By Maria Ioannidou

What Is a Backup?

A backup is a copy of your data that is made to protect against loss of that data. A backup of a desktop or mobile device might include just the user data so that a previous version of a file can be recovered if necessary. In a virtual server environment, a backup could include. VMDK files (Virtual Machine Disk. It’s an open file format provided by VMware, mostly used for services for cloud computing and virtualization. Basically, Vmdk files are virtual disk files containing all the info of a virtual machine). That contain data and the OS as well as both structured (database) and unstructured data (files) so that the system can be put back into service as quickly as possible if something happens to the original VM in a Vmware, Hyper-V, or other virtual machine environment. A user might go to a backup to retrieve an earlier version of a file because it contains something no longer in the current file, or as is possible with some backup services to share a file with a colleague or other person.

What Is an Archive?

An Archive could be a duplicate of data made for long-term capacity and reference. The initial information may or may not be erased from the source framework after the chronicle duplicate is made and put away, although it is common for the document to be the as it were duplicate of the information. In contrast to a backup, the purpose of which is to be able to restore a computer or file system to the state in which it existed before, an archive can serve several purposes. An archive can be a permanent record of a person or organization's important documents, legal documents. , Correspondence and other matters. A file is often used to meet corporate and corporate retention requirements. If a dispute or inquiry arises regarding a business practice, contract, financial transaction, or employee, the records on the matter can be obtained from the archives.

BACKUP

• Enables rapid recovery of live changing data.
• One of multiple copies of data.
• Restore speed: crucial.
• Short term retention retained for as long as data is in active use.
• Duplicate copies are periodically overwritten.

ARCHIVE

• Stores unchanging data no longer in use but must be retained.
• Usually only remaining copy of data.
• Retrieval speed: not crucial.
• Long Term Retention Retained for required period or indefinitely.
• Data cannot be altered or deleted.

What’s the Difference Between Restore and Retrieve?

In general backup systems restore and archive systems retrieve. The tools needed to perform these functions are different. If you are interested in restoring something from a backup, it usually is a single file, a server, or structured data such as a database that needs to be restored to a specific point in time. You need to know a lot about the data, such as where it was located when it was backed up, the database or folder it was in, the name of the file, when it was backed up, and so forth.

Why You Need Both Backup and Archive

It’s clear that a backup and an archive have different uses. If you’re a business, the wise choice is yes. You need to make sure that your active business data is protected from accidental or malicious loss, and that your important records are maintained as long as necessary for business and legal reasons.