A complete guide to data, backup and recovery. Data loss can strike anytime because of ransomware, hardware failures, natural disasters, and even human error. In this video, we'll walk through an overview of data, backup and recovery, including why it matters and different backup methods that actually work. Before we begin, be sure to subscribe to Ninja One's IT Video Hub for more tech content like this. What is data backup and recovery? Data backup is the process of making copies of important files and storing them securely locally in the cloud or both. Data recovery is the ability to restore those files quickly when needed. Backups, ensure business continuity. They protect customer data, financial records, project files, and other important data that your business depends on. Current data. Backup practices include key concepts such as backup solutions. Tools used to automate and manage backup and restore processes. Backup administrator, the person responsible for setting up and maintaining the backup system. Scope and schedule defines what data is backed up and how frequently. Recovery point objective RPO the maximum amount of data your organization can afford to lose, which informs how frequently backup should run Recovery time. Objective, RTO. The maximum amount of time your systems can be offline before impacting business, which guides how fast recovery must be types of data backup. There are three core types of backups. Full backup is an easy to restore, but storage intensive method that copies all files. Incremental backup saves only changes since the last backup. It's efficient but slower to restore differential backup copies changes since the last full backup. This method uses more storage than incremental backups, but is faster to recover. Most backup plans combine all three types. For example, full backups are done weekly. Incremental backups are done daily and differential backups are done every midweek. It's all about balancing time, cost, and data sensitivity, Backup technologies and locations. Aside from the types of data backup, we also have several ways to back up and store data. Each has its own pros and cons. These backup technologies and locations include removable media, such as USBs or DVDs, redundancy or duplicate drives or systems, external hard drives, hardware appliances, backup software, cloud backup, or a backup as a service. BAAS. What is a disaster recovery plan? Let's discuss disaster recovery plans. A disaster recovery plan or DRP is a formal policy outlining how your organization responds to data loss. Backup plans are just part of a disaster recovery plan. A good DRP defines the roles and responsibilities of involved teams, how fast systems must be restored, and what's mission critical. For more information, check out our official blog post on the complete guide to data backup and recovery linked in the description below.