It is common to hear people that are not in the IT field refer to backup and disaster recovery as the same thing. In reality, they are very different issues, but they do rely on the same starting point which is the backup of system data.
Backup
Most business owners in the Dallas area have some type of backup for their system. For many people used cloud-based technology, the backup is done on a daily basis. Some hosting services offering VPS (Virtual Private Servers) or dedicated servers may also offer backup services as part of their hosting plans. Additionally, the backup can be saved on in-house servers or even on external drives.
While backup provides a copy of the data, ideally in a separate and secure location, disaster recovery offers more than just the restoration of data.
Disaster Recovery
Disaster recovery is the restoration of the full working environment for the system. In other words, it incorporates the backup data, but it also includes the ability to get all systems up and running to prevent extensive downtime.
Different options are possible through IT managed services that provide both backup and disaster recovery as part of the service package. This typically includes daily backup of data as well as running virtual machine replications of the system.
These services in Dallas typically use cloud technology. This allows for a better option over daily backups by providing continual backup that allows for full data capture that is literally up to the second the system fails. With this level of complete data backup, the disaster recovery services will ensure the restoration of the system to the point of the issue, a superior option to daily or even hourly backups that may leave considerable gaps in data during the disaster recovery process.
