Backup Strategy

Farhat Nadeem Satti.

Ome-Ferwa.
Uroosa Sahito.
What is backup??
It refers to the copying and archiving of computer data
so it may be used to restore the original after a data loss
event.
The aim of producing a backup strategy is to make sure
that a computer system can be returned to its original
state if data has been lost or corrupted.
Backup strategy
Backup copy is a second copy saved to another
location , usually on a backup device e.g. USB
stick.
A cardinal rule is to back up your computer
regularly because most computers will break
down .
Many organisations are recommended to make
four or five backup copies of information.
Why Backup?

Software and Hardware failures are a common
thing in the computer world. Any number of
occurrences can cause loss of valuable data.
Two distinct purposes
Recover data after its loss
To recover data from an earlier time.
Types of failures

Power failures (software/hardware failure)
Natural disasters (fire, flood)
Security incidents (theft)
Hardware Failures (disk crash)
User error
Social issues (stolen data)

Backup Strategy:

A backup strategy is put in place to avoid permanent
data loss and to ensure the integrity of stored data i-e
can get back to a previous version and build up the data
correctly if current data found to be in error.
Network backup or server only.?
Individual or local computer backup.?
Server and computer backup?

How to choose a backup
strategy

The importance of the data you back up
How often your system needs to be backed up
How much storage media you need
When you need to use storage media
How to keep track of your backup information


THESE ARE NOT
BACKUPS

Backing up your laptop to an SD Card in the same
laptop
Backing up to a hard drive that is 6 inches away from
your computer
Backing up your Gmail to another Gmail account
Backing up your book by copying it to another folder
The photos that are still in your camera memory
Business Impact
Analysis
It is a prioritized list of activities with maximum
downtime and minimum data loss.
Involves the creation, processing or storage of
information, and which activity doesnt these days,
Deconstruction of the RTO and RPO objectives will
yield the amount of time available to restore lost data.
Used to determine the balance between on and off-site
storage of backup data and backup data volumes.
Physical Backups &
Logical Backups
Physical Backups Logical Backups
physical files used in storing and recovering
your database.
contains logical data (for example, tables or
stored procedures) exported from database
and reimporting from database.
Physical backups are the foundation of any
sound backup and recovery strategy.
supplement to physical backups in many
circumstances but are not sufficient
protection against data loss without physical
backups.
Backup strategies:
Full Backup.
Differential backup.
Incremental backup .
Continuous data protection.
You need to make sure that the company back-ups all
there files regularly so they are not lost is the system
fails.
The backup copies need to be kept in a safe and secure
location so they cannot be damaged or deleted.


BACKUP DEVICES
Backup softwares

Computer programs used to:
Create supplementary exact copies of files,
Databases or entire computers.
These programs may later use the supplementary
copies to restore the original contents in the event
of data loss.
Recovery & Restore
Scheduling & Reporting .
Help & Support

Backup Features & backup
software's
Software's are selected on basis of:
Recovery & Restore
Scheduling & Reporting
Help & Support:
Some famous software's:
Cobian (www.cobiansoft.com)
Acronis (www.acronis.com)
ReBit (www.rebit.com)
Genie Timeline )www.genie9.com)
Highly Recommended Advanced
Data Recovery Software
Ease US Data Recovery Wizard Free is best data
recovery software that supports various file systems
including FAT, FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS.
The professional version - Ease US Data Recovery
Wizard.

Helpful in following data lost
cases:
Hard Drives that have been formatted.
Corrupt or missing critical file system structures.
Accidental file deletion.
File loss without reason.
Unexpected system shutdown or application
failure.
Computer viruses and worms infection or
corruption.
Boot-up problems.
Partition structures are damaged or deleted.
Damage due to the power failure or surge.
Various kinds of file System corruption
Three Steps to Recover Whatever
You Lost:
Launched the software and select "Deleted File
Recovery" ,"Complete Recovery" or "Partition
Recovery.
Select the file types you want to recover. Select the
volume where the files were lost and click "NEXT"
to start searching.
Select the files to preview and then save the
recovered files.
Backup hardware devices
Appliances:

Hardware devises :
Hitachi Touro Mobile Pro
Seagate Free Agent Go Flex Ultra-portable.
Apple Time Capsule 2TB
Click free C2N
Click free C6
backup appliances:
STORServer (www.storserver.com)
Arkeia (www.arkeia.com)
Dell SonicWall & PowerVault
(www.sonicwall.com)
Quantum (www.quantum.com)
UniTrends (www.unitrends.com)



Storage media

Magnetic tape
Optical storage
Solid state storage
Remote backup service
Floppy disk
Tape backup devices
Cloud services
Synchronizing your NAS
Sneakernet:
Disaster-hardened storage devices
Online Backup Services
Hard disk



Alternative Backup Strategies &
online Backup Services

Alternative Backup Strategies
File/File Group Backup
Partial Backup
Copy-Only Backup
online Backup Services
SugarSync (www.sugarsync.com)
Carbonite (www.carbonite.com)
Crashplan (www.crashplan.com)
LiveDrive (www.livedrive.com)
Backblaze (www.backblaze.com



DATA Recovery Process:


DATA Recovery Process:


Data Recovery is the process of salvaging and
handling the data through the data from damaged,
failed, corrupted, or inaccessible secondary
storage media when it cannot be accessed
normally.
The term "data recovery" is also used in the
context of forensic applications or espionage,
where data which has been encrypted or hidden,
rather than damaged, is recovered.


Contd
Often the data are being salvaged from storage
media such as internal or external hard disk
drives, solid-state drives (SSD), USB flash drive,
storage tapes, CDs,DVDs, RAID, and other
electronics.


Data Recovery Scenarios
The most common "Data Recovery" scenario
involves an operating system failure, accidental
damage etc. (typically on a single-disk, single-
partition, single-OS system), in which case the
goal is simply to copy all wanted files to another
disk.
Another scenario involves a disk-level failure,
such as a compromised file system or disk
partition, or a hard disk failure. In any of these
cases, the data cannot be easily read.
In a third scenario, files have been "deleted" from
a storage medium
Kinds of Damages
Physical damage
A Wide variety of failures that cause a physical
damage to storage media.
Logical damage
The term "logical damage" refers to situations in
which the error is not a problem in the hardware
but requires software-level solutions.






Recovery Techniques
Recovering data from physically damaged
hardware can involve multiple techniques.
Some damage can be repaired by replacing parts
in the hard disk.
A specialized disk-imaging procedure is used to
recover every readable bit from the surface.
Hardware repair.
In some cases, data on a hard drive can be
unreadable due to damage to the partition table
or file system, or to media errors





Contd
Damaged partition table or file system can be
repaired using specialized data recovery software
such as Test disk, software like dd rescue.
Particularly if parts of files are irrecoverable, can
require expert intervention.
Data carving is the recovery of parts of damaged
files using knowledge of their structure.
When data has been physically overwritten on a
hard disk drive it is generally assumed that the
previous data is no longer possible to recover.

Contd
In 1996, Peter Gutmann, a computer scientist,
presented a paper that suggested overwritten data
could be recovered through the use of magnetic
force microscope.
In 2001, he presented another paper on a similar
topic. Substantial criticism has followed, primarily
dealing with the lack of any concrete examples of
significant amounts of overwritten data being
recovered.
Although Gutmann's theory may be correct, there is
no practical evidence that overwritten data can be
recovered.

Contd
While research has shown to support that
overwritten data cannot be recovered.
To guard against this type of data recovery,
Guttmann and Colin Plumb designed a method of
irreversibly scrubbing data, known as the
Guttmann method and used by several disk-
scrubbing software packages.
Solid-state drives (SSD) overwrite data differently
from hard disk drives (HDD) which makes at least
some of their data easier to recover.

Contd
Most SSDs use flash memory to store data in
pages and blocks, referenced by logical block
addresses (LBA) which are managed by the flash
translation layer (FTL).


Remote Data Recovery

Often, techniques can be used remotely with
an expert using a computer at another location
linked by an internet or other connection to
equipment at the fault site.
Remote recovery requires a stable connection
of adequate bandwidth.
However, it is not applicable in cases of
physical damage.






Four phases to Data Recovery

Phase 1: Repair the hard drive
Phase 2: Image the drive to a new drive.
Phase 3: Logical recovery of files, partition, MBR,
and MFT.
Phase 4: Repair the damaged files that were
retrieved.







Seven rules to follow

Terminological inexactitude
Sets consistent policies
Establishes metrics
Strives to take the human out of the loop
Collects ongoing feedback
Gets buy-in
Makes it easy to change policies as technology and
needs change.






The backup rule of three:
Rule of thumb that you can apply to your life called
as the Backup 3-2-1 rule.
3 copies of anything you care about - Two isn't
enough if it's important.
2 different formats - Example: Dropbox+DVDs or
Hard Drive+Memory Stick or CD+Crash Plan, or
more
1 off-site backup - If the house burns down, how will
you get your memories back.



Conclusion:

The approach meets the Business Continuity
needs of your organization.
Conducting a BIA is the best way to determine
your backup needs.
The backup strategy must involve a mix of the
solutions .
Emphasize two things:
Stick to your backup strategy,
and do employ some form of offsite backup.



References:

http://www.fatmax.org/A2Revision/
http://www.pcworld.com/article/170688/7_backup_
strategies.html
http://blog.pluralsight.com/data-backups-important
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup
http://www.todo-backup.com/backup-
resource/backup-strategy.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_recovery.