ALEXEY BEREZHNY, System Administrator. Main activities: virtualization and heterogeneous networks. Another hobby besides writing articles is popularizing free software.

Backup
Theory and practice. Summary

To organize the backup system most effectively, you need to build a real strategy for saving and restoring information.

Backup (or, as it is also called, backup - from the English word “backup”) is an important process in the life of any IT structure. This is a parachute for rescue in case of an unforeseen catastrophe. At the same time, backup is used to create a kind of historical archive of the company's business activities over a certain period of its life. Working without a backup is like living in the open air - the weather can deteriorate at any moment, and there is nowhere to hide. But how to properly organize it so as not to lose important data and not spend fantastic sums on it?

Usually, articles on the topic of organizing backups deal mainly with technical solutions, and only occasionally pay attention to the theory and methods of organizing data storage.

In this article, we will talk about just the opposite: the main attention is paid to general concepts, and the technical means will be touched upon only as examples. This will allow us to abstract from hardware and software and answer two main questions: “Why are we doing this?”, “Can we do this faster, cheaper and more reliably?”.

Goals and objectives of backup

In the process of organizing backup, two main tasks are set: infrastructure recovery in case of failures (Disaster Recovery) and maintaining a data archive in order to subsequently provide access to information for past periods.

A classic example of a backup for Disaster Recovery is a server system partition image created by Acronis true image.

An example of an archive can be a monthly upload of databases from 1C, recorded on cassettes with subsequent storage in a specially designated place.

There are several factors that differentiate a quick restore backup from an archive:

• Data retention period. For archival copies, it is quite long. In some cases, it is regulated not only by business requirements, but also by law. For disaster recovery copies, it is relatively small. Usually they create one or two (with increased requirements for reliability) backups for Disaster Recovery with a maximum interval of a day or two, after which they are overwritten with fresh ones. In especially critical cases, it is also possible to update the backup for disaster recovery more frequently, for example, once every few hours.
• Speed ​​of data access. The speed of access to a long-term archive is not critical in most cases. Usually, the need to “raise data for the period” arises at the time of checking documents, returning to a previous version, etc., that is, not in emergency mode. Another thing is disaster recovery, when the necessary data and service performance must be returned as soon as possible. In this case, the speed of access to the backup is an extremely important indicator.
• The composition of the copied information. The backup usually contains only user and business data for the specified period. The copy intended for disaster recovery, in addition to this data, contains either system images or copies of settings operating system and application software, as well as other information necessary for recovery.

Sometimes it is possible to combine these tasks. For example, a yearly set of monthly full "snapshots" of a file server, plus changes made during the week. True Image is suitable as a tool for creating such a backup.

The most important thing is to clearly understand what the reservation is for. Let me give you an example: a critical SQL server failed due to a disk array failure. The warehouse has the right hardware, so the solution to the problem was only to restore the software and data. The company's management asks an understandable question: "When will it work?" - and is unpleasantly surprised to learn that the recovery will take as much as four hours. The fact is that throughout the entire life of the server, only databases were regularly backed up without taking into account the need to restore the server itself with all the settings, including software the DBMS itself. Simply put, our heroes only saved databases, and they forgot about the system.

I'll give you another example. The young specialist throughout the entire period of his work created using the ntbackup program a single copy of a file server running Windows Server 2003, including data and System State to a shared folder on another computer. Due to lack of disk space, this copy was constantly overwritten. Some time later, he was asked to restore a previous version of a multi-page report that had been corrupted on save. It is clear that, having no archive history with Shadow Copy turned off, he could not fulfill this request.

What follows from this: you need to use both types of backup: both for disaster recovery and for archive storage. At the same time, it is necessary to determine the list of resources to be copied, the time for executing tasks, and also where, how and for how long backup copies will be stored.

With small amounts of data and not very complex IT infrastructure, you can try to combine both of these tasks in one, for example, do a daily full backup of all disk partitions and databases. But still it is better to distinguish between two goals and select the right means for each of them. Accordingly, a different tool is used for each task, although there are universal solutions, such as the Acronis True Image package or the ntbackup program

It is clear that when determining the goals and objectives of backup, as well as solutions for implementation, it is necessary to proceed from business requirements.

When implementing a disaster recovery task, you can use different strategies.

In some cases, it is necessary to restore the system directly to "bare metal" (bare metal). This can be done, for example, using the Acronis True Image program bundled with the Universal Restore module. In this case, the server configuration can be returned to service in a very short time. For example, a partition with an operating system of 20 GB is quite realistic to lift from a backup copy in eight minutes (provided that the archive copy is available over a 1 GB / s network).

In another option, it is more expedient to simply “revert” the settings to the newly installed system, such as copying configuration files from the /etc folder and others on UNIX-like systems (in Windows, this roughly corresponds to copying and restoring the System State). Of course, with this approach, the server will be put into operation no earlier than the operating system is installed and the necessary settings are restored, which will take a much longer time. But in any case, the decision what to be Disaster Recovery stems from business needs and resource constraints.

The fundamental difference between backup and redundant redundancy systems

This is another interesting question that I would like to touch on. Redundant hardware redundancy systems refer to the introduction of some redundancy into the hardware in order to maintain operability in the event of a sudden failure of one of the components. A perfect example in this case is a RAID array (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). In the event of a single disk failure, information loss can be avoided and a safe replacement can be made, saving data due to the specific organization of the disk array itself (read more about RAID in).

I have heard the phrase: "We have very reliable equipment, there are RAID arrays everywhere, so we do not need backups." Yes, of course, the same RAID array will protect data from destruction if one fails. hard drive. But this will not save you from data damage by a computer virus or from inept user actions. It will not save RAID even if the file system crashes as a result of an unauthorized reboot.

I will give one example. There are cases when events develop according to the following scenario: when a disk fails, data is restored due to the redundancy mechanism, in particular, using the saved checksums. At the same time, there is a significant decrease in performance, the server freezes, control is almost lost. The system administrator, seeing no other way out, reboots the server with a cold restart (in other words, clicks on "RESET"). As a result of such a live overload, file system errors occur. The best that can be expected in this case is the lengthy operation of the disk checker in order to restore the integrity of the file system. In the worst case, you have to say goodbye to file system and be puzzled by the question of where, how and in what timeframe you can restore data and server performance.

You will not be able to avoid backup even with a clustered architecture. A failover cluster, in fact, keeps the services entrusted to it working if one of the servers fails. In the case of the above problems, such as a virus attack or data corruption due to the notorious "human factor", no cluster will save.

The only thing that can act as an inferior backup replacement for Disaster Recovery is the presence of a mirror backup server with constant data replication from the main server to the backup one (according to the Primary  Standby principle). In this case, if the main server fails, its tasks will be taken over by the backup one, and you won’t even have to transfer data. But such a system is quite expensive and time-consuming to organize. Do not forget about the need for constant replication.

It becomes clear that such a solution is cost-effective only in the case of critical services with high requirements for fault tolerance and minimal recovery time. As a rule, such schemes are used in very large organizations with a high commodity-money turnover. And this scheme is an inferior replacement for backup, because all the same, if data is damaged by a computer virus, inept user actions, or incorrect operation of the application, data and software on both servers can be affected.

And, of course, no system of redundant redundancy will solve the problem of maintaining a data archive for a certain period.

The concept of "backup window"

Performing a backup puts a heavy load on the redundant server. This is especially true for the disk subsystem and network connections. In some cases, when the copying process has a sufficiently high priority, this may lead to the unavailability of certain services. In addition, copying data at the time of changes is associated with significant difficulties. Of course, there are technical means to avoid problems while maintaining data integrity in this case, but if possible, such copying on the fly is best avoided.

The way out when solving these problems described above suggests itself: to postpone the launch of the copy creation process to an inactive period of time, when the mutual influence of backup and other working systems will be minimal. This time period is called the "backup window". For example, for an organization working on an 8x5 formula (five eight-hour working days a week), such a “window” is usually weekends and night hours.

For systems that work according to the 24x7 formula (24 hours a day all week), the time of minimum activity is used as such a period, when there is no high load on the servers.

Types of backup

To avoid unnecessary material costs when organizing backups, and also, if possible, not to go beyond the backup window, several backup technologies have been developed, which are used depending on the specific situation.

Full backup (or Full backup)

It is the main and fundamental method of creating backups, in which the selected data array is copied in its entirety. This is the most complete and reliable type of backup, although the most expensive. If it is necessary to save several copies of data, the total stored volume will increase in proportion to their number. To prevent such waste, compression algorithms are used, as well as a combination of this method with other types of backup: incremental or differential. And, of course, a full backup is indispensable when you need to prepare a backup for a quick system restore from scratch.

Incremental copy

Unlike a full backup, in this case, not all data (files, sectors, etc.) is copied, but only those that have been changed since the last backup. Various methods can be used to determine the copy time, for example, on systems running Windows operating systems, the corresponding file attribute (archive bit) is used, which is set when the file has been modified, and reset by the backup program. Other systems may use the modification date of the file. It is clear that a scheme using this type of backup will be inferior if full backups are not performed from time to time. With a full system restore, you need to restore from the last copy created by Full backup, and then alternately “roll” the data from incremental copies in the order they were created.

What is this type of copy used for? In the case of creating archival copies, it is necessary to reduce the consumed volumes on storage devices (for example, to reduce the number of tape media used). It will also allow you to minimize the time to complete backup tasks, which can be extremely important in conditions when you have to work in a tight 24x7 schedule or download large amounts of information.

Incremental copying has one nuance that you need to know. A piecemeal restore also brings back the desired deleted files during the recovery period. I'll give you an example. For example, a full backup is performed on weekends, and incremental backups on weekdays. The user created the file on Monday, changed it on Tuesday, renamed it on Wednesday, deleted it on Thursday. So, with a sequential phased data recovery for a weekly period, we will get two files: with the old name on Tuesday before the renaming, and with a new name created on Wednesday. This happened because different incremental copies stored different versions of the same file, and eventually all variants will be restored. Therefore, when restoring data sequentially from an "as is" archive, it makes sense to reserve more disk space so that deleted files can also fit.

Differential backup

It differs from incremental in that data is copied from the last moment of Full backup. In this case, the data are placed in the archive on an accrual basis. In systems of the Windows family, this effect is achieved by the fact that the archive bit is not reset during differential copying, so the changed data gets into the archive copy until the full copy sets the archive bits to zero.

Since each new copy created in this way contains the data from the previous one, it is more convenient for full recovery of data at the time of the disaster. This requires only two copies: the full one and the last of the differential ones, so you can bring the data back to life much faster than rolling all the increments in stages. In addition, this type of copying is spared from the above features of incremental copying, when, with full recovery, old files, like a Phoenix bird, are reborn from the ashes. There is less confusion.

But differential copy significantly loses to incremental in saving the required space. Since each new copy stores data from the previous ones, the total amount of backed up data can be comparable to a full copy. And, of course, when planning the schedule (and calculating whether the backup process will fit in the time window), you need to take into account the time to create the last, thickest, differential copy.

Backup topology

Let's look at what backup schemes are.

decentralized scheme

The core of this scheme is a network share (see Figure 1). For example, a shared folder or an FTP server. A set of backup programs is also needed, from time to time uploading information from servers and workstations, as well as other network objects (for example, configuration files from routers) to this resource. These programs are installed on each server and work independently of each other. The undoubted advantage is the ease of implementation of this scheme and its low cost. Regular tools built into the operating system, or software such as a DBMS, are suitable as copy programs. For example, it can be the ntbackup program for the Windows family, the tar program for UNIX-like operating systems, or a set of scripts containing built-in SQL server commands for dumping databases into backup files. Another plus is the ability to use various programs and systems, so long as all of them can access the target resource for storing backups.

The downside is the slowness of this scheme. Since the programs are installed independently of each other, you have to configure each one individually. It is rather difficult to take into account the peculiarities of the schedule and distribute time intervals in order to avoid contention for the target resource. Monitoring is also difficult, the process of copying from each server must be monitored separately from others, which in turn can lead to high labor costs.

Therefore, this scheme is used in small networks, as well as in a situation where it is impossible to organize a centralized backup scheme with the available tools. More detailed description this scheme and practical organization can be found in .

