Most small business owners understand that to keep their data safe and ensure business continuity, they need to be backing up all their devices.
But what they don’t always understand is that there is more than one way to backup, and one is much more complete than the other.
People often think of securing their documents and files when they backup. They want to make sure all files and folders in their system are saved securely elsewhere, so in the event of a hard drive crash, PC theft or damage, or a ransomware attack, they can retrieve their documents and images.
But what about all the other areas of a computer? Your files and folders only make up one portion of your data. A computer environment also includes:
- Operating system
- Installed software
- Settings
- Email and email accounts
- OS configurations
- Browser settings
If you want to do more than just save your files, you need to move to the next level of backup & recovery strategy, which is an image-based backup.
Image-Based Backup vs File Backup
Data loss can occur for any number of reasons, so without a reliable data backup a company can suffer costly downtime and potentially lose vital company data.
When organizations back up, they’re not always capturing all their data, which can lead to big problems when they suffer a PC failure. For example, according to Statista there is a pretty significant percentage difference between the types of data companies back up.
Companies that use data backups and the data they backup:
- Backup databases (91%)
- Backup email (68%)
- Backup proprietary application data (62%)
- Backup Multimedia (37%)
- Backup SaaS data (16%)
File-Based Backup
File-based backups are common. Companies select the folders and files on their computer that they want backed up to a storage media (cloud, external hard drive, USB drive, etc.).
This is a more manual process that can put the files back on a new system if needed, but doesn’t have any other desktop data, such as the OS or installed applications.
Using this method can make it much more time consuming if you have a computer crash and need to restore files to a new PC. You may end up having to separately reinstall programs and go searching for the authentication keys.
All settings and operating system configurations you may have had in place, also have to be manually restored – if you can remember what they were.
Image-Based Backup
An image-based backup takes an entire snapshot (image) of your computer. This includes the entire environment – files, folders, operating system, settings, installed programs, etc.
The image-based backup is basically designed to clone your entire computer environment, so you can restore everything to a new device and it’s just as it was on the other PC.
Using an image backup is the next step above file-based backups and can drastically reduce downtime in the event of computer failure.
Rather than having to restore each piece of your desktop environment independently, which can take considerable time and expertise, the image-based backup can restore everything at once.
You can also easily choose which parts of the backup to restore. For example, just your files, your files and programs, or everything.
Benefits of Upgrading to Image Backups
Recover Your Environment Even to Dissimilar Hardware
Image backups are designed to be restorable to multiple computer environments. So, even if you have a different model of PC than the original, you can restore your desktop as it was, because the operating system is captured with your image backup.
Faster Recovery
Small businesses can lose more than $10,000 per hour when downtime occurs. It’s vital to get a down system back up and running as fast as possible.
An image backup is hands-down the fastest backup method when it comes to recovery so you can restore a desktop environment quickly after a data loss incident.
Remote Recovery
Image backup through our Cloud Care Pro™ plan can be restored to a device remotely, saving even more precious time in the event of a computer failure or malware infection.
The remote backup and recovery capability also improves the security of teams that are working remotely. You never have to worry that the email, documents, or software on a remote employee’s computer are going to be lost. You can have a complete backup of all staff PC’s, including emails, programs, settings, and files.
Pick & Choose What to Restore
Image-based backups are very flexible and allow you to choose exactly what part of a computer environment you’d like to restore, down to the individual files. This versatility saves you from having to do a full restore of all your files, if you only need a portion of them.
Get Started with Imaged-Based Backup Today!
Pro Tech Guy can help your Framingham business switch to image-based backups to ensure all your computers and the data they hold are completely protected.
Contact us today to learn more and sign up. Call 508-364-8189 or reach us online.