BACKUP

Backup refers to the copying of physical or virtual files or databases to a secondary location for
preservation in case of equipment failure or catastrophe. The process of backing up data is
pivotal to a successful disaster recovery plan.
Enterprises back up data they deem to be vulnerable in the event of buggy software, data
corruption, hardware failure, malicious hacking, user error or other unforeseen events. Backups
capture and synchronize a point-in-time snapshot that is then used to return data to its previous
state.
Backup and recovery testing examines an organization's practices and technologies for data
security and data replication. The goal is to ensure rapid and reliable data retrieval should the
need arise. The process of retrieving backed-up data files is known as file restoration.
The importance of data backup
Data backups are among the most important infrastructure components in any organization
because they help guard against data loss. Backups provide a way of restoring deleted files or
recovering a file when it is accidentally overwritten.
Create your data backup strategy: A comprehensive guide
Which also includes:
In addition, backups are usually an organization's best option for recovering from a ransomware
attack or from a major data loss event, such as a fire in the data center.
What data should be backed up and how frequently?
A backup process is applied to critical databases or related line-of-business applications. The
process is governed by predefined backup policies that specify how frequently the data is backed
up and how many duplicate copies -- known as replicas -- are required, as well as by service-
level agreements (SLAs) that stipulate how quickly data must be restored.
Best practices suggest a full data backup should be scheduled to occur at least once a week, often
during weekends or off-business hours. To supplement weekly full backups, enterprises typically
schedule a series of differential or incremental data backup jobs that back up only the data that
has changed since the last full backup took place.
Whether hyper-converged or not, most disk-based backup appliances enable copies to be moved
from spinning media to magnetic tape for long-term retention. Magnetic tape systems are still
used because of increasing tape densities and the rise of the Linear Tape File System.
Local backup vs. offline backup for primary storage
Modern primary storage systems have evolved to feature stronger native capabilities for data
backup. These features include advanced RAID protection schemes, unlimited snapshots and

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tools for replicating snapshots to secondary backup or even tertiary off-site backup. Despite these
advances, primary storage-based backup tends to be more expensive and lacks the indexing
capabilities found in traditional backup products.
Local backups place data copies on external HDDs or magnetic tape systems, typically housed
in or near an on-premises data center. The data is transmitted over a secure high-bandwidth
network connection or corporate intranet.
One advantage of local backup is the ability to back up data behind a network firewall. Local
backup is also much quicker and provides greater control over who can access the data.
Offline or cold backup is like local backup, although it is most often associated with backing up
a database. An offline backup incurs downtime since the backup process occurs while the
database is disconnected from its network.
Backup and cloud storage
Off-site backup transmits data copies to a remote location, which can include a company's
secondary data center or leased colocation facility. Increasingly, off-site data backup equates to
subscription-based cloud storage as a service, which provides low-cost, scalable capacity and
eliminates a customer's need to purchase and maintain backup hardware. Despite its growing
popularity, electing backup as a service (BaaS) requires users to encrypt data and take other steps
to safeguard data integrity.
Cloud backup is divided into the following:
Public cloud storage. Users ship data to a cloud services provider who charges them a monthly
subscription fee based on consumed storage. There are additional fees for ingress and egress of
data. AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure are the largest public cloud providers. Smaller
managed service providers also host backups on their clouds or manage customer backups on the
large public clouds.
Private cloud storage. Data is backed up to different servers within a company's firewall,
typically between an on-premises data center and a secondary DR site. For this reason, private
cloud storage is sometimes referred to as internal cloud storage.
Hybrid cloud storage. A company uses both local and off-site storage. Enterprises customarily
use public cloud storage selectively for data archiving and long-term retention. They use private
storage for local access and backup for faster access to their most critical data.
Most backup vendors enable local applications to be backed up to a dedicated private cloud,
effectively treating cloud-based data backup as an extension of a customer's physical data center.
When the process enables applications to fail over in case of a disaster and fail back later, this is
known as disaster recovery as a service.
Cloud-to-cloud (C2C) data backup is an alternative approach that has been gaining momentum.
C2C backup protects data on SaaS platforms, such as Salesforce or Microsoft Office 365. This
data often exists only in the cloud, but SaaS vendors often charge large fees to restore data lost

