Backup, Replication or Versioning?

About this interactive

Three ways to keep a second chance at your data, each for a different job. A backup is a copy taken at a specific date and time and kept on another device: the cloud, a removable drive, another disk. When a drive dies or data is deleted, you restore from it. It is as current as the moment it was taken. Replication keeps a second copy constantly up to date: every change is copied over, so the copy matches the original at any moment. Replicated to another site, one way or both ways, it lets services come back up with live data after an incident at the first site. Versioning tracks the changes to a document as you work, as Google Docs and Office 365 do, so you can go back to an earlier version or recover something you cut. Versioning is not backup: the versions are kept on the same drive, system or account as the original, so if that is lost, the document and all its versions go together. Keep a backup on another device as well. The lesson video gives a corrupted original as the reason; in Google Docs and Office 365, version history is exactly what brings back a damaged or overwritten document. What makes versioning no backup is where the versions live.

What you'll learn

Choose backup, replication or versioning for a job: a copy from a set date and time on another device, a copy kept constantly up to date at another site, or a document's earlier versions tracked as it changes

Aligned to

CompTIA Tech+

6.7 Explain business continuity concepts.

CompTIA A+ Core 2

4.3 Given a scenario, implement workstation backup and recovery methods.

CompTIA Server+

3.6 Explain the importance of disaster recovery.

Key terms

Backup: A copy of data captured at a specific point in time and stored separately from the source system, used to restore information in the event of data loss, corruption, or a security incident such as ransomware.
Data Replication: The process of copying data and continuously keeping that copy updated across multiple locations or systems.
Versioning: A storage feature that tracks incremental changes to a file over time, recording each revision so that prior versions can be viewed or restored without maintaining separate full copies.

Topics

Backup Replication Versioning Business Continuity Interactive Categorize

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