varundamise

Varundamine (the Estonian term for backup) is the process of creating copies of digital information to protect against data loss from hardware failure, accidental deletion, malware, or disasters. Backups enable restoration of data or entire systems to a known good state when the original data becomes unavailable or corrupted.

Backups can be categorized by scope and timing. A full backup copies all selected data. Incremental backups copy only data that has changed since the previous backup, while differential backups copy data changed since the last full backup. Some systems use synthetic backups or continuous data protection to optimize speed and storage.

Storage options include local devices (external hard drives, network-attached storage), offsite storage (portable media, physical vaults), cloud-based backups (public or private cloud), and hybrid approaches that combine several locations to improve resilience.

Best practices include the 3-2-1 rule: keep three copies of data on two different media with at least one copy offsite. Backups should be automated, tested regularly for recoverability, and protected with encryption in transit and at rest. Retention policies determine how long backups are kept.

Recovery considerations: define recovery point objectives (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO) to guide backup frequency and restore procedures. Regular restoration drills help verify that backups can be restored quickly and correctly.

Security and compliance: backups may contain sensitive information and are subject to data protection laws such as the GDPR. Access control, encryption, and audit trails are important. Potential challenges include ransomware, evolving data needs, and cost management.