Backup

Digital archives are the primary copy of a set of data usually put away for future use, while backups are the secondary copy kept on hand for disaster recovery and for use when restoring small numbers of files after they have been accidentally deleted or corrupted.

There are many different types of data storage devices and arrangements that provide geographic redundancy, data security, and portability. A backup window should be established when most systems are not in use (i.e., after hours), so that it can run without interruption. A successful backup scheme includes a monitoring system, a retention plan, activity logs, a catalog or database, and backup verification.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License found at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html. It uses material from the Wikipedia articles at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption.