

Differential backup

Differential backup focuses only on the files that have changed since the last
full backup. For example, suppose you do a full backup on Sunday. On
Monday, you back up only the files that changed since Sunday; on Tuesday,
you back up only the files that changed since Sunday; and so on, until the
next full backup. Differential backups are quicker than full backups because
so much fewer data is backed up. But the amount of data being backed up
grows with each differential backup until the next full backup. Differential
backups are more flexible than full backups but still unwieldy to do more than
about once a day — especially as the next full backup approaches.
Differential backups are sometimes called "cumulative incremental backups."

Incremental backup

These also back up only the changed data, but they only back up the data
that has changed since the last backup — whether a full or incremental
backup. These are sometimes called "differential incremental backups."

How do incremental backups work?

If you do an incremental backup on Tuesday, you only back up the data that
changed since the incremental backup on Monday. The result is much
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smaller, faster backups. With incremental backups, the shorter the interval
between the new and last backup, the fewer data there is to be backed up. In
fact, with sophisticated backup software like Acronis Cyber Protect, the
backups are so small and fast that you can back up every hour or even more
frequently, depending on the work you're doing and how important it is to
have current backups.

While incremental backups give much greater flexibility and granularity (time
between backups), they have a reputation for taking longer to restore
because the backup has to be reconstituted from the last full backup and all
the incremental backups since.

Specific data backup methods

Alongside the major three, there are several scenario-specific backup

approaches.
 Synthetic full backups

In this variation of differential backup, the backup server creates an extra full
copy based on the original full backup and data gathered from incremental
backup copies.
 Reverse-incremental backups

Here, the complete backup is created regarding the difference between

previous backups, starting with the last successful backup. The backup
software focuses on the increment at each backup based on the difference
compared to the previous day's increment. The increment from the last
completed backup is added to the current-day backup.

This enables instant access to the most recent backup version — you won't
need to restore all previous increments to recover the complete set and
obtain an up-to-date backup. However, finding the last version of a document
will require going back to an earlier restore point.

 Incremental-forever backups

Incremental-forever backups capture the entire data set and then add
incremental backups to it from a specific point forward. This approach
compresses the backup window, enabling quicker data recovery access. The
process of backing up only changed data blocks is called "delta differencing."

 Hot backups

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Also known as "dynamic backup," hot backups are applied to data available
to users during the update process. This approach negates user downtime
and ensures optimal productivity.

However, this method carries a potential downside. If the data undergoes

changes during the backup process, the resulting copy might differ from the
data's final state.

Backup storage
A copy of your data is stored in backup storage, and you must have it
selected provisioned, and handy for successful backup (and recovery).

Data backup to local or USB disks

If you have enough capacity on your local disks, you can back up to them or
to other removable media (e.g., external USB drives).

Removable media backups are fast and convenient, and you don't need a
network. The downside of local backups is that if the system is destroyed by
a fire or a flood, your backups can also be destroyed if they are stored in the
same location. Also, in many cases, you need to manage these backups on
a computer-by-computer basis, which makes it cumbersome for larger
environments.

Local and USB disk backups are best for quick backups of a small number of
systems and are designed to recover individual files or systems in the event
of software failure. (for example, you can back up Windows to a bootable
USB, so you'd have it available for recovery if a failure occurs)

Data Backup to network shares and NAS

This is one of the most common storage options. With a centralized NAS
(network attached storage), SAN (storage area network), or simple network
share, you can store many or all company backups in one place and restore
a file, system, or the entire data center in the event of a virus attack or data
corruption. Yet as with local disks, NAS and SAN will not help you recover
data in the event of a major area disaster, such as a hurricane or typhoon
that destroys your entire facility.

Data backup to tapes

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To recover from a major disaster, you must store a copy of your data in an
off-site location, preferably at least 100 miles from your primary data center.

One of the traditional ways to do that is to store copies of your data on tape
devices and physically ship the tapes to a remote location. Modern tape
technologies, such as LTO-7, allow you to store up to 2.5 TB of compressed
data on a single tape, making them quite efficient if you need to protect large
amounts of data.

The downside of a tape backup is lengthy RTOs, as you need to physically

ship the tape back when you need to recover data. Also, some backup
solutions have limited recovery options. For example, you can recover an
entire system from tape but not a single file or folder. In addition, you need a
tape drive, autoloader, or tape library to create backups and perform
recoveries, and these devices could be relatively expensive.

Data backup to cloud storage

The modern alternative to tape backup is cloud storage. With this solution,
you subscribe to a specific storage capacity in the cloud vendor's or service
provider's data center. You do not need any hardware as you do with tape
drives (unless you rely on private cloud storage), but you do need an internet
connection to send backups to the cloud. Your vendor may have ways to
eliminate the problems with uploading large amounts of data by offering
physical data shipping or an initial seeding program.

Data backup storage — which one is the best?

Every storage solution has drawbacks. To select the right solution, you must
develop a storage strategy based on your unique business requirements,
RPOs, and RTOs. You also need a data backup solution that follows the
industry-accepted 3-2-1 backup approach — store your data in three places,
on two types of storage, with one copy stored off-site. Great examples of the
3-2-1 strategy are disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) and disk-to-disk-to-cloud
(D2D2C) solutions. With these solutions, you back up your data to your
central network storage and then copy that backup to tape or offsite cloud
storage.

Advantages of robust data backup software

 Continuous data protection

Having encrypted data backups ensures no intruder can access them

without a decryption key.

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Reliable backup software can help your business store all critical data in
secure backup storage and develop a comprehensive disaster recovery plan
to quickly restore data even if a disaster hits.

 Real-time data security

Having fortified data storage is crucial for all data at rest. However, reliable
backup software ensures operational data and data in transit are protected to
their teeth. You can apply advanced end-to-end protection for all operational
devices and storage media, invoke MFA to manage cloud storage access,
and rely on AI-powered anti-ransomware to negate any data loss event.

 Redundant backup systems

Data protection requires backup files in multiple backup systems. With the
proper solution, you can backup data to local offline backup, private cloud
storage, off-site backup data storage, and even portable removable media.

Having redundant data backups ensures you can retrieve data successfully
from data backups regardless of location.

 Large storage capacity

Automated data backups are convenient, and businesses can easily create
full backup after full backup without regard for storage space. While physical
data storage can fill up quickly, cloud backup storage can scale infinitely to
handle more data if needed.

Nevertheless, it's not recommended to duplicate data backups in the same

storage media. Ideally, you will regularly audit your backups to keep storage
space optimized and reduce costs.

 Efficient data management

Data backup and recovery can be challenging unless you have a

comprehensive plan in place.

A robust solution can procure a step-by-step plan for your backup process
and disaster recovery protocols. In addition to frequent backups, you'd be
able to restore only the data critical for day-to-day operations to avoid
downtime in the event of a disaster.
 Costs management

Scalable solutions let you scale up or down on demand to spend the optimal
amount on data security and data protection.

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What's more, countering data loss means you won't need to rebuild essential
company data, saving you time, effort, and ultimately, expense.

 Efficient company performance

Manual data backup can be incredibly overwhelming — especially for larger

organizations. If your company relies solely on local servers, you'd need a
dedicated team to handle the backup, audit, management, and recovery of
critical data files.

On the other hand, a proper solution will store data effectively, while your
employees can focus on business-critical tasks unhindered.

 Enhanced competitiveness

Data is the bread and butter of modern business processes. Accessing client
data from anywhere, anytime, relates to higher customer satisfaction. The
latter, in turn, translates to a more loyal customer base and a better brand
image.

Efficient data management puts your company ahead of the competition and
ensures you stay at the top of your game in the long run.

 Compliance benefits

Modern compliance legislation invokes a legal need to store data

accordingly. Failure to follow the guidelines may result in fines or legal
ramifications.

A comprehensive data backup solution can cover all compliance aspects,

enabling easy tracking for auditing purposes.

