Differences between drive-based backups and file and folder backups
Veritas System Recovery offers two backup methods:
Related information
Table: Backup methods
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| Drive-based backup | Use this option to back up an entire drive (for example your system drive which is typically C). You can then restore any file or folder, or your entire drive. |
| See Defining a drive-based backup . | |
| File and folder backup | Use this option to back up only the files and folders that you select. You can then restore any file or all of them at any time. |
| This option typically requires less disk space than drive-based backups. | |
| See Backing up files and folders . |
Drive-based backups
When you run a drive-based backup, a snapshot of everything is taken and stored on your computer's hard disk. Each snapshot is stored on your computer as a recovery point. A recovery point is a point in time. You can use the recovery point to restore your computer back to the way it was when the snapshot was created.
Table: Types of recovery points
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| Independent recovery point (.v2i) | Creates a complete, independent copy of the drives that you select. This backup type typically requires more storage space than a recovery point set. |
| Recovery point set (.iv2i) | Includes a base recovery point. A base recovery point is a complete copy of your entire drive, and is similar to an independent recovery point. The recovery point set also includes recovery points. These recovery points capture only the changes that were made to your computer since the creation of the base recovery point. |
Although you can recover files and folders from a drive-based backup, you cannot select a specific set of files or folders to back up. Your entire hard drive is backed up.
File and folder backups
You can edit or create a select set of personal documents and folders, and then define a backup for those files and folders. For example, you might want to define a backup to capture one or more folders. Within those folders contain the files that you change on a regular basis. This kind of backup is useful because you do not need to use additional hard disk resources to back up your entire computer.
File and folder backups let you select individual files or folders to back up. You can also specify a file type to back up. Then Veritas System Recovery can locate and back up all files of the type you specified. For example, suppose you have Microsoft Word documents stored at several locations on your computer. Veritas System Recovery locates all Word documents (files that end with .doc) and includes them in your backup. You can even edit the list of file types to include the types that are unique to the software you use.
Veritas System Recovery also keeps multiple versions of the same files for you. This redundancy means you can restore the version of a file that contains the changes you need to restore. You can even set a limit to the number of versions that are kept so that you can control the use of disk space.