What’s the difference between a regular data backup and an archival backup?

What’s the difference between a regular data backup and an archival backup?

We regularly tout the necessity of data backups, but there’s one kind of backup we really haven’t spent much time on, and that is archival backups.

Backing up your data is an ongoing task or at least it should be. Whether it’s done daily or weekly, regular snap shots of your data make it easy in a data loss event to pull the most recent backup and get back to business as usual.

Archival backups are much different. With these your data is pulled once and then stored in a safe location or online. Since these backups aren’t updated it’s not going to feature any recent changes but when it comes to cyber security safety in particular, they’re a great tool for protecting your data.

Another great feature of these backups is that they're immutable/write once read many
(WORM), that means to make any changes to them is nearly impossible (this includes bad actors trying to do so!).

In the event your network is compromised that may mean the hackers have gained access to your regular backups as well, they may even be holding your accounts hostage in a ransomware attempt. If you have an archival data backup this may be the key to gaining access to your accounts again without paying the ransomware.

Also, because this backup is separate from your network it will be almost impossible for it to become compromised.

While we’re explaining the difference between regular backups and archival backups it might be a good time to also explain the different daily/weekly backups that can be performed.

  1. Full backups – A full backup entails all of your data being backed up every day. This will take more time and is in most cases not necessary but if you want a more detailed record of your files you may choose to do this.
  2. Incremental Backups – Incremental backups will only copy data that has changed since the last backup. Your backup application will track and record the details of that backup and update the files that have been changed or modified in some way.
  3. Differential Backup – This is similar to incremental backups, but the difference is it will pull a full backup once and then if things have changed since that backup it will again pull another full backup of those files. This will pull less data then a full backup but more data than an incremental backup.

If you have a small set of data then a full daily backup may make sense for your business, if you have a lot of data incremental or differential data backups may be a better fit. Each situation is unique and it’s a good idea to have an evaluation done of your specific circumstances.

Any kind of backup is better than no backups at all but one that falls short of your needs may still leave your business in the lurch if a data loss event occurs.

Also figuring out where to store your data can be a complex topic too. At Valley Techlogic we’re recommending a triad approach to data storage. With onsite, cloud and archival data backups the businesses we support can rest assured their data is absolutely safe and retrievable.

This all sounds very complex but once the solution is in place, you’ll feel better that you have it. Also, the integrity of your backups should be monitored regularly by your tech team as even a backup can fail. If you need some assistance in choosing the right backup solution to you we would be happy to have a consultation with you.

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This article was powered by Valley TechLogic, an IT provider in Atwater, CA. You can find more information at https://www.valleytechlogic.com/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/valleytechlogic/ . Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/valleytechlogic.

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