It’s easy to confuse backup with disaster recovery. They both deal with data loss, but they solve very different problems.
A backup is a copy of your data. You use it when files are lost, corrupted, or accidentally deleted. Backups can live in the cloud, on-premises, or both. They’re essential. But backups don’t get you back to work—they just give you your files.
Disaster recovery (DR) is a strategy. It’s your entire playbook for restoring operations after a major outage, breach, or system failure. That includes not just recovering files, but restoring servers, configurations, applications, and network access.
A true disaster recovery plan defines roles, steps, timelines, and testing schedules. It involves more than IT—it’s a company-wide protocol. And it should be tested regularly, not just filed away.
For example, if ransomware locks down your network, backups help you restore your data. But a DR plan ensures your employees can log in, your apps can run, and your business can keep moving.
Both are critical. But only disaster recovery ensures your entire operation can bounce back quickly after the worst-case scenario.
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