Data backup and disaster recovery

Terms related to backup and recovery, including definitions about making copies of data and words and phrases about restoring original data after a data loss event.

3-2-1 backup strategy explained: Is it effective? - The 3-2-1 backup is a time-tested data protection and recovery methodology for ensuring that data is protected adequately and up-to-date backup copies of the data are available when needed.
Acronis - Acronis is a data protection software vendor that spun off as a separate company from Parallels in Singapore and became an independent company in 2003.
Amazon Glacier - Amazon Glacier, also known as Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) Glacier, is a low-cost cloud storage service for data with longer retrieval times offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) - Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) is a scalable, high-speed, web-based cloud storage service.
asynchronous replication - Asynchronous replication is a store-and-forward approach to data backup and protection.
backup as a service (BaaS) - Backup as a service (BaaS) is an approach to backing up data that involves purchasing backup and recovery services from an online data backup provider.
backup storage device - A backup storage device is a hardware component for storing copies of data.
bare-metal restore - A bare-metal restore (also referred to as bare-metal recovery or bare-metal backup) is a data recovery and restoration process where a computer is restored to a new machine, typically after a catastrophic failure.
burn-in - Burn-in is a test in which a system or component is made to run for an extended period of time to detect problems.
business continuity management (BCM) - Business continuity management (BCM) is a framework for identifying an organization's risk of exposure to internal and external threats.
business continuity plan audit - A business continuity plan audit is a formalized method for evaluating how business continuity processes are being managed.
business impact analysis (BIA) - A business impact analysis (BIA) is a systematic process to determine and evaluate the potential effects of an interruption to critical business operations as a result of a disaster, accident or emergency.
call tree - A call tree is a layered hierarchical communication model used to notify specific individuals of an event and coordinate recovery if necessary.
change control - Change control includes the various steps needed to process changes made to a product or system.
cloud disaster recovery (cloud DR) - Cloud disaster recovery (cloud DR) is a combination of strategies and services intended to back up data, applications and other resources to public cloud or dedicated service providers.
cloud encryption - Cloud encryption is a service cloud storage providers offer whereby a customer's data is transformed using encryption algorithms from plaintext into ciphertext and stored in the cloud.
cloud hosting - Cloud hosting is the process of outsourcing an organization's computing and storage resources to a service provider that offers its infrastructure services in a utility model.
cloud SLA (cloud service-level agreement) - A cloud SLA (cloud service-level agreement) is an agreement between a cloud service provider and a customer that ensures a minimum level of service is maintained.
cloud storage - Cloud storage is a service model in which data is transmitted and stored on remote storage systems, where it is maintained, managed, backed up and made available to users over a network (typically the internet).
cloud storage provider - A cloud storage provider, sometimes referred to as a managed service provider, is a company that offers organizations and individuals the ability to place and retain data in an off-site storage system.
cloud storage service - A cloud storage service is a business that maintains and manages its customers' data and makes that data accessible over a network, usually the internet.
Cloud-to-Cloud Backup (C2C Backup) - C2C backup (cloud-to-cloud backup) is the practice of copying data stored on one cloud service to another cloud service.
cold backup (offline backup) - A cold backup is a backup of an offline database.
computer worm - A computer worm is a type of malware whose primary function is to self-replicate and infect other computers while remaining active on infected systems.
Conficker - Conficker is a fast-spreading worm that targets a vulnerability (MS08-067) in Windows operating systems.
contingency plan - A contingency plan is a course of action designed to help an organization respond effectively to a significant future incident, event or situation that may or may not happen.
crisis communication - Crisis communication is a strategic approach to corresponding with people and organizations during a disruptive event.
crisis management plan (CMP) - A crisis management plan (CMP) outlines how an organization should respond to a critical situation that if left unaddressed, could negatively affect its profitability, reputation or ability to operate.
CRUD cycle (Create, Read, Update and Delete Cycle) - The CRUD cycle describes the elemental functions of a persistent database in a computer.
CSV (Cluster Shared Volumes) - CSV (Cluster Shared Volumes) is a feature in Windows Server in which shared disks are concurrently accessible to all nodes within a failover cluster.
data archiving - Data archiving moves data that is no longer actively used to a separate storage device for long-term retention.
data at rest - Data at rest is a term that is sometimes used to refer to all data in computer storage while excluding data that is traversing a network or temporarily residing in computer memory to be read or updated.
data center - A data center is a facility composed of networked computers, storage systems and computing infrastructure that organizations use to assemble, process, store and disseminate large amounts of data.
data cleansing (data cleaning, data scrubbing) - Data cleansing, also referred to as data cleaning or data scrubbing, is the process of fixing incorrect, incomplete, duplicate or otherwise erroneous data in a data set.
data deduplication - Data deduplication is a process that eliminates redundant copies of data and reduces storage overhead.
data deduplication hardware - Data deduplication hardware is disk storage that eliminates redundant copies of data and retains one instance to be stored.
data lifecycle management (DLM) - Data lifecycle management (DLM) is a policy-based approach to managing the flow of an information system's data throughout its lifecycle: from creation and initial storage to when it becomes obsolete and is deleted.
data loss - Data loss is the intentional or unintentional destruction of information.
data protection management (DPM) - Data protection management (DPM) is the administration, monitoring and management of backup processes to ensure backup tasks run on schedule and data is securely backed up and recoverable.
data recovery - Data recovery restores data that has been lost, accidentally deleted, corrupted or made inaccessible.
data recovery agent (DRA) - A data recovery agent (DRA) is a Microsoft Windows user account with the ability to decrypt data that was encrypted by other users.
data reduction - Data reduction lowers the amount of capacity required to store data.
data replication - Data replication is the process of copying data from one location to another.
data retention policy - In business settings, data retention is a concept that encompasses all processes for storing and preserving data, as well as the specific time periods and policies businesses enforce that determine how and for how long data should be retained.
data streaming - Data streaming is the continuous transfer of data from one or more sources at a steady, high speed for processing into specific outputs.
database availability group (DAG) - A database availability group (DAG) is a high availability (HA) and data recovery feature of Exchange Server 2010.
Datto - Datto Inc. is a backup, recovery and business continuity vendor with headquarters in Norwalk, Conn.
Dell EMC Avamar - Dell EMC Avamar is a hardware and software data backup product.
differential backup - A differential backup is a data backup that copies all the files that have changed since the last full backup was performed.
Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 - India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDPA) is a comprehensive privacy and data protection law that recognizes the right of individuals, referred to as "data principals," to protect their personal data during the processing of that data for lawful purposes.
disaster recovery (DR) - Disaster recovery (DR) is an organization's ability to respond to and recover from an event that negatively affects business operations.
disaster recovery (DR) site - A disaster recovery (DR) site is a facility an organization can use to recover and restore its technology infrastructure and operations when its primary data center becomes unavailable.
disaster recovery (DR) test - A disaster recovery test is the examination of each step in a disaster recovery plan to ensure that an organization can recover data, restore business critical applications and continue operations after an interruption of services.
disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) - Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is a cloud computing service model offered by third-party vendors that provides failover in the event of a natural catastrophe, power outage or other type of business disruption.
disaster recovery plan (DRP) - A disaster recovery plan (DRP) is a documented, structured approach that describes how an organization can quickly resume operations after an unplanned incident.
disaster recovery team - A disaster recovery team is a group of individuals focused on planning, implementing, maintaining, auditing and testing an organization's business continuity and disaster recovery procedures.
disk backup or disk-based backup - Disk backup, or disk-based backup, is a data backup and recovery method that backs data up to hard disk storage.
disk mirroring (RAID 1) - Disk mirroring, also known as RAID 1, is the replication of data across two or more disks.
DRBD (Distributed Replicated Block Device) - DRBD (Distributed Replicated Block Device) is a Linux-based software component that facilitates the replacement of shared storage systems by networked mirroring.
Druva - Druva is a cloud data protection and management software company based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
emergency communications plan (EC plan) - An emergency communications plan (EC plan) is a document that provides guidelines, contact information and procedures for how information should be shared during all phases of an unexpected occurrence that requires immediate action.
emergency notification system - An emergency notification system is an automated method of contacting a group of people within an organization and distributing important information during a crisis.
encoding and decoding - Encoding and decoding are used in many forms of communications, including computing, data communications, programming, digital electronics and human communications.
encryption key management - Encryption key management is the practice of generating, organizing, protecting, storing, backing up and distributing encryption keys.
external hard drive - An external hard drive is a portable storage device that can be attached to a computer through a USB or Firewire connection, or wirelessly.
external storage device - An external storage device, also referred to as auxiliary storage and secondary storage, is a device that contains all the addressable data storage that is not inside a computer's main storage or memory.
fault tolerance - Fault tolerance is the capability of a system to deliver uninterrupted service despite one or more of its components failing.
flash storage - Flash storage is any type of drive, repository or system that uses flash memory to write and store data for an extended period.