The 3-2-1 backup strategy

To ensure your data is safe — no matter what happens — you must follow
the 3-2-1 backup strategy. It stipulates that you store your data in three
places, on two types of storage, with one copy stored off-site, preferably in
cloud backup.

Why do you need a data backup solution?

Your company's survival depends on the survival of your company data. To

implement a reliable data backup strategy, define your business objectives
— the backup scope, RPOs and RTOs; implement proper solutions;
provision the storage or combination of multiple storages; and execute and
monitor the backups.
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 Only then can you be sure that your company can continue to operate safely,
even when unforeseen events occur.

What is Backup and Recovery?

Backup and recovery is the process of duplicating data and storing it in a secure place in
case of loss or damage, and then restoring that data to a location — the original one or a
safe alternative — so it can be again used in operations. Ideally, this backup copy (often
called a snapshot) is immutable —meaning it cannot be altered after it is created to
protect against mutations such as ransomware. Backup and recovery is also a category of
onsite and cloud-based technology solutions that automate and support this process,
enabling organizations to protect and retain their data for business and compliance
reasons.

What are the 3 Types of Backups?

Backups are often bucketed into three categories:
 Full backups – Like filling up an extra tire at the service station, think of this
process as pumping all of the data stored on a production system into a backup
system for safe keeping. Full backups protect every bit of data from a single
server, database, virtual machine (VM), or data source connected to the
network. These backups can take many hours, even days, depending on the
amount of data being saved. The more modern a data management solution is,
the fewer full backups it must perform, and when it does, the faster it goes.
 Incremental backups – Think of incremental backups as adding just a little
more air each time you revisit the station — just in case — so you’re always
ready to replace your tire. An incremental backup captures only new data since
the last full incremental was performed. However, a full backup is required
before a backup solution can perform its first incremental backup. Then it can
automatically do them based on the last incremental taken.
 Differential backups – Like incremental backups, these add more air but the
delta is from the last full backup, not the last incremental. Think of this backup
as what’s different from the last time you even filled the tire with air. Again, this
can only happen if a full backup has been performed first. Organizations
typically establish policies about how much data and when incremental or
differential backups should occur.
What is the Difference Between Backup and
Recovery?
The key difference between backup and recovery is that the backup process is how you
save and protect your production data and safely store it away so you have it for a later
time, when you might need to use it.

Recovery is the process whereby you retrieve and restore that backup data to your
production systems to avoid downtime.

Reliable backups and fast recovery together ensure business continuity and business
resilience.

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 What Are the Types Of Data Recovery?
The amount of data organizations create, capture, and store has skyrocketed over the last
decade. And analysts anticipate the amount of new data generated will grow at more than
50% compounded annually.

Because enterprises and people are storing data in more places, new categories of data
recovery have emerged. These include:

 Granular recovery of files, folders and objects – Also known as file-level or

object-level recovery, this is the process of quickly getting back one or just a
few specific data sets from among many volumes
 Instant mass restore – This process allows IT staff to recover not just files but
hundreds of virtual machines (VMs) instantly, at scale, to any point in time,
saving time and resources
 Volume recovery – A process teams that need to recover an unlimited number
of VMs at the same time use for faster recovery; for example, all VMs belonging
to an application group
 Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK) recovery – This recovery process ensures all
data and apps on a VM are restored quickly
 Bare machine recovery – The process of restoring an entire operating system
(software, apps, and data) in one process
 Instant volume mounts – Teams can save time using a backup solution as a
target to restore an entire volume to a Windows VM
 Instant restores of VMs – This process restores a large number of VMs to any
previous recovery point with backup copies fully hydrated and available
immediately
What Is Disaster Recovery Backup?
For enterprises, a disaster is when a catastrophic event occurs that negatively impacts
your people and/or your data. The event can be natural — a hurricane taking down a data
center, for example. Or a disaster can be human-made such as a ransomware attack.

Disaster recovery is the process your IT organization goes through to restore data. And
increasingly, organizations are setting aside a complete or full backup of entire
environments — either on-premises or in the public cloud — to ensure all of their data
could be made available, quickly, in the event of a catastrophe.

What Types of Data Sources Typically Need to Be

Recovered?
All of the data sources that your organization protects may at some time need to be
recovered. These include:

 VMs (VMware, Microsoft, Nutanix)

 Physical servers (Windows, Linux)
 Databases (RDBMs) and Distributed Databases (NoSQL, Hadoop, Mongo,
Apache, etc.)

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 Files (NAS)
 Containers (e.g. Kubernetes)
 Applications (Microsoft Exchange, SAP HANA)
 SaaS applications (Microsoft 365, Salesforce)
 Primary storage
 Mainframes

Why Do You Need a Data Backup and Disaster

Recovery Plan?
Data is essential to organizations of all types and sizes. You need a robust data backup
and disaster recovery plan because it provides a roadmap for the people responsible for
taking charge in a disaster scenario to know who is doing what and in what sequence to
restore operational functionality. Your DR plan should include both people and processes,
serving as a guide for employees to follow as they bring your business back up.

A robust data backup and disaster recovery plan also should ensure that your data is
always protected — as and after you move it from day-to-day, production systems for
short- and long-term retention. And with the best backup and disaster recovery plan, you
will always have your data readily available should you need it.

Imagine if the data needed to operate your business, department, or agency was
unavailable, even for a few minutes, never mind hours, days, or weeks. Customers would
be unhappy. Employees would be, too. And in the case of ransomware, your entire
business might even cease to exist. Effective backup and recovery of important data
prevents all of these scenarios.

Is Data Deduplication Important in Backups?

Yes, data deduplication is absolutely important in backups. Here’s why. Data is growing
exponentially and organizations are retaining more data — for marketing, compliance,
and more — than ever. Because of this, IT teams need to deploy techniques that will help
their organizations reduce data footprints, keeping costs lower.

Advanced data reduction through deduplication enables more data to fit into the same
hardware space — helping to reduce cost.

The most powerful and flexible global deduplication architecture is variable-length data
deduplication technology that spans an entire cluster across various data sources rather
than simply a single node, resulting in significant savings across the entire storage
footprint.

With variable-length deduplication, the size is not fixed. Instead, the algorithm divides the
data into chunks of varying sizes based on the data characteristics. The chunks are cut in
a data-dependent way that results in variable sized chunks and results in greater data
reduction than fixed-size deduplication. The efficiency benefit of variable-length
deduplication compounds over time, as additional data is retained.

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 Integrated data compression adds a boost. Compression works well on a single file, but
across files, there is a need for some macro-level data compression. Why? Because
when two identical copies of a file are stored, compression can individually compress the
files while deduplication can completely eliminate the need to store any data for the
second copy. So adding compression to the deduped data further reduces data size.

This works by finding small byte patterns common between the deduplicated blocks.
Based on the type of data being ingested, compression can provide no benefit for
encrypted or random data or up to 5–10x compression for common log files.
Deduplication ratios for VMs, databases, file shares all lie somewhere in between that
range.

Why is Backup and Recovery Important?

Data powers your organization and your competitive advantage. That’s why backup and
recovery is important. With a robust backup and recovery strategy — and technology
solution — in place, your organization can:

 Prevent data loss – The fallout from lost or compromised data ranges from
irritating to costly. Businesses can suffer financial penalties as well as loss of
customer trust and brand reputation. The main role of backup and recovery is to
preserve critical data in case of loss or damage
 Sustain operations – In face of disaster — natural or manmade including a
ransomware attack — businesses keep functioning
 Maintain a good customer experience – Lost customer records create
business challenges such as reduced customer satisfaction and revenue as
well as non-compliance with regulations. Alternatively, rich always-available
customer datasets drive greater customer loyalty and, consequently, higher
profits
 Keep employees productive – Effective data backup and recovery eliminates
wasted time employees must spend rewriting reports, rekeying data, or
recalculating spreadsheets when data and files go missing
 Retain historical records – Backing up data allows businesses to build
corporate archives of their operations, and in some cases is mandated by
industry or government regulations
 Satisfy auditors – Laws differ from one jurisdiction to another, but having
important accounting and other financial records backed up, recoverable, and
easily accessible for both tax reasons and audits is critical to business
operations
 Achieve peace of mind – Whether a hurricane, cybercrime, or system failure,
bad things can happen to even the most well-managed companies. Having a
robust data backup and recovery strategy, supported by the right technology
solution means that your organization can be resilient and weather even the
most difficult circumstances

