What is a Disk Backup?

A disk backup is a copy of data files stored on a disk. Learn how to use it as part of a data recovery plan, its benefits, and disadvantages.

What is a Disk Backup?

It’s pretty simple, disk backup, or disk-based backup, is a data backup and recovery method that backs data up to hard disk storage. It is widely used and can be supplemented by methods such as tape or cloud backup for archiving or disaster recovery (DR). Backups to disk often employ data reduction methods such as deduplication and compression to maximize storage capacity when protecting large amounts of data.

It is a crucial part of most organization’s data protection plans. Organizations rely on backup to preserve critical files and data, guarding against the loss of files through human error, technology failures, or natural disasters. Many organizations have a dedicated backup administrator who manages all disk backup appliances, although some may leave the backup process to the application or data owners.

Some benefits

Disk backups provide several benefits as part of a disaster recovery and data protection strategy. Some of the key benefits include the following:

• Restoration of files, systems, and applications: Unlike some forms of backups, disk backups include files, the operating system, and installed applications. This makes it easy to restore the entire system and resume normal operations quickly, reducing the amount of downtime that may occur.
• Protection against human errors like accidental deletion: Sometimes, users make unfortunate mistakes and delete data unintentionally. It can be costly and problematic when these situations occur if organizations don’t have the proper backups. Fortunately, disk backups protect against accidental deletion, allowing organizations to retrieve their files as needed.
• Offsite storage for physical protection: Companies can store their disk backups offsite if they choose, which adds a layer of physical protection against theft or natural disasters that may destroy the equipment. Teams working in high-risk areas may benefit significantly from having an offsite disk backup, especially in a natural disaster that disrupts services and workflows.
• Access data without an Internet connection: Storing data on a hard drive makes data accessibility retrieval easy and seamless because no Internet connection is needed to access the data. Other backup methods, like online backups, require an Internet connection to restore data, making disk backups slightly more favorable in the event of a network outage or interruption.

Disadvantages of Disk

It’s harder to safely and securely store servers and hard drives offsite without using a third-party provider, which can add to the cost. However, disk backup solutions are getting cheaper all the time. Disk storage can also use up a lot of energy, and they can take up more space.

Tape vs Disk — What is best for your backup?

For most businesses, the easy answer is probably disk, largely because the backup process can be automatic, and using a disk backup to restore critical systems and data is fast and less labor-intensive. In the unlikely event that you ever have to use your backup, every second counts!

However, if your business is heavily regulated — or for companies that have to maintain files for a very long period of time — tape provides additional protection against cybercrime and can make long-term storage easier and more cost-effective. In fact, large cloud storage providers are some of the most common users of tape storage today. Tape backups are also frequently used by financial, law enforcement, higher education institutions, medical research organizations, and more.

The future of Disk Backup

Traditional HDDs are the top choice for on-site data storage and are unlikely to go anywhere any time soon. The reliability of disk storage, as well as its relatively low cost, has kept it a popular option for backup. According to IDC research, the disk backup market has seen solid growth in recent years.

Alternatives like cloud backup and the ever-present tape backup system are also widely used, but the ability to supplement existing disk backup systems with other technologies makes a full replacement unlikely. Aside from cost and performance benefits, disk is a familiar, dependable technology to many IT departments. As vendors continue to create newer versions of the backup technology, organizations will likely stick with it.