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due to customer error. C2C backup works by copying SaaS data to another cloud, from where it
can be restored if any data is lost.
Backup storage for PCs and mobile devices
PC users can consider both local backup from a computer's internal hard disk to an attached
external hard drive or removable media, such as a thumb drive.
The Microsoft Windows Server OS inherently features the Microsoft Resilient File System
(ReFS) to automatically detect and repair corrupted data. While not technically data backup,
Microsoft ReFS is geared to be a preventive measure for safeguarding file system data against
corruption.
Backup types defined
Full backup captures a copy of an entire data set. Although considered to be the most reliable
backup method, performing a full backup is time-consuming and requires many disks or tapes.
Most organizations run full backups only periodically.
Incremental backup offers an alternative to full backups by backing up only the data that has
changed since the last full backup. The drawback is that a full restore takes longer if an
incremental-based data backup copy is used for recovery.
Differential backup copies data changed since the last full backup. This enables a full restore to
occur more quickly by requiring only the last full backup and the last differential backup. For
example, if you create a full backup on Monday, the Tuesday backup would, at that point, be
similar to an incremental backup. Wednesday's backup would then back up the differential that
has changed since Monday's full backup. The downside is that progressive growth of differential
backups tends to adversely affect your backup window. A differential backup spawns a file by
combining an earlier complete copy of it with one or more incremental copies created later. The
assembled file is not a direct copy of any single current or previously created file, but rather
synthesized from the original file and any subsequent modifications to that file.
Synthetic full backup is a variation of differential backup. In a synthetic full backup, the backup
server produces an additional full copy, which is based on the original full backup and data
gleaned from incremental copies.
Incremental-forever backups minimize the backup window while providing faster recovery
access to data. An incremental-forever backup captures the full data set and then supplements it
with incremental backups from that point forward. Backing up only changed blocks is also
known as delta differencing. Full backups of data sets are typically stored on the backup server,
which automates the restoration.
Reverse-incremental backups are changes made between two instances of a mirror. Once an
initial full backup is taken, each successive incremental backup applies any changes to the
existing full backup. This essentially generates a novel synthetic full backup copy each time an
incremental change is applied, while also providing reversion to previous full backups.

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Hot backup, or dynamic backup, is applied to data that remains available to users as the update
is in process. This method sidesteps user downtime and productivity loss. The risk with hot
backup is that, if the data is amended while the backup is underway, the resulting backup copy
might not match the final state of the data.
How to choose the right backup option
When deciding which type of backup to use, you need to weigh several key considerations.
Enterprises commonly mix various data backup approaches, as dictated by the primacy of the
data. A backup strategy should be governed by the SLAs that apply to an application, with
respect to data access and availability, recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives.
Choice of backups is also influenced by the versatility of a backup application, which should
guarantee all data is backed up and provides replication and recovery while establishing efficient
backup processes.
Backup storage device
A backup storage device is used to make copies of data that is actively in use.
Differential Backup
A differential backup is a type of data backup method that copies all of the files that have
changed since the last full backup.
Incremental Backup
An incremental backup is a type of backup that only copies data that has been changed or created
since the last backup
DISK CLEANUP
Disk Clean-up (cleanmgr.exe) is a computer maintenance utility included in Microsoft Windows
designed to free up disk space on a computer's hard drive.
The utility first searches and analyzes the hard drive for files that are no longer of any use, and
then removes the unnecessary files. There are a number of different file categories that Disk
Clean-up targets when performing the initial disk analysis:
 Compression of old files
 Temporary Internet files
 Temporary Windows files
 Downloaded program files
 Recycle Bin.
 Removal of unused applications or optional Windows components
 Offline web pages.