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 Modern, Comprehensive Backup and Recovery Versus
Traditional Backup and Recovery

Modern, Comprehensive Backup and Recovery Traditional Backup and Recover

Low (or no) capital costs. Modern backup solutions are typically a
single platform with low or no on-prem infrastructure footprint,
keeping backup and recovery costs low.
Fast, accurate backups. Modern backup eliminates data silos and
automates operations for faster, more accurate backups than
traditional approaches.
High capital costs. Often IT must cobble together m
infrastructure point products for data backup which
Slow, error-prone backups. Traditional backup contr
fragmentation — having siloed data that requires m
leads to greater backup errors than modern approac

Tedious policy setting. IT staff must create and man

Set and forget policies. Once IT staff creates and approves policies,
for each data source as it is added to the network. A
they are easily and automatically added to data sources as servers join
added without IT being notified, the business risks d
the network.
up.

Instant and predictable recovery. Modern backup minimizes data loss

Unpredictable recovery. Traditional backup can be s
and provides predictable recovery assurance with restores at scale,
often bleeding into production time.
and to any point in time.

Unlocks business value through complete data visibility. Because

No access to business insights because data is dark
there are no longer data silos and all backups are completed on one
backups are completed using many products and da
platform, IT can see and gain insights from all of enterprise data and
IT has dark data that makes it impossible to use for b
apps.

Ransomware protection. Modern backups feature immutable Ransomware protection. Traditional backups do no
snapshots and have minimal data center footprints, reducing attack snapshots and have large data center footprints, wid
surfaces. surfaces.

Cohesity’s Modern Approach to Backup and Recovery

The single biggest challenge with trying to put an enterprise-wide backup and recovery
strategy in place is that data typically resides in numerous places: in on-premises
systems, clouds, and at the edge. Mass data fragmentation from siloed hardware and
software and incomplete visibility into enterprise data means that time that should be
spent on business innovation is wasted managing and maintaining disconnected point
solutions.
Cohesity provides a backup and recovery solution that converges multiple point
products and backs up data whether it is stored on-prem, at the edge, or in the public
cloud on a single multicloud data platform. By taking a complex operation and simplifying
it for businesses, Cohesity ensures business continuity, minimizes data loss, and reduces
the total cost of ownership (TCO).
As a Gartner Magic Quadrant Data Center Backup and Recovery Solutions,
Cohesity’s business is the data business. Cohesity radically simplifies how organizations
manage their data everywhere and derive more value from that data.
Organizations that choose Cohesity enjoy:

 Simpler, centralized management of all backups across customer-managed

and Cohesity-managed backup-as-a service environments
 One platform to protect most traditional and modern, cloud-native data sources

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 Rapid recovery and reduced business downtime from ransomware with instant
mass restore and granular search capabilities
 A single platform that enables organizations to do more with their backup data
while shrinking their data footprint for a strengthened security posture

W HY B A C K U P A N D R E C OV E RY IS I MP ORTA N T

The purpose of the backup is to create a copy of data that can be recovered
in the event of a primary data failure. Primary data failures can be the result
of hardware or software failure, data corruption, or a human-caused event,
such as a malicious attack (virus or malware), or accidental deletion of data.
Backup copies allow data to be restored from an earlier point in time to help
the business recover from an unplanned event.

Storing the copy of the data on separate medium is critical to protect against
primary data loss or corruption. This additional medium can be as simple as
an external drive or USB stick, or something more substantial, such as a disk
storage system, cloud storage container, or tape drive. The alternate
medium can be in the same location as the primary data or at a remote
location. The possibility of weather-related events may justify having copies
of data at remote locations.

For best results, backup copies are made on a consistent, regular basis to
minimize the amount data lost between backups. The more time passes
between backup copies, the more potential for data loss when recovering
from a backup. Retaining multiple copies of data provides the insurance and
flexibility to restore to a point in time not affected by data corruption or
malicious attacks.

Windows 10 - Backup & Recovery

Windows 10 features several tools to help you perform backups of

your documents. Here are some of these tools.

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File History

File History will perform a back-up of the files located in your

libraries (Documents, Pictures, Music, etc.) It allows you to choose
a drive, where you can back-up your files and then asks you when
to do it.

To configure the File History backup, follow these steps −

Step 1 − Go to SETTINGS and select Update & security.

Step 2 − In the UPDATE & SECURITY window, select Backup.

Step 3 − Click “Add a drive” to choose where to store your backup.

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Backup & Restore (Windows 7)

This tool, which was removed in Windows 8 and 8.1, was brought
back allowing you to perform back-ups and restore data from old
Windows 7 backups. However, it also lets to back-up your regular
documents on Windows 10.

To open the Back-up & Restore, follow these steps −

Step 1 − Open the Control Panel by searching for it in the Search bar.

Step 2 − After the Control Panel is open, choose Backup and Restore
(Windows 7).

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Step 3 − In the Backup and Restore window, you can choose to “Set
up backup”.

Step 4 − In the Set up backup window, choose where you want to

store your backup.

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When choosing any of the listed storage devices, Windows 10 will
give you information about that specific device. After choosing the
desired destination, click Next.

Step 5 − In the next window, you can choose what files you want to
backup.

Windows default is to store everything in your libraries

(Documents, Pictures, etc.) and in your Desktop, but you can also
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choose specific files and folders to backup. After making your
selection, click Next.

Step 6 − In the last window, you can review the settings of your
backup and establish the schedule in which you want to perform it.

Step 7 − In the end, click Save settings and run backup. The backup will
perform at the scheduled time.

Creating a System Image

In case your computer failing, Windows 10 offers you some

alternatives to restore it to a specific state. One of these
alternatives is creating what is called a system image. A system
image is a copy of all your system and program files needed for
your computer to run properly.

You can use this option to store an image of your computer at a

specific moment, and use it to restore your computer to that state
later. The option to create a system image is in the same Backup
and Restore window we discussed before.

Step 1 − Open the Backup and Restore window from the Control Panel.

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Step 2 − On the Backup and Restore window, choose the “Create a
system image” option on the left.

Step 3 − On the Create a system image window, you can choose where
to store the backup from among three places: your hard disk, on
DVD’s, or in the network.

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After choosing where to store the backup, click Next.

Step 4 − In the next window, just confirm your image settings and
click Start backup.

Resetting the PC

Another alternative Windows 10 offers you for system recovery is

simply called “Reset this PC”. This option will allow you to return

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your computer to its default factory settings. It will also give you
the option of keeping your files or removing everything. To reset
your PC, follow these steps −

Step 1 − Go to SETTINGS and select Update & security.

Step 2 − On the UPDATE & SECURITY window, select Recovery.

Step 3 − On the Recovery window, you can click the “Get started”
button under Reset this PC.

Step 4 − The next window, will ask you whether you want to reset
your settings and applications, but still keep your personal files, or
just remove everything and return your computer to its default
state.

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Advanced Options

Windows 10 features several advanced options to restore your PC.

Although these are meant for advanced users, you can access
them from the same Update & Security window that we have
discussed before.

Step 1 − Open the Settings window and select UPDATE & SECURITY.

Step 2 − On the UPDATE & SECURITY window, select Recovery.

Under Advanced startup, click the Restart now button.

Step 3 − When Windows 10 restarts, it will present you a menu of

options to select from.

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The same menu will appear whenever Windows tries to boot
unsuccessfully.

Learn How To Effectively Test Your Backups

What Does Backup And

Recovery Test Mean?
A backup and recovery test is a procedure that evaluates the efficacy of an
organization’s data backup and recovery approach. This assessment ensures that, in
case of data loss, system breakdowns, or other unforeseen events, the information
can be effectively retrieved from backups.

