By examining the subtle differences between the two we can make a coherent decision on which one your company needs best.
What Are The Differences Between Backups & Archives
A backup is a solution which is used to store and restore files which are ordinarily needed in short periods of times and quite often, while on the other hand archiving is used for data which needs to be there only for historical reasons most of the time and does not need to be actively retrieved. This type of storage is used mostly for long term retention periods.
Which Is the Best Option For Your Situation
Depending on the type of Data that you are harboring and the intentions behind what you should do with it, you can meet your needs with either solution if properly examined. Basically it boils down to the type of retention policy your company is dealing with for your Data and how often you restore from backups. If you are generally dealing with documentation which does not need to resurface every day and is mostly kept for historical reasons, choose File Archiving Software, otherwise go with general backup solutions. Another thing to keep an eye on is cost. Generally quick backup restores and the software solutions that go along with it are a lot more costly than archival solutions. This is due to the optimized availability that they have to offer compared to something which is mainly historical and not as demanding.
Consider Security For Your Backup/Archive Solutions
There are a few things to consider before purchasing any type of solution. Currently the big focus falls on Security and all of its contingencies to build a solid foundation for your enterprise.
This means making sure that the following segments are met:
- Vulnerability Scanning
- Regular Patching & Updates
- Log Central
Vulnerability Scanning has become a defacto for most enterprises harboring sensitive data. The reasoning behind this is that breach costs today are not measured only by financial loss but reputational as well. Doing everything in your power to prevent any unwanted infiltrations is a great start.
In order to accomplish such things, your systems need to be regularly updated and patched up so that all of the known vulnerabilities can’t be used against you. All the while logging all action going through your infrastructure is a good way to keep evidence of any dealings going on in your systems, just in case you find some malicious traces, you can act quickly and dispose of anything that can corrupt or modify your Data.
Conclusion
Depending on what you currently need, a good amount of deliberation needs to take place before deciding between the two. Usually enterprises engage with general backups, but if in your case you don’t need to have everything restored in a very frequent basis but you still want it to be stored, then archiving is probably what you are looking for. This entirely depends on your situation.
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