floating gate transistor (FGT) - A floating gate transistor (FGT) is a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology capable of holding an electrical charge in a memory device that is used to store data.
forensic image - A forensic image (forensic copy) is a bit-by-bit, sector-by-sector direct copy of a physical storage device, including all files, folders and unallocated, free and slack space.
full backup - A full backup is the process of making at least one additional copy of all data files that an organization wishes to protect in a single backup operation.
ghost imaging (disk imaging) - In computing, ghost imaging, also called disk imaging, is a data backup process that creates an image of a computer's hard disk drive (HDD), solid-state drive (SSD) or one of the drive's partitions.
gzip (GNU zip) - Gzip (GNU zip) is a free and open source algorithm for file compression.
heartbeat (computing) - In computing, a heartbeat is a program that runs specialized scripts automatically whenever a system is initialized or rebooted.
hierarchical storage management (HSM) - Hierarchical storage management (HSM) is policy-based management of data files that uses storage media economically and without the user being aware of when files are retrieved from storage.
hybrid backup - A hybrid backup is typically when organizations use both on-premises storage and the public cloud as data backup destinations, depending on specific requirements and use cases.
hybrid cloud storage - Hybrid cloud storage is an approach to managing cloud storage that uses both local and off-site resources.
image-based backup - Image-based backup creates a copy of an operating system and all the data associated with it, including the system state and application configurations.
incident management plan (IMP) - An incident management plan (IMP), sometimes called an incident response plan or emergency management plan, is a document that helps an organization return to normal as quickly as possible following an unplanned event.
incremental backup - An incremental backup is a backup type that only copies data that has been changed or created since the previous backup activity was conducted.
inline deduplication - Inline deduplication is the removal of redundancies from data before or as it is being written to a backup device.
ISO/TS 22317 (International Organization for Standardization Technical Standard 22317) - ISO/TS 22317 is the first formal standard to address the business impact analysis process.
IT incident management - IT incident management is a component of IT service management (ITSM) that aims to rapidly restore services to normal following an incident while minimizing adverse effects on the business.
Linear Tape-Open (LTO) - Linear Tape-Open (LTO) is an open-format tape storage technology created by HPE, IBM and Seagate Technology.
LTO-5 - LTO-5 is a tape format released in 2010 by the Linear Tape-Open Consortium.
LTO-7 (Linear Tape-Open 7) - LTO-7 is a tape format from the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Consortium released in late 2015.
LTO-8 (Linear Tape-Open 8) - LTO-8, or Linear Tape-Open 8, is a tape format from the Linear Tape-Open Consortium released in late 2017.
LTO-9 (Linear Tape-Open 9) - LTO-9 is a tape format from the Linear Tape-Open (LTO) Consortium.
LUN masking - LUN masking is an authorization mechanism used in storage area networks (SANs) to make LUNs available to some hosts but unavailable to other hosts.
magnetic storage - Magnetic storage has been around in many forms since 1888 by Oberlan Smith, who publicized his audio recording on a wire in Electrical World.
magnetic tape storage - Magnetic tape is one of the oldest technologies for electronic data storage.
Massachusetts data protection law - What is the Massachusetts data protection law?The Massachusetts data protection law is legislation that stipulates security requirements for organizations that handle the private data of residents.
mirror site - A mirror site is a website or set of files on a computer server that has been copied to another computer server so that the site or files are available from more than one place.
natural disaster recovery - Natural disaster recovery is the process of recovering data and resuming business operations following a natural disaster.
network disaster recovery plan - A network disaster recovery plan is a set of procedures designed to prepare an organization to respond to an interruption of network services during a natural or humanmade catastrophe.
network load balancing (NLB) - Network load balancing (NLB) is a feature in multiple versions of the Microsoft Windows Server operating system (OS), Amazon Web Services (AWS) and other cloud service providers that distribute network traffic among multiple servers or virtual machines (VMs) within a cluster to avoid overloading any one host and improve performance.
North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) - The North American Electric Reliability Corporation Critical Infrastructure Protection (NERC CIP) plan is a set of standards aimed at regulating, enforcing, monitoring and managing the security of the Bulk Electric System (BES) in North America.
off-site backup - Off-site backup is a method of backing up data to a remote server or to media that's transported off-site.
operational resilience - Operational resilience is a business's ability to respond to and overcome adverse circumstances during operation that might cause financial loss or disrupt business services.
Oracle RMAN (Oracle Recovery Manager) - Oracle RMAN (Oracle Recovery Manager) is a utility built into Oracle databases to automate backup and recovery; it includes features not available in third-party backup tools.