The main objective of a backup and recovery test is to reduce downtime and data loss
while ensuring business continuity.

During such a test, the IT staff creates a range of disaster situations to determine
whether the backup systems are functioning properly and if the original data itself can
be precisely and promptly restored.

This process involves confirming the soundness of the backup data, a backup restore
test examining the recovery methods, and evaluating the overall performance of the
backup and recovery infrastructure.

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Why Testing Your Backups?
Testing backups is crucial for several reasons:

1. Data Integrity: Regular testing helps ensure that the backed-up data is accurate,
complete, and free from corruption. Without testing, you might discover that your
backup is unusable or incomplete when you need it most.

2. Recovery Process Validation: Testing backups allows you to verify that your
recovery procedures work as intended. This includes checking whether the restoration
process is efficient, timely, and compatible with your current systems.

3. Minimize Downtime: By testing backups, you can identify and address potential
issues in your backup and recovery strategy, reducing downtime during an actual

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disaster. This ensures business continuity and minimizes the impact of data loss on
your operations.

4. Staff Preparedness: Regular backup testing familiarizes your IT team with the
recovery process, ensuring they are well-equipped to handle real-life disaster
scenarios. This experience can lead to a faster and more effective response in case of
an emergency.

5. Compliance and Regulatory Requirements: Many industries have specific

regulations and standards regarding data protection and recovery. Regular backup
testing helps demonstrate compliance with these requirements and reduces the risk of
penalties or legal issues.

6. Adapt to Changes: Organizations continuously evolve, with new hardware,

software, and infrastructure being added or modified. Regularly testing backups
ensures that your data protection strategy remains effective and up-to-date, even as
your organization’s systems change.

In summary, testing backups is essential for maintaining data integrity, validating your
backup and recovery processes, minimizing downtime, preparing your staff, ensuring
compliance, and adapting to organizational changes. All of these factors contribute to
a robust and reliable data protection strategy.

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Run Tests to Recover
Deleted or Corrupted Files
When files are deleted or corrupted, a reliable backup system should be able to
restore or recover them. Testing this ensures accurate restoration and familiarizes you
with the process.

Start by selecting recently modified or added files within the file system being tested.
Create a folder for testing and use your backup system to locate and restore these
files to that folder. Once restored, compare the files to the originals.

During comparison, check for differences between the restored files and original files,
such as accessibility, file size, and inclusion of recent updates. This helps confirm the
accuracy of your backup system in restoring files when the originals are lost.

Set Up Recovery Time and

Point Objectives
It’s vital to measure and optimize recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point
objective (RPO) in your backup and recovery testing.

RTO represents the maximum tolerable downtime for data and systems, while RPO
indicates the maximum acceptable data loss during a disaster.

These objectives depend on the importance of your data, systems, and the
consequences of downtime and data loss on your business operations and reputation.

Define your RTO and RPO based on your business continuity and disaster recovery
plans, and test your procedures to ensure they are met.

Best Practices for Testing

Your Database Backup &
Recovery Plan
1. Become Familiar with Your Backup and
Recovery Procedures

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To effectively test your backup and recovery plan, start by gaining a solid
understanding of the systems and tools in use.

This includes knowing where backups are stored, the software utilized for creating and
managing them, and the processes for data restoration. Review any relevant
documentation or training materials to become well-versed in your organization’s
specific procedures.

2. Execute Tests to Restore Corrupted or

Destroyed Files.
Assess the efficiency of your backup and recovery strategy by simulating real-world
scenarios, such as recovering deleted or corrupted files.

This helps identify potential issues or weaknesses in your plan, like incomplete
backups or difficulties in locating certain files. Take note of any challenges you
encounter during this process and address them accordingly.

3. Examine Your Programs’ Backups.

Applications are essential to running a business, therefore it’s imperative to make sure
they are adequately backed up and can be swiftly restored when needed. Test the
restoration of your applications from their backups, making sure they function correctly
and that all required data is preserved.