Centralized Backup

Unlike the previous scheme, this case uses a clear hierarchical model that works on the principle of "client-server". In the classic version, special agent programs are installed on each computer, and a server module of the software package is installed on the central server. These systems also have a specialized server management console. The control scheme is as follows: from the console we create tasks for copying, restoring, collecting information about the system, diagnostics, and so on, and the server gives the agents the necessary instructions to perform these operations.

Most of the popular backup systems work on this principle, such as Symantec Backup Exec, CA Bright Store ARCServe Backup, Bacula, and others (see Figure 2).

In addition to various agents for most operating systems, there are developments for backing up popular databases and corporate systems, for example, for MS SQL Server, MS Exchange, Oracle Database and so on.

For very small companies, in some cases, you can try a simplified version of the centralized backup scheme without the use of agent programs (see Figure 3). Also, this scheme can be used if a special agent is not implemented for the backup software used. Instead, the server module will use pre-existing services and services. For example, "scavenging" data from hidden shared folders on Windows servers or copying files via SSH from servers running UNIX systems. This scheme has very significant limitations related to the problems of saving files opened for writing. As a result of such actions, open files will either be skipped and not included in the backup, or copied with errors. There are various workarounds for this problem, such as rerunning the job to copy only previously opened files, but none are reliable. Therefore, such a scheme is suitable for use only in certain situations. For example, in small organizations working in 5x8 mode, with disciplined employees who save changes and close files before going home. For organizing such a truncated centralized scheme that works exclusively in a Windows environment, ntbackup is a good fit. If you need to use a similar scheme in heterogeneous environments or exclusively among UNIX computers, I recommend looking towards Backup PC (see).

Figure 4. Mixed backup scheme

What is off-site?

In our turbulent and changing world, events can occur that can cause unpleasant consequences for the IT infrastructure and the business as a whole. For example, a fire in a building. Or a break in the central heating battery in the server room. Or the banal theft of equipment and components. One of the methods to avoid information loss in such situations is to store backups in a place remote from the main location of the server equipment. At the same time, it is necessary to provide a quick way to access the data necessary for recovery. The described method is called off-site (in other words, storing copies outside the enterprise). Basically, two methods of organizing this process are used.

Writing data to removable media and their physical movement. In this case, it is necessary to take care of the means of quickly delivering the media back in case of failure. For example, store them in a nearby building. The advantage of this method is the ability to organize this process without any difficulty. The downside is the complexity of returning the media and the very need to transfer information for storage, as well as the risk of damaging the media during transportation.

Copy data to another location over a network link. For example, using a VPN tunnel over the Internet. The advantage in this case is that there is no need to carry media with information somewhere, the disadvantage is the need to use a sufficiently wide channel (as a rule, this is very expensive) and protect the transmitted data (for example, using the same VPN). The difficulties of transferring large amounts of data can be greatly reduced by using compression algorithms or deduplication technology.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the security measures in the organization of data storage. First of all, it is necessary to take care that the data carriers are in a secure room, and about measures that prevent unauthorized persons from reading the data. For example, use an encryption system, conclude non-disclosure agreements, and so on. If removable media is involved, the data on it must also be encrypted. The marking system used should not help an attacker in data analysis. It is necessary to use a faceless numbering scheme for marking the carriers of the names of the transferred files. When transmitting data over a network, it is necessary (as already mentioned above) to use safe methods data transfer, such as a VPN tunnel.

We have analyzed the main points when organizing a backup. In the next part, methodological recommendations and practical examples will be given for creating an effective backup system.

1. Description of Windows system backup, including System State - http://www.datamills.com/Tutorials/systemstate/tutorial.htm .
2. Description of Shadow Copy - http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Copy .
3. Acronis official website - http://www.acronis.ru/enterprise/products .
4. The description of ntbackup is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTBackup.
5. Berezhnoy A. Optimizing the work of MS SQL Server. // System administrator, No. 1, 2008 - P. 14-22 ().
6. Berezhnoy A. We organize a backup system for small and medium-sized offices. // System administrator, No. 6, 2009 - P. 14-23 ().
7. Markelov A. Linux on guard of Windows. Overview and installation of the BackupPC backup system. // System administrator, No. 9, 2004 - P. 2-6 ().
8. Description of VPN - http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/VPN.
9. Data Deduplication - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_deduplication .

In contact with

Backup systems ensure the continuity of business processes and the protection of information from natural and man-made disasters, the actions of intruders. These technologies are actively used in IT infrastructures of organizations of various industries and sizes.

Data backup- the process of creating a copy of data on a medium designed to restore data to its original location in case of damage or destruction. In addition, a backup system is one of the necessary methods for ensuring business continuity. Building a centralized backup system reduces the total cost of ownership of your IT infrastructure through optimal use of backup devices and reduced administration costs (compared to a decentralized system).

Organizational challenges in terms of data protection

• Internal contradictions in the technical team
• Should application administrators be responsible for data retention, SLAs, and recovery?
• Centralized automated control - reduced risks for the IT director: increased transparency, predictability of IT processes

The right data protection strategy for the data center

An outdated approach called "BACKUP"

• Backup
• Recovery

A modern approach called "INFORMATION MANAGEMENT"

• Backup
• Recovery
• Content Analytics
• Context search
• Mobile data access
• Transparent cloud integration
• IS tasks
• ANY 3rd party data processing applications (Open API)

The copy problem

• In the absence of a centralized approach, the amount of data grows uncontrollably
• Where lies the most current version data?
• If I need to delete Compliance data, where can I find all copies?
• Removal and archiving of obsolete information. How to determine a reasonable criterion for the value of data?

Architecture and operation of the backup system

The centralized backup system has a multi-level architecture, which includes:

• a backup management server that can also combine the functions of a data copy server;
• one or more data copy servers to which backup devices are connected;
• client computers with backup agent programs installed on them;
• backup system administrator console.

The system administrator maintains a list of backup client computers, recorders, and backup storage media, and schedules backups. All this information is contained in a special database, which is stored on the backup management server.

According to the schedule or at the operator's command, the management server instructs the agent program installed on the client computer to start backing up data in accordance with the selected policy. The agent program collects and transmits the data to be backed up to the copy server indicated to it by the management server.

Off-server copy

This type of backup is a further development of the off-network copying method (LAN-free), since it reduces the number of processors, memory, I / O devices involved in this process. This process backs up entire partitions, unlike file-by-file archiving, but still allows you to restore individual files. By definition, off-server copying copies data from disk to tape and vice versa without the server's direct involvement. Since backup requires some additional third party, which is fully responsible for the copy process, this is where another name for this approach comes from - copying with the participation of a third party (Third_-Party Copy, 3PC). So, as such equipment, a data storage router can be used, which takes over the functions previously performed by the server.

One of the advantages of the SAN architecture is the absence of a hard connection of its constituent systems to any data storage devices. This property is the basis of the backup technology without the participation of a server. In this case, both the data server and the devices involved in copying from disk arrays can have direct access to the disk array. The backup of data blocks related to a file is preceded by the creation of some kind of index or list of numbers of blocks belonging to it. This allows you to further attract external devices for backup.

Thus, off-server replication allows you to directly move data between SAN-attached disk arrays and libraries. In this case, the data moves over the SAN and does not download any data. local network, nor servers . Such replication is considered ideal for corporate networks that must operate continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Especially for those for which the time period during which backups can be performed without a significant impact on the work of users and applications becomes unacceptably small.

Data replication

Modern disk arrays have the means to create copies of data within the array itself. The data created by these tools are called Point-In-Time (PIT) copies, that is, fixed at a certain point in time. There are two types of PIT copying tools: cloning and "snapshot" (snapshot). Cloning is usually understood as a complete copying of data. It requires the same amount of disk space as the original data and some time. When using such a copy, there is no load on the disk volumes containing the original data. In other words, there is no additional load on the disk subsystem of a productive server.

The mechanism of operation of "snapshots" is different and can be implemented both in software on a productive server and in hardware within an array. At the moment when it is necessary to start a backup, the agent program instructs the application to complete all transactions and save the cache memory to

Data backup is an important feature for every responsible computer user. There is nothing worse than realizing while sitting in front of a computer that the result of your monthly work or important files have just been lost, which there is no way to recover.

Data is often very valuable. And it doesn't matter if these are personal files or information that is used for work. Let's see what functions for data backup and recovery Microsoft developers equipped with the latest version of their operating system - Windows 10, and also consider the possibility of backing up data recovery using third-party programs.

Data Backup: What is it?

File backup

We sometimes hear about the need to "back up your computer". But it’s not entirely correct to say so, since there are two ways to back up data. First, creating a backup copy of files, with which you can create copies of individual files and folders stored on a computer or any other storage medium. Each user who has important data stored on the computer should back it up on an external hard drive in case the original source is lost or deleted.

System backup

Another way to back up data is known as a System Backup or System Image. This is a more complicated way of backing up data, since in this case we are talking about creating a copy of the entire operating system of a particular computer, along with programs, files, and settings. A system backup is used to restore it if Windows becomes unstable or stops working altogether.

A Windows backup can take up hundreds of gigabytes of storage. But using special data backup software, you can configure the function to save only changes that have been made since the last backup of the system.

Backing up and restoring data using Windows

Windows 10 has built-in tools that are designed to create backup copies of files and the system, as well as restore information with their help. Many users do not use them, not knowing about their existence or how to properly configure them. They are more likely to use third-party programs than tools built into the operating system.

File history

The easiest way to back up and restore files and folders is File History. With this function, you can copy data regularly, according to a user-set schedule, and save it to an external HDD or other external media. Copies of files can also be saved to the computer's hard disk (although this is contrary to the basic rule of backup).

To set up File History, go to the Start menu and select Settings. In the Options menu that opens, go to Update & Security / Backup Service.

On the right side of the panel, in the Backup using file history section, click Add Disk. You will be prompted to select one of the external media connected to your computer. Select the one to which you want to backup data and set the archiving parameters: the interval for saving file copies and the duration of their storage, if necessary, you can specify a specific folder for a copy of files from which you want to create or remove an unnecessary one.

During backup, File History also automatically copies all user account folders: Pictures, Documents, Downloads, etc.

This feature can be turned off at any time, but in order for user-specified data to be backed up at a set time interval, Automatic File Backup must be turned on.

By default, files are backed up every hour. The minimum time that can be set is 10 minutes, the maximum is Daily. You can also set the duration for storing copies: from one month until the moment when free space is needed (in this case, older backups will be deleted automatically to make room for new backups).

Restoring files from a backup

To restore files from a backup drive, go to the Control Panel and select the File History menu.

In the left column of the window that opens, select Restore personal files, navigate to the folder and find the file you need to recover. To restore a file, click the green button below and specify the path to restore it. Versions of backup copies of files by date and time of their saving can be selected by pressing the buttons from the right and left arrows.

OneDrive cloud service

Another way to protect yourself from losing important files is to transfer them to cloud storage and synchronize it with your computer. There are many such storages: Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. But a feature of the latest versions of Windows (10, 8, 8.1) is the presence of its own Microsoft cloud service built into the operating system, called OneDrive.

When using one of the cloud services, they usually create a folder on the computer disk under their own name, the files from which are synchronized. IN latest versions Windows OneDrive folder exists by default, i.e. The service is available to every user immediately after installing the operating system.

Any file. which will be saved to this folder will be immediately copied to the cloud storage and synchronized with it. The user can also access the files in this folder from any other device, just go to your OneDrive account from it.

Recovery Point

Another side of backup and recovery Windows Data 10, there is a recovery system files and performance of the operating system. Creating and restoring an operating system backup is a more complicated process than with a user's personal files and folders. But for this, Windows 10 provides a special function - System Restore. With its help, the user can return the operating system to working capacity by “rolling back” to the saved early state - the Recovery Point.

By default, the restore feature in the operating system is not enabled. In order to be able to use it, it must be configured. System Restore works by creating Restore Points, which save the state of Windows at a specific point in time. Along with the settings and state of the operating system, the Recovery Point includes installed apps(for example, Microsoft office) and device drivers (for example, video cards).

The user can create a restore point at any convenient time. It is also created automatically if you install some application on your computer or download system updates, etc. But remember that System Restore does not restore a user's personal files.

If you begin to notice that the operating system is not working correctly or with failures and errors, then you can run one of the previously saved restore points and Windows will return to the state at the time of its creation.

To do this, go to the Control Panel and select the menu Recovery / System Recovery Settings / Customize, with which you activate and configure the function.

To restore Windows from a restore point, go to the Control Panel and select the menu Recovery / Start System Restore, select the required restore point and click Next.

System Image

Probably the most basic and complex backup function Windows copy There is a feature called System Image.

Using this option, you can create a “duplicate” of the entire computer disk, including Windows 10, as well as all programs and user personal data. The system image is saved to an external hard drive, from which, if necessary or the computer fails, it is deployed back to the computer's hard drive. As a result, the user receives a working version of the operating system, along with programs and files.

This is a very useful feature, but its disadvantage is that the user does not have the ability to restore individual files from a system image, as from the File History. You can only fully expand the entire image. Therefore, users often use these functions in parallel.

To create a System Image, go to the Control Panel and select the File Backup and Restore menu. In the column on the left, click Create a system image, and select the drive where you want to save it. Keep in mind that the System Image is usually large.

To restore the system from a System Image, go to System Settings / Update and Security / Recovery, and select special boot options. After Windows 10 reboots, select System Image Recovery from the menu provided.

Other backup and restore programs Windows files 10

In this article I will tell you how to back up data: work files, multimedia and operating system (make an image of it). Backup (data archiving) is extremely necessary, because as a result of a hard drive failure, or a virus, you can lose important documents, photo archives, works created in various programs. Maybe you just want to reinstall a clean copy of the OS with all the programs. When this happens, this situation will be easy to correct.

The most common case for users is the failure of the operating system. In order to restore the computer to its previous state (programs, settings, etc.), you need to spend from several hours to several days to install and configure Windows, but installing additional software takes the most time. Often, inexperienced users store their data on the system disk without thinking about transferring information to other hard disk partitions, not to mention external HDDs.

Backup (archiving) and recovery methods

Windows 7: built-in backup and restore tool

It is quite easy to use and even allows you to perform this procedure automatically on a schedule. Location on the system of the backup tool: «Start | All programs | Service | Archiving and Restoration». Menu in the column on the left - "Create System Recovery Disc" And "Creating a system image".

Create a system image. You must specify the location of the future archive: select another disk partition, external HDD or optical disk (DVD, Blue Ray). There is also an option to save a backup to network drive. Optical media is not practical, so use a logical drive with enough storage space or an external HDD to store the backup. Select a location and click the "Archive" button. The entire system partition will be archived. This procedure can be carried out on a schedule, while Windows updates the previously recorded system image without creating it again, which saves time.

If you select the "Archive" tool, you can set up regular backups of important user data. To do this, select "Set up backup", specify which drive will be saved to, click "Next", in the next window select "Give me a choice" and then mark the objects for archiving. To restore the contents of a backup, select one of the three suggested actions: Restore my files from this backup, Restore files for all users on this computer, or Manage the disk space used by this backup.

To restore the system, in case it does not boot or gives an error that you are not able to fix, you may need a rescue disk. To create it, select "Create a system recovery disk" in the menu on the left and specify on which media it will be organized. Unfortunately, only laser discs are supported, which is not suitable for owners of laptops without an optical drive.

This built-in tool in Windows is not without drawbacks, such as a long time to create an archive and the lack of a compression function. However, there are other, more functional products.

Backup and recovery using Acronis True Image Home 2013

For Windows XP users, where there is no built-in backup tool, as well as users with higher requirements for the functionality of the backup program, I recommend using Acronis True Image Home 2013.

Acronis True Image Home uses 3 backup methods.

Full image - archiving absolutely all data, including MBR (if the partition is bootable).

Differential - only the data that has changed since the backup was created by the first (full) method is included in the backup.

Incremental method - allows you to supplement the backup with files that have changed since the last backup procedure.

It is easy to make a backup copy of the system partition: in the main program window, select the first option - "Backing up disks and partitions", then specify a partition or drive, specify a location for saving the archive and, if necessary, change the archiving parameters (for example, set the archive compression level on the tab "Performance" or protect the archive with a password). At the end of the process, a file with the extension *.tib. Acronis True Image Home 2013 allows you to mount a backup as a logical drive and work with the data you need. Thus, you can extract from a pre-created archive desired file, which you accidentally completely deleted from your hard drive.

In addition to backing up partitions and disks, you can back up (including on a schedule) individual directories and files, as well as the Windows Address Book, contact list and correspondence Microsoft Outlook. To recover in the most severe cases, you can use the bootable version of the program (boot disk or boot disk), and it is possible to create such a solution both on optical and USB media.

It happens that when experimenting with installing several operating systems, the master boot record (Master Boot Record) turned out to be corrupted, you can try to “revive” it by ticking “MBR” when restoring from an image. Also, Acronis True Image Home 2011 can convert backups from its "native" format to VHD format (these are backups created by the Windows 7 system tools, and at the same time virtual disk images, that is, they can be connected to almost any virtual machine) and vice versa .

In most cases, recovery comes down to selecting the desired archive and partition, in which the contents of the backup will be deployed. It is worth noting the extremely long installation time and the low speed of Acronis True Image Home in Windows XP.

Paragon Backup & Recovery Professional: Advanced Backup

About the Paragon Backup & Recovery Professional program, which provides file backup and restore I told in, however, with the aim of transferring Windows to another PC. Unlike the Acronis product, in addition to archiving operations, it also allows you to perform some actions with partitions - for example, changing the label, formatting, hiding, and deleting. However, for this you will need to switch to "Advanced User Mode".

Before backing up, it is recommended to create a rescue disk to restore data from the image. To do this, go to the "Utilities" section and select "Create a rescue disk". Here you can also select either an optical drive, an external hard drive, or a USB flash drive as the media.

To create a backup copy of your data, go to the section "Data protection and recovery | Intelligent archiving”, without forgetting to prepare a reliable storage before that. You can choose what to back up: "Disks or partitions", e-mail (e-mails, Accounts and Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail address books), Media Files and Documents (texts, photos, videos and music stored in the My Documents directory) or Other Files or Folders.

Then you can make additional copying options - choosing the degree of image compression, password protection and sector-by-sector copying mode (all sectors of the disk are processed "as is", including unused ones). You can also assign an FTP server as an archive storage, if you have one. If you choose optical media, the program will warn you that it will not be possible to save the disk's master boot record.

For advanced users, Backup & Recovery has a professional virtual machine imaging tool for Virtual PC, VMware Workstation and VMware Fusion. Thanks to it, you can convert an image of a real hard disk, such as a system partition, and then open it along with all the data and programs in virtual machine even on a different computer.

How to quickly recover lost computer data. A detailed guide to saving information Gladkiy Alexey Anatolyevich

6.3. Saving and Restoring Data with Handy Backup

The probability of successful data recovery after their sudden loss is greatly increased if the user foresaw the possibility of such a nuisance in advance and took care to save their data in a safe place by creating a backup copy. In this section, we will get acquainted with a program that is designed and created specifically to create backup copies of data and restore them if necessary. Moreover, with its help you can recover not only individual files and folders, but also the entire contents of the hard drive. The relevance and usefulness of the latest functionality can hardly be overestimated, given the fact that the vast majority of users store a lot of necessary and important information on their hard drive.

This program is called Handy Backup, its developer is the Novosoft company (program website - www.handybackup.ru). The program is shareware: its demo version can be downloaded from the developer's website. A distribution kit with a volume of about 12.5 MB is offered for download.

It is worth noting that the demo version has a time limit: you can use it for 30 days from the date of installation, after which you must either register the program or remove it from your computer.

To install Handy Backup on your computer, you need to run the installation file and then follow the instructions of the installer. After the installation is completed, the menu Start program group will be created Handy Backup, the commands of which are designed to launch the program, call up help information, go to the program's website, and also uninstall it. For convenience, it is recommended to display the launch shortcut on the desktop.

The program has a clear and intuitive user interface, as well as convenient tools. Important for domestic users is the fact that Handy Backup supports the Russian language.

6.3.1. Features of Handy Backup

Handy Backup is a multi-functional product for backing up, restoring and synchronizing data, and these processes can be performed automatically at certain intervals - you just need to make the appropriate settings for this. The program successfully copes with the tasks both on a separate computer and when working in a local network.

Handy Backup allows you to back up any objects specified by the user. One of its most important and most requested functions is the creation of a hard disk image, which involves backing up the operating system, applications, drivers used, as well as user personal data.

The program features include cloning hard disk. For those who do not know what it is - let's explain: cloning a hard disk is copying it sector-by-sector, which allows you to quickly restore the operating system if such a need arises.

The program can back up databases (including tables from SQL, MS Access, Oracle, PostgreSQL, FoxPro, etc.), save email, Lotus Notes data, and create backups of the Windows registry.

Created backups can be packaged in zip format to save space, and the archive can be password protected to prevent unauthorized and unqualified access to the saved data.

Of particular note is the ability to back up data using an FTP connection, which not all competing products can boast of.

6.3.2. Structure user interface

After starting the program, its user interface is displayed on the screen, which is shown in Fig. 6.28.

Rice. 6.28. Handy Backup user interface

The key elements of the user interface of the program are: main menu, toolbar, context menu, task area, file area, log window and status bar. Let's take a brief look at each of these elements.

The main menu of the program is located in the usual place - at the top of the interface. It includes the following items: File, View, Actions, Service, Language And Help. Each item contains a list of commands designed to select the desired mode of operation or call the corresponding function of the program.

Just below the main menu is a toolbar. Its buttons do not carry additional functional load, and only duplicate some commands of the main menu. The names of the toolbar buttons are displayed as tooltips when you hover over them with the mouse pointer. Note that even in the localized version of the program, these tooltips are displayed in English, but in any case, this does not make it difficult to use the buttons: firstly, they have a characteristic pattern, and secondly, even an English-language tooltip makes it easy to determine what this or other button.

Note. If necessary, you can remove the toolbar from the interface. Its display is controlled using the main menu command View? Toolbar .

The context menu of the program is called by pressing the right mouse button, and its commands also duplicate some commands of the main menu. The contents of the context menu may be determined by the current mode of operation and the place in which it is called.

Below the toolbar is the task pane. It displays a list of current tasks. For each task, the following information is displayed sequentially in the corresponding columns.

Task name (assigned by the user at the task setting stage).

Task type (possible options - Backup, Recovery or Synchronization).

The last time this task was run.

The time of the next run of this task according to the set schedule (if a schedule was configured for it when the task was created).

Task progress indicator;

The current status of the task.

Note that each task can take one of the statuses listed below.

Expectation– this status is assigned to tasks waiting for a command to be executed.

Backup, Recovery or Synchronization– one of these statuses (depending on the task type) is assigned to tasks that are in progress.

Success– status means that the task was successfully completed.

Scheduled– this status is assigned to tasks that are waiting to start execution in accordance with the previously set schedule.

Mistake– this status is assigned to tasks that, for some reason, have encountered errors.

Below the task area is the file area, which is used to manage the data involved in tasks. In other words, the user has the ability to manage files and folders as if they were tasks.

For each object, the following information is displayed in the corresponding columns.

The name of the file or folder.

The current status of the object.

The original size of the object (note that for folders this information not shown).

The size of the saved object.

The time the file or folder was last edited.

The time the file or folder was last saved.

You can define the set of information shown for objects in the file pane yourself. To do this, right-click and select the required items in the context menu that opens. The only information that cannot be disabled is the name of the object (the corresponding command in the context menu will be blocked).

Below the task area is a log window. It displays the contents of an automatically generated log file that provides information about the progress of the task. Note that this information is updated automatically according to the progress of the task. By pressing the right mouse button anywhere in the log window, a context menu is called up on the screen, using the commands of which you can copy the contents of the log window to the clipboard, save it in a separate file, completely clear the log screen, and also switch to the font color settings and messages.

If necessary, you can remove the log window from the interface. Its display is controlled using the main menu command View? log window? Hide/Show log window.

At the bottom of the interface, below the log window, there is a status bar that displays information about the current mode of operation. The display of the status bar is controlled using the main menu command View? Status bar.

6.3.3. Handy Backup settings

As with many other applications, before using Handy Backup, it is recommended to review and, if necessary, change the settings of the program in order to adapt it as much as possible to the specifics of use on this computer. To switch to this mode, use the main menu command File? Settings, also called by pressing the key combination Alt+F7. When this command is activated, a window is displayed on the screen, which is shown in Fig. 6.29.

Rice. 6.29. Program settings, section basic settings

The structure of this window is as follows: the list of sections is presented in its left part, and the contents of the current section are displayed in the right part. Each section includes settings of the same type, similar in functionality and purpose. Let's take a closer look at some of them.

In section basic settings(see Fig. 6.29) there are several parameters of a general nature. If the checkbox is checked Run agent when Windows startup , then the program will be placed in the automatic download directory and will be launched along with the operating system.

You can make it so that the Handy Backup item will be added to the context menu of the operating system - for this you need in the section basic settings check the box Allow integration with Windows Explorer.

While the program is running (in particular, when compressing and encrypting objects), temporary files are created, which are stored in a temporary directory. The path to this directory is indicated in the area temporary folder. You can use the temporary folder of the operating system for this purpose - to do this, check the box Use Windows temporary directory.

If in the section basic settings is checked, the CD-ROM drive will automatically open when copying is complete to eject the disc. Sometimes it is useful to check the results of copying to disk: for this, you need to check the box Eject CD/DVD after backup. When this box is checked, there is one more parameter - Stop checking after first error. If it is set, then when the first error is detected, the disk check will be terminated. The meaning of this parameter is that sometimes even one error is enough for the recording to be considered unsuccessful.

In section Logging you can define the maximum allowed log file size. To do this, check the box Log file size limit, and in the field located on the right, use the keyboard to enter the maximum allowable value in kilobytes. In the same section, you can configure the color scheme of the log window.

In section Data transfer connection settings are configured. The content of this section is shown in fig. 6.30.

Rice. 6.30. Program settings, section Data transfer

In field Maximum network latency specify how long the program should wait for a response from the network. This parameter is expressed in seconds and defaults to 120 . If the connection fails after the specified time has elapsed, the program will try to reconnect after a pause. The duration of this pause is indicated in the field Delay between reconnects, and the number of connection attempts - in the field. If the checkbox is checked Repeat until successful, then the field Retry attempts on network errors becomes uneditable. In this case, the program will attempt to connect until one of them is successful. The program can inform you about the progress of its processes by e-mail. This is a very convenient functionality: it will allow you to control the position even if you do not have direct access to this computer (it is enough to have access to your e-mail box from any other place). The necessary settings are made in the section Email Notifications, the content of which is shown in Fig. 6.31.

Rice. 6.31. Program settings, section Email Notifications

You need to check the box first Use email notification - only after that the parameters will become available for editing Email. In field SMTP Server specifies the address of the outgoing SMTP server mail messages, and in the field Port– port number of the SMTP server (in most cases, you need to enter a value here 25 , and it is his program that suggests using it by default).

If the SMTP server you use to send e-mail messages requires authorization, then check the box. Use SMTP Authentication, then enter your username and password in the fields below.

You can check the correctness of the settings made using the button. Send test message. Please note that this requires an active Internet connection.

All the settings made by the program come into effect after pressing the button in this window. OK. With button Cancel exit from this mode without saving the changes made. Note that in most cases, the default program settings are optimal.

6.3.4. Disk image backup

As we noted earlier, one of the functions of the program is to backup the hard disk image. Having a disk image, you can later easily restore your data even if the hard disk is damaged.

It should be noted that all work in the Handy Backup program is a step-by-step procedure: the transition to the next step is possible only after performing certain actions in the previous step. This is a rather convenient mechanism that allows you to easily and quickly do what you need, and, in addition, significantly facilitates the use of the program.

To create an image of a hard disk, you need to create an appropriate task. To do this, you need to execute the main menu command File? New task, which is also called by pressing the key combination Ctrl+N, or click the corresponding toolbar button. When performing any of the specified actions, the New Task Wizard window will open on the screen, shown in fig. 6.32.

Rice. 6.32. New Task Wizard

To create a hard disk image, you need to set the switch at the first stage of creating a task Select task type into position Backup task(This value is selected in all cases where a backup is required, regardless of the type of data being backed up). To proceed to the second stage, press the button Further. In the window that opens, click the button Add, and in the menu that appears, select the command Disk Image(Fig. 6.33),

Rice. 6.33. Choosing a Disk Image Copy Command

As a result, the contents of the window will take the form, as shown in Fig. 6.34.

Rice. 6.34. The second stage of setting the task

Having expanded the hierarchical list in the central part of this window, you should mark with a checkbox those sections of the hard disk for which you want to create a backup copy of the image. To go to the next stage of setting the task, press the button Further. As a result, the Wizard window will look as shown in Fig. 6.35.

Rice. 6.35. The third stage of problem setting

At this stage, you should select the type of reservation. When creating a disk image for the first time, set the switch to All selected files (full backup): in this case, the program will backup absolutely all information stored on the selected disk(s). If you have already backed up this disk (s) before, it is more expedient to select the option New and changed files (incremental backup). In this case, the disk image backup will contain only the changed information, which is very important in terms of the size of the backup file and, therefore, saving space. Having chosen the type of reservation, proceed to the next step by pressing the button Further. In this case, the window of the Wizard hello view, as shown in Fig. 6.36.

Rice. 6.36. The fourth stage of setting the task

Now you need to specify the address where the created backup copy of the hard disk image should be saved. You can save it on a hard drive or a network drive, a remote FTP server (in this case, you must have an active Internet connection), on a CD, etc. The media is selected by setting the switch to the appropriate position. Further actions depend on the position of the switch.

If an FTP or SFTP server is selected for copying the disk image, then fields for entering the server address, user name and password, and other necessary data will open below. However, in most cases, users prefer to save the disk image to a hard drive, network drive, CD, or flash memory. In this case, in the field below Folder specify the folder where the disk image will be placed. To do this, click on the button located to the right of given field button, then in the window that opens, select the required folder with a mouse click and press the button OK or key Enter.

After selecting the path to save and pressing the button Further will proceed to the next step. In this case, the Wizard window will look as shown in Fig. 6.37.

Rice. 6.37. Fifth stage of problem setting

At this stage, you can set the parameters for compressing and encrypting the resulting hard disk image. To do this, you need to check the appropriate boxes, and in the case of encryption, enter the password that will be used for access. Note that the password must be entered twice to eliminate the possibility of an error when entering. By default, both compression and encryption are disabled. After pressing the button Further a transition to the next stage of the problem statement is performed (Fig. 6.38).

Rice. 6.38. The sixth stage of setting the task

Here, using the appropriate checkboxes, you should specify when exactly the program should backup the hard disk image - immediately after setting the task or in accordance with a specific schedule. To create a disk image immediately, you need to check the box Run now and press the button Further. At the final, seventh stage of setting the task, the Wizard window looks as shown in Fig. 6.39.

Rice. 6.39. The seventh stage of setting the task

Here it is necessary to enter the name of the generated task from the keyboard, under which it will be displayed in the task area of ​​the main program window. After pressing the button To complete the assigned task will be added to the list of tasks and its execution will begin, as indicated by the information in the column Development / Course of events, as well as the contents of the log file (Fig. 6.40).

Rice. 6.40. Completion of the task

After the backup is completed, the task will be assigned the status Success, and in the column Development / Course of events it will display the value 100 % (Fig. 6.41).

Rice. 6.41. Information about the successful completion of the backup

Similarly, you can create not only disk images, but also backup copies of individual files and folders. In case of loss of data on the primary media, you can always restore them from a backup. How to do this is described in the next section.

6.3.5. Restoring data from a backup

To restore data from a backup, you need to set the appropriate task for the program. To do this, execute the main menu command File? New task or press the key combination Ctrl+N, then in the New Task Wizard window that opens (see Fig. 6.32), set the switch to Data recovery task and press the button Further. As a result, the Wizard window will look as shown in Fig. 6.42.

Rice. 6.42. Selecting an index file to restore

In this window, you need to specify the path to the index file that was automatically created by the program during the backup process. This file is in NB or NBI format.

First, select the type of media on which the backup is stored. To do this, set the switch located at the top of the window to the appropriate position.

In most cases, this media is a local or network drive, CD or flash memory: this corresponds to the top position of the switch. Next you need in the field Index file specify the path to the required file. To do this, click the button located to the right of the field. Browse files/directories on this computer/local network(the name of the button is displayed as a tooltip when you move the mouse pointer over it), then in the window that opens, select the required file with a mouse click and click the button Open or key Enter.

If the source on the FTP or SFTP server is selected for data recovery, then after setting the switch to the FTP or SFTP fields for entering the server address, user name and password and other necessary data will open below.

Rice. 6.43. Choosing a path for data recovery

By default, the program offers to restore the data to its original location. However, if you are not satisfied with this option and would like to specify a different path, click the button Edit.

This will open the window shown in Fig. 6.44.

Rice. 6.44. Entering the path for data recovery

The required path is indicated in the field Location of data to be recovered. This field can be filled from the keyboard or from the clipboard, but it is more convenient to do this using the button located on the right. When pressed, a window opens on the screen. Folder overview, in which you need to specify the required directory and click the button OK or key Enter. After choosing the path to restore and pressing the button Further The Wizard window will look as shown in Fig. 6.45.

Rice. 6.45. Choosing a Recovery Method

In this window, using the switch, you need to specify the recovery method. You can choose one of two options.

Full recovery– in this case, all objects without exception will be restored from the backup. This method of restoring data from a backup is suggested to be used by default.

Partial recovery– when choosing this method, only those objects that have undergone changes will be restored.

If this box is checked Delete all files in destination folder, except for those being restored, then all other objects will be automatically deleted from the folder to which data will be restored from the backup. In other words, the destination folder will be completely cleared for recoverable data.

Rice. 6.46. Set up a schedule for automatic task execution

To do this, check the box Enable scheduler– as a result, the following parameters for setting the schedule will become available for editing. For example, you can do automatic recovery daily, or every other day, or on certain days of the week or month, etc.

Advice. Performing this procedure is especially useful when data is also backed up at regular intervals. For example, you can set a schedule, according to which the program will back up data every Wednesday and Friday after the end of the working day, and restore it from the backup copy every Thursday and Monday before the start of the working day..

It may happen that at the time when it is necessary to automatically perform a task, the computer is turned off, therefore - it is not able to do this. If you check the box in the schedule settings Perform missed runs, the outstanding tasks will be executed immediately after the operating system boots. If you check the boxes Execute at login And Execute on logout, then this task will be automatically executed, respectively, immediately after each boot of the operating system, as well as before each exit from it.

The transition to the final stage of setting the problem is carried out by pressing the button Further. In this case, the Wizard window will look as shown in Fig. 6.47.

Rice. 6.47. Entering a task name

Here you need to enter an arbitrary task name from the keyboard, under which it will be displayed in the task pane. If there is a checkbox at the bottom of the window Complete this task immediately, then restoring data from the backup will start immediately after pressing the button To complete. In the process of restoring data from a backup, the current task will be assigned the status Recovery(Fig. 6.48).

Rice. 6.48. Data recovery process

And after the restoration is completed, in the column Development / Course of events value will be displayed for this task 100 % , and it will be assigned the status Success(Fig. 6.49).

Rice. 6.49. Successful completion of recovery

Completed tasks can be removed from the list using the context menu command Delete or the corresponding toolbar button. In this case, the program will issue an additional request to confirm the deletion operation.

Thus, with the help of Handy Backup, you can create a hard disk image and data backups, which will allow you to quickly restore them in case of an unexpected loss.

When recovering a hard drive, keep the following in mind. If you need to restore a specific hard disk partition, make sure in advance that a partition with the same name exists on the hard disk. Remember that in order for the new settings to take effect after restoring the hard drive, you must restart the computer.

2.6. Data protection using the Cobra program Cobra is a program that even foreign experts speak of as the most advanced and scientifically based cryptosystem. Seminars are held annually scientific conferences where hundreds of respected mathematicians all

3.1. Recovering passwords for MS Office documents using Advanced Office Password Recovery The Advanced Office Password Recovery program, which we will learn about in this section, is designed to recover forgotten and lost passwords for MS Office documents. This program was created