Four Ways to Backup

A Backup Article Contributed by Melissa Larose

Four Ways to Backup

There are as many ways to backup your data as there people on the planet. The trick is to choose a backup method that fits your needs. Take a look at the four ways outlined here. You can choose one or a combination of several to create a personalized backup plan.

And the Four Backup Methods Are...

The fullest method, the method that can be used to fully restore a system is called a Full Backup. This method involves making a copy of your whole system, from the operating system, the registry, and all the software loaded on your system, plus all your data.

This method may seem a little extreme, not to mention time consuming when you consider how long it will probably take to copy it all, but having a mirror image of your system may work quite well if you need to restore a complete system quickly. Storing this backup on a separate hard drive and switching out the damaged on for the copy can happen fairly quickly. Just make sure the drive the copy is on is a working drive.

An incremental backup involves copying only the files that have changed since the last backup occurred. This method certainly can save time and space. This backup never deletes the old backup copy. Instead it just adds a copy of the newest version of the file.

The differential method can backup changed files. It deletes only the files that are missing and older versions of more recent files. In other words it compares the list of files from the last backup with the list of files being backed up and updates accordingly. If you deleted a file since the last backup it won't show on the new listing and it will be deleted. This saves storage space.

The snapshot backup allows data to stay up and running. This is a great option for websites that supply their customer's loads of data stored in databases. The process involves three mirrored sets of data and allows a backup and restore process that happens in seconds.

Choose a Backup

In choosing the backup method you need there are several things to consider. The first is time. Each method requires a different time frame in its restore capability. And the possible need to restore the data is why we back up data in the first place. Right?

Cost is also a factor. You want to get your money's worth but you don't want to pay for something you will not use. This requires a lot of research. Don't be persuaded to buy something that you haven't tested within your own framework. Asking a company for a trial period before agreeing to buy is a smart idea.

Don't Forget about Your Backup

Make sure you test your process. Test it in every way you can think of, through every possible crash scenario and every possible glitch you can imagine. For every way you can devise a failure and a restore event there are dozens of ways you never thought possible just waiting to make themselves known.