There is often confusion in the industry about certain terms. Some might want to know the applications of backup and the different types of backup. Others will ask about the difference between disaster recovery and business continuity. It's a great idea to talk about and clarify terms - sometimes IT pros will use them in various ways throughout the industry. So let's try to define backup, disaster recovery and business continuity. We certainly appreciate any effort to explain these terms, but it's important for us to note that we're pretty particular with how we use them at StorageCraft. For some, these terms are more or less all descriptions of different types of disaster recovery. At StorageCraft, however, we see things more broadly. For us, backup is simply the act of securing data both locally and remotely. Disaster recovery (DR), on the other hand, is the restoration of that data in the event of any kind of disaster, large and small.
While backup and DR are more or less events that occur at specific (though sometimes recurring) times, business continuity is a process. It’s that combination of best practices, procedures, and mindsets that keeps your business running no matter what happens. True business continuity includes physical processes like how to turn on the power after a blackout and such. That said, backup and DR are essential elements of good business continuity, especially in this day and age where data and applications are becoming more and more crucial to business operation and survival. Let's get a breakdown of how a complete backup and disaster recovery solution works:
What do these terms mean to you? Do you interpret them differently? We'd love to hear your thoughts.