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Access "Backup in a snap: A guide to snapshot technologies"

Published: 17 Oct 2012
Snaphot technology tutorial

This article is part of the Vol. 8 Num. 7 October 2009 issue of Snaphot technology tutorial

Snapshot technologies are commonly used to enhance data backup systems and dramatically shorten RTOs and RPOs. But you need to know how snapshot implementations can vary, and what those differences could mean to your environment. A snapshot is commonly defined as a copy of a set of files, directories and/or volumes as they were at a particular point in time. As its name suggests, a snapshot is very much like a photograph because it captures an image of a certain set of data at a specific moment or point in time. Snapshot technology was originally architected to solve several data backup problems, including: Backing up data that's too large to complete in the allocated time Failing to back up data because it has moved from a directory that hasn't been backed up to one that already has Corruption of backed up data that can occur when it's being written to while it's being backed up The affect on application performance while a backup is in process All of these backup problems can be resolved with snapshots. But snapshots shouldn't be considered a backup ... Access >>>

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