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The above list, however, is not exhaustive. For instance, 'Temporary Remote Desktop files' and
'Temporary Sync Files' may appear only under certain computer configurations, differences such
as Windows Operating System and use of additional programs such as Remote Desktop.
Disk cleanup in Windows 10
To delete temporary files:
 In the search box on the taskbar, type disk cleanup, and select Disk Cleanup from the list
of results.
 Select the drive you want to clean up, and then select OK.
 Under Files to delete, select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file
type, select it.
 Select OK.
 If you need to free up more space, you can also delete system files:
 In Disk Cleanup, select Clean up system files.
 Select the file types to get rid of. To get a description of the file type, select it.
 Select OK.
Note: If you notice that the Temp folder fills up quickly after running Disk Cleanup, see Low
Disk Space error due to a full Temp folder.
What is defragmentation and why do I need it?
Defragmentation, also known as “defrag” or “defragging” is the process of reorganizing the data
stored on the hard drive so that related pieces of data are put back together, all lined up in a
continuous fashion. You could say that defragmentation is like cleaning house for your server or
PC, it picks up all of the pieces of data that are spread across your hard drive and puts them back
together again.
Why is defragmentation important? Because every computer suffers from the constant growth of
fragmentation and if you don’t “clean house”, your servers and PCs suffer.
How Fragmentation Occurs
Disk fragmentation occurs when a file is broken up into pieces to fit on the disk. Because files
are constantly being written, deleted and resized, fragmentation is a natural occurrence. When a
file is spread out over several locations, it takes longer to read and write. But the effects of
fragmentation are far more widespread.
Effects of Fragmentation on Computer Performance
Many users blame computer performance problems on the operating system or simply think their
computer is “old”, when disk fragmentation is most often the real culprit. The weakest link in
computer performance is the disk. It is at least 100,000 times slower than RAM and over 2
million times slower than the CPU. In terms of computer performance, the disk is the primary
bottleneck. File fragmentation directly affects the access and write speed of that disk, steadily

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corrupting computer performance to unviable levels. Because all computers suffer from
fragmentation, this is a critical issue to resolve.

Problems caused by fragmentation include:

Performance:
 Server and PC slows and performance degradations
 Slow backup times – even failing to complete in their backup windowFind Out More
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 Unnecessary I/O activity on SQL servers or slow SQL queries
 Slow boot-up times
 Increase in the time for each I/O operation or generation of unnecessary I/O activity
 Inefficient disk caching
 Slowdown in read and write for files
 High level of disk thrashing (the constant writing and rewriting of small amounts of data)
 Long virus scan times

System Reliability:

 Crashes and system hangs

 File corruption and data loss
 Boot up failures
 Aborted backup due to lengthy backup times
 Errors in and conflict between applications
 Hard drive failures
 Compromised data security

Defragment your Windows 10 PC

Optimizing your drives can help your PC run smoother and boot up faster. To optimize them:

 Select the search bar on the taskbar and enter defrag.

 Select Defragment and Optimize Drives.
 Select the disk drive you want to optimize.
 Select the Optimize button.

Schedule tasks

How to create a basic task using Task Scheduler

To create a task using basic settings on Windows 10, use these steps:

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 1. Open Start.
2. Search for Task Scheduler, and click the top result to open the experience.
3. Right-click the "Task Scheduler Library" branch, and select the New Folder option.

4. Type a name for the folder. For example, MyTasks. (This step isn't a requirement, but it's
a recommended step to keep your tasks separate from the system and apps tasks.)
5. Click the OK button.
6. Expand the "Task Scheduler Library" branch, and select the MyTasks folder.
7. Click the Action menu.
8. Select the Create Basic Task option.

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 9. In the "Name" field, type a short descriptive name for the task. For example, Notepad
Launcher.

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 10. (Optional) In the "Description" field, create a description for the task.
11. Click the Next button.
12. Select the Monthly option.

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Task Scheduler allows you to select from a number of triggers, including on a specific date,
during startup, or when you or a particular user signs in. Depending on your requirements, you'll
need to configure additional parameters. In this case, we'll be selecting the option to run a task
every month.

13. Click the Next button.

14. Using the "Start" settings, specify when the task should start running and the time (very
important).
15. Use the "Monthly" drop-down menu to the months of the year that you want to run the
task.

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 16. Use the "Days" or "On" drop-down menu to specify the days that the task will run.

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Quick Tip: Using the "On" setting may be your best option if you're planning to run a task during
a specific day of the week.

17. Click the Next button.

18. Select the Start a program option to launch an app, run a command, or execute a script
file.

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You can select the Send an e-mail or Display a message option, but these are deprecated features,
which means that they may or may not work because Microsoft is no longer maintaining them.

 Send an e-mail: Triggers an email notification with a custom message on

schedule, but it requires to specify an email server to work.
 Display a message: Allows to display a text message on the screen on schedule.
19. In the "Program/script" field, specify the path for the application.

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Quick Tip: If you don't know the path of the app, click the Browse button to find it.

20. (Optional) In the "Add arguments" field, you can specify arguments to run the task with
special instructions.
21. (Optional) In the "Start in" field, specify the folder in which the program will start.
(Usually, you can leave this setting empty.)
22. Click the Finish button.

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Research and make short notes on the following

1. System Restore
2. Local users and groups
3. System task manager
4. System services

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