Image Backups versus File Backups

Backazon backups are File Backups not Image Backups. Both kinds of backup have a purpose, so we felt it was important to explain the differences.

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What is an Image Backup?

An Image Backup makes a copy of each sector on a hard drive and stores them on a tape or external drive.

The primary purpose of an Image Backup is to store an exact copy of a system that can be restored if it becomes corrupted or the hard drive is replaced. An Image Backup cannot be restored to a different operating system and usually cannot be restored to a different computer.

What are the advantages of an Image Backup?

Since an Image Backup is an exact duplicate of a hard drive, it can quickly restore a machine to its exact state at the time of the backup. This includes the operating system, the program files, the data files, and the computer settings.

What is a File Backup?

A File Backup makes a duplicate copy of important files on your computer and stores them somewhere off of your computer. Some of the types of files you can protect with a File Backup include your Microsoft Word and Excel documents, your QuickBooks data file, your music files, and the photographs from your digital camera.

The primary purpose of a File Backup is to make it easy to recover these important files no matter what happens to your hard disk or your computer. In fact, a File Backup can be used to move your files to a completely different computer.

What are the advantages of a File Backup?

A File Backup allows you to select which files are important to you and only backs up those files. As such, File Backups are much smaller and faster than an Image Backup, and they can be transmitted over the Internet pretty quickly.

Why doesn't Backazon do an Image Backup?

Backazon transmits your files over the Internet to a secure data center. While it is feasible to do this with a select group of files, it is neither feasible nor necessary to send your entire hard drive over the Internet.

Which type of backup should I use?

A File Backup that backs up your important files every day is the most important backup you can make.

If your machine crashes and you don't have an Image Backup, you are merely inconvenienced into reinstalling your operating system and programs. While this is time consuming, it is hardly devastating.

If your machine crashes and you don't have a File Backup, all the work you ever did on that computer is lost forever. That can be devastating.

Backazon will help you create a File Backup every day, so that you never lose any of your important files.