Backups / Imaging / Versioning
Definitions
Backup
Imaging
Versioning
Shadow Copy
Grandfather-Father-Son
Copy
Archive Attribute
De-Duping
Continuous Data Protection
Backup
Computer backup is the storing copies of your files
on a medium other than your hard disk.
The reason that we make computer backups is to
protect against the event that something happens
to damage our files so they are no longer usable.
If we have backups of our files, then we can restore
these files to our computer through our backups.
Imaging
A disk image is a single file or storage device
containing the complete contents and structure
representing a data storage medium or device,
such as a hard drive, tape drives, floppy disk,
CD/DVD/BD and key drive, although an image of
an optical disc may be referred to as an optical disc
image.
A disk image is usually created by creating a
complete sector-by-sector copy of the source
medium and thereby perfectly replicating the
structure and contents of a storage device.
Versioning
Versioning is a key part of content management.
The documents that you work with in a business
may go through many changes during their
lifetime, versioning helps to manage your
document content.
The versions of a document provide a history of
the changes the document has undergone from the
time it was initially created.
Shadow Copy
Shadow Copy (Volume Snapshot Service, Volume
Shadow Copy Service, or VSS ), is a technology
included in Microsoft Windows that allows taking
manual or automatic backup copies of data, even if
it has a lock, on a specific volume at a specific
point in time over regular intervals.
It is implemented as a Windows service called the
Volume Shadow Copy service. A software VSS
provider service is also included as part of
Windows to be used by Windows applications.
Grandfather-Father-Son
Grandfather-father-son backup refers to the most common
rotation scheme for rotating backup media.
Originally designed for tape backup, it works well for any
hierarchical backup strategy.
The basic method is to define three sets of backups, such as
daily, weekly and monthly.
The daily, or son, backups are rotated on a daily basis with one
graduating to father status each week.
The weekly or father backups are rotated on a weekly basis with one
graduating to grandfather status each month.
Often one or more of the graduated backups is removed
from the site for safekeeping and disaster recovery
purposes.
Copy
In computing, Copy is usually a command in in the
operating system that “duplicates” a file or directory.
The command copies computer files from one
directory to another. The destination defaults to the
current working directory. If more than one source file
is indicated, the destination must be a directory.
Archive Attribute
A file classification that indicates whether the file has
been updated since the last backup. A bit is set in the
file directory to indicate the archive status. When a file
is created or saved, the bit is turned on. When it is
backed up, the bit is turned off.
De-Duping deduplication is a specific form of
In computing, data
compression where redundant data is eliminated, typically
to improve storage utilization.
In the deduplication process, duplicate data is deleted,
leaving only one copy of the data to be stored. However,
indexing of all data is still retained should that data ever be
required.
Deduplication is able to reduce the required storage
capacity since only the unique data is stored.
For example, a typical email system might contain 100 instances of
the same one megabyte (MB) file attachment. If the email platform
is backed up or archived, all 100 instances are saved, requiring 100
MB storage space. With data deduplication, only one instance of the
attachment is actually stored; each subsequent instance is just
referenced back to the one saved copy. In this example, a 100 MB
storage demand could be reduced to only 1 MB.
Continuous Data Protection
Continuous data protection (CDP), also called
continuous backup or real-time backup, refers to
backup of computer data by automatically saving a
copy of every change made to that data, essentially
capturing every version of the data that the user
saves.
CDP-based solutions can provide fine granularities
of restorable objects ranging from crash-consistent
images to logical objects such as files, mail boxes,
messages, and database files and logs.
Applications
Backup
Cobian Backup
http://www.cobiansoft.com/
SyncBack (free edition)
Windows Backup
Mozy
Carbonite
Applications
Imaging
Paragon Backup & Recovery Free
Macrium Reflect Free
http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp
DriveImage XML
Clonezilla
Cobian Backup (basic steps)
Macrium Reflect (basic use)
The Backup Wizard steps you through the
options required to create a backup image of
one or more partitions:
Select one or more partitions to include in the
backup. To select all partitions for a particular
disk select the check box next to the disk
description.
Choose the destination directory or CD / DVD
burner for the new backup image.
The final dialog shows a summary of all
selections in the backup wizard.
Select the save and execution
options as desired.
What are we going to do?
Backup
Using Cobian, create a daily backup job that will backup
up all of the “Doc” folders on a PC to “somewhere.”
Imaging
Using Macrium, image one of your XP machines to an
alternate location. Then create the RESTORE MEDIA
and build a new machine using the backup. I’ll demo.