What Is the Difference Between File, Application, and Image Backup?

When managing backups, it is important to understand your options. Backups come in several forms - file backups, application backups, and Disaster Recovery or image backups - each designed to protect different types of data in different ways. Let's break down the key differences and scenarios where each type is most effective.

What Exactly Is a Backup?

Before we get into the specifics, it's important to understand what a backup is - and isn't. A true backup involves storing data in multiple versions, often encrypted, at different times and locations. Unlike sync services or simple copy jobs, backups are designed to recover from data loss or corruption, not just replicate files. If you're not familiar with this distinction, you may find this article helpful.

Now let's explore the differences between file, application, and image backups.

• File Backup
• Application Backup
• Disaster Recovery and Image Backup
• Backup Schemes - full, differential, incremental, and incremental forever
• Combining File, Application, and Image Backups
• Try NovaBACKUP Today

File Backup

File backups, as the name implies, focus on protecting individual files or folders. This can include important business documents, spreadsheets, presentations, videos, or other critical data.

When it comes to restoring your data, file backups make it easy by allowing you to browse your backups for the individual file you need and restore it to the original or another location (be careful not to overwrite existing files during the restore process), making it a great option if individual files are lost or accidentally deleted.

Application Backup

Application backups extend the concept of file backups to more complex data such as databases (often the foundation of industry software and CRM systems), entire applications, or even snapshots of virtual machines.

Application backups ensure that all data associated with the application, including its configuration and dependencies, is preserved. Many business backup solutions include application backup as part of their package or as an add-on.

Disaster Recovery and Image Backup

Disaster Recovery (DR) is a broader term that describes an organization's ability to recover all of its systems and data after a catastrophic event. There are several options for disaster recovery when it comes to backup.

Image-based disaster recovery is by far the best-known option and describes the creation of a single "image" that captures the entire system. Typically, this involves creating a boot disk (which can be a CD/DVD or USB stick) that is used to boot the new computer and pull all the information from the image backup to rebuild that system.

An image-based backup enables the recovery of an entire PC or server. This includes restoring the operating system, settings, drivers, applications, and all files. Depending on the backup solution, the image can be restored to the same or dissimilar hardware.

Another DR option is the ability to create a VHD or VHDx file and then mount it as a virtual machine. This is especially useful when converting a physical server to a virtual machine, as it provides flexibility for system recovery and reduces the time it takes to get the system up and running.

Backup Schemes

Depending on your needs, you can perform file, application, and system backups in a variety of ways:

• Full backup: Creates a complete copy of all selected files, folders, applications, etc. It's comprehensive but takes the longest and uses the most disk space.
• Differential backup: This requires a full backup, which then stores changes and additions since the last full backup. These backups grow over time but simplify the restore process because you only need the full backup and the most recent differential backup.
• Incremental backup: Requires a full backup first, then captures only changes made since the last backup (full or incremental). This approach minimizes storage and backup times but requires all increments for a full restore.

The combination of full + differential or full + incremental typically requires a regular new full backup from time to time to avoid long restore chains. Typically, you would see strategies that include, for example, one full backup per week and either incremental or differential backups for every other day of the week.

Modern Backup: Incremental Forever

The problem with periodic full backups and the growing size of differential backups required by these traditional methods is that they can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. In addition, incremental backups are not reliable enough for a critical backup strategy because problems with just one chain can render the entire backup unrecoverable.

That's why Incremental Forever backups have gained popularity: they combine the benefits of incremental and differential backups without any of the drawbacks. With the growing popularity of cloud backups, this type of backup has become more widely used as it significantly reduces the amount of storage needed (and therefore the cost of the cloud) while also reducing the amount of data that needs to be sent.

NovaBACKUP goes one step further and uses the Incremental Forever backup scheme also for local file and application backups so that even local storage devices can be used more efficiently.

With Incremental Forever backups, you never have to schedule or run a full backup ever again. The system will only send new or changed files or portions of files to the storage destination based on what the destination already has on it. But unlike regular incremental backups, Incremental Forever stores links to all the data backed up by the previous backups in each increment, reducing the risk of "breaking the chain" and affecting recoverability.

Further advantages of an Incremental Forever backup are:

• Since only new and changed files are saved, backup times, storage usage, and resource requirements in general are reduced.
• Recoverability is even easier (especially with NovaBACKUP) than with traditional backup because it reconstructs and shows you what the data looked like at each backup point in time. When you restore, you have the data from all the points in time you need, without having to search or do anything.
• The data retention policy is built into the backup job itself, so if there are files or folders that are out of retention, they will be removed from the previous backups, eliminating the need to remove entire backup data sets. Instead, it removes versions of the files or folders that are no longer needed to meet the data retention policy you set.

Want to learn more about incremental backup and how it works with retention? Take a look at this video:

Combining File, Application, and Image Backups

Now the question might be: Why should I bother with all these types and not just use, i.e., image backups to protect my entire system and all my data?

It all comes down to the size of the backup and the time it takes to make (and restore) the backup. Image backups are huge - at least the size of your entire system, if not more. They also tend to slow down your system while it's being backed up. While it's important to have a backup of your operating system, settings, etc., the time and storage requirements don't make it feasible for a daily backup solution (even using a differential or incremental backup scheme). Let's not forget that restoring an entire system takes time. But what if all you need is a single file that was accidentally deleted?

File and application backups are faster, take up less space, and are easier to restore if you only need to recover one or a few files. However, they are not good for restoring an entire system in the event of a hardware crash.

Use Disaster Recover to:

• Recover from total hardware failure.
• Restore an entire machine to new hardware when performing a hardware refresh.
• Move a physical server to a virtual machine (if VHD(x) DR is supported by your backup solution).
• Have a cold standby of a critical system that can be powered on with the latest data in an emergency.

Use file and application backups for:

• Quick recovery of individual files or folders.
• Daily (or more frequent) backups of business-critical information.
• Increased backup storage efficiency and reduced costs.

In addition, you can create multiple file and application backup jobs (using the incremental forever backup scheme) and run them at different times to onsite and offsite storage locations. These should be defined by the importance of the data you're backing up. For example, mission-critical data that the business can't survive without should be backed up daily, if not more often, while files and folders that are important but don't need to be available immediately after a data loss (i.e., they don't change as often) can be backed up weekly.

Try NovaBACKUP Today

Each type of backup - file, application, and disaster recovery - has its strengths. A comprehensive strategy combines these approaches to balance speed, storage efficiency, and recovery needs.

NovaBACKUP supports all these backup types and offers the flexibility to combine them into a comprehensive plan. Ready to try it out? Start your free 14-day trial and explore the possibilities. For tips on getting started, see our Quick Start Guide.