Check that custom settings, configurations, and user data are included in the backups
and can be successfully restored.

4. Examine the Database Recovery.

Databases often hold valuable data, making their backup and recovery testing a top
priority. Conduct tests to confirm that your database backups can be restored
accurately and efficiently.

This may include checking for data consistency, ensuring that all tables and records
are present, and ensuring that linkages between tables are preserved.

5. Calculate the Time it Takes to Backup

your Data.
Time is crucial in a disaster recovery scenario. Find out how long it will take to backup
your data completely, incrementally, or differentially, as well as how long it will take to
backup your data differentially.

This information helps establish a realistic recovery time objective (RTO) and ensures
your business or organization can meet its recovery goals.

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6. Remotely Test Your Backup and
Recovery Strategy.
In case of a widespread disaster or a situation where physical access to your primary
location is not possible, it’s vital to know that you can still execute your backup and
recovery plan remotely.

Test the remote access capabilities of your backup software and confirm that you can
successfully perform all necessary tasks to restore it from an offsite location.

7. Test Your Database Backup and

Recovery Plan Regularly
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Maintaining a trustworthy and efficient backup and recovery plan requires regular
testing. To make sure your backups continue to work as planned and that any
changes to your systems or data are correctly accounted for, schedule routine checks.

Additionally, by doing this, you’ll be able to spot possible problems before they
become serious, solve them in a proactive manner, and reduce the chance of data
loss.

Backup and Restore

Checklist:
With all the valuable information and tips that we have shared in this post, we thought
it would be best to prepare the ultimate data backup checklist that you can easily
follow:

1. Create a backup strategy: List the data you need to backup, where the backups
should be kept, how frequently they should happen, and how long they should be kept.

2. Examine Backup Software: Take into account the backup software category that
best suits your requirements, such as full-system backups, incremental backups or
differentials, cloud storage possibilities, etc.

3. Write down all of the settings and processes you used for your backups and
include them in your plan documentation. This will make it simpler if you need to fix a
backup process issue or restore data from your backups.

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4. Verify Your Backups: Regularly verify your backups to make sure all of your
desired files are present and that no unforeseen issues occurred while backing them
up.

5. Update Your Software: Be sure to always have the most recent security updates
and bug fixes installed on your backup software.

6. Protect Your Backups: Keep your backups apart from their source system and in a
safe place, like a cloud service provider or an off-site storage facility.

7. Automate When Possible: If at all possible, automate your backups so that they
run automatically at predetermined intervals or durations.

8. Prepare for Disaster: Make sure you have an emergency recovery strategy in
place in the case of a disaster to guarantee the safety and security of your data.

9. Regularly practice data restoration: Regularly test restoring files from backups to
ensure that you can access them when needed and that the backup contains all
necessary data.

To make sure you are ready for any potential data loss scenario, follow these steps!

Data is critical to your success, so the ability to quickly recover and restore lost files and
data is imperative. The backup of data is useless if it cannot be restored. Dotsquares
provide Backup & Restore Services to help you optimize your backup environment
improve efficiency, recovery and archiving solutions that has been designed to meet your
requirements, minimize downtime with a backup and improve flexibility, manageability
and scalability.

System Backup and Restore Process

Prepared by SHM – SOFTWARE ENGENEERING

 Benefits:
 A backup and recovery system can prevent loss of credibility and goodwill.

 It will ensure that staff will continue to be paid especially if it impacts upon payroll and
other key financial records.

 Prevent financial loss

 Eliminate the loss of important information such as customer records and financial
information

 Ensure adherence with legislation and compliance issues.

Services:
 Replication services- It generates a real time copy of every transaction so no data is lost
and the copy can be used for near-instant failover.

 Data Centre Backup- This service performs daily backup which is stored to a disk-based
backup, with off-site and long term tape-based options.

 Mobile Information Protection- Back up information on user’s personal computers to a

centralized location it includes flexible configuration and customization options.

 Remote Backup Services- Back up your data from off-site locations, eliminating the need
for someone to remember to back up daily.

Prepared by SHM – SOFTWARE ENGENEERING