Why Is the Data Backed Up?

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The Role of Tape Backup

For a personal computer user, backup typically means making a copy of the data on the computer's hard drive onto a tape or CD-ROM. Personal backup media are often labeled by hand and are 'managed' by storing them in a drawer or cabinet located in the room with the computer. In the enterprise, data protection is a little more complex. Enterprise backup must be able to do the following:

• Make copies of your data, whether organized as files, databases, or the contents of logical volumes or disks.

• Manage the backup media that contain these copies so that any backup copy of any data can be quickly and reliably located when required, and so that the media can be tracked accurately, regardless of the number.

• Provide mechanisms to duplicate sets of backed up data so that while a copy remains on-site for quick restores, another copy can be taken off-site for archival or disaster protection purposes.

• Track the location of all copies of all data accurately.

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