Different Changed Files Backup Methods

Jun 13
07:25

2008

Sam Miller

Sam Miller

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It is important to know the different changed files backup methods. This is because file backup is a necessity in any business today.

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Backup is very important for any company today. With the many files stored in a computer,Different Changed Files Backup Methods Articles it becomes such a risk to lose any of these files, primarily because these just may contain information pertinent to the success of the company itself. Imagine how costly it would be to lose all classified files from just one computer. Now, imagine how costly it would be for all computers in your network to experience massive data loss. This could very well bring your operations to a sudden end. Thus, backup is a necessity that all companies have to attend to these days. And it is even more important to understand the concept of changed files backup.There are actually several types of backup methods that a company can choose from. Each backup method comes with its own pros and cons. The key in choosing a backup method is to find that particular one that suits your company’s needs. But in general, these are the types of backups that any company should know of: Full Backup, Mirror Backup, Differential Backup, and Incremental Backup.Another key concept to keep in mind when doing backups is the amount of data your company deals with every single working day. When minimum data is processed every work day, then it would not be too hard for you to do full backup every single day. The files would be compressed here as well. Mirror backup is just like full backup when it comes to conducting it. The only difference here is that the files are no longer compressed. The feature of password protection is not supported here as well.But if your company deals with more data every day, then differential backup can be a better choice here. A lot of time is consumed when performing a full backup every single night. Thus, you should just conduct a full backup on Friday nights. A differential backup should then be conducted on another weeknight. This type of backup is able to save all files that have been modified and created since the last time a full backup was conducted. This means not much time is consumed when conducting this type of backup at all. Restoring is also pretty easy to do. You just have to prepare two tapes. The first is used to restore the latest full backup conducted. The second one is then used to restore the latest differential backup.Still, if your company processes a lot of information every single work day, then the incremental backup method becomes a better option, even when compared to differential backup. What you need to do is pretty much like with the differential type. You perform a full backup on a Friday night, and an incremental one on another weeknight. The only difference is that the incremental backup just saves the files that have undergone changes or modifications since the last full backup, or even the last incremental backup.However, this changed files backup method takes a lot more time when you need to do restoration. The last full backup is restored first. All incremental backups made since the last full backup made are then restored in chronological order. The long time it takes to perform restoration discourages a lot of people to do incremental backups. Still, if your company processes a lot of data, then this should be your best option.