By Tom Fedro
In the competitive market for backup and disaster recovery (BDR), there’s more than likely a solution that will meet just about every client’s needs. But not all approaches to BDR are created equal. Take file-based backup, for example. It’s been in use for many years, and there are thousands of offerings of this kind available today.
At its most basic level, file-based backup simply copies files from one medium to another. While its simplicity is what sets it apart, the reality is that file-based backup is also extremely slow and cumbersome. Every system administrator has had to wait for a file-based backup to finish. Whether this involves manually copying files from a user’s hard drive to an external or network drive, or completing a full server backup on a tape, the process can be brutally slow.
Also, because of poor performance and substantial overhead on the system being backed up, most file-based backups occur during off-peak hours. This lag means support for real-time data protection is limited, causing valuable work to potentially be lost. If you’re considering a new approach to BDR, keep these three essential points in mind if file-based backup is on your shopping list: