Windows OS Image Backup
When we think about our computer, the last thing we tend to think about is backing up our operating systems. Most of the time, the first thing that comes to our minds regarding backup is our data. We want to ensure that our photos, documents and emails are backed up safely and securely. It’s ubiquitous to forget about our operating system backup, especially for a home user environment. Whether you are running a Windows OS or macOS, it’s crucial to backup your data and your operating system.
Most businesses currently store their critical data on servers or NAS environments. This data is, in most cases, backed up to the cloud via Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive or iCloud. Having a cloud backup ensures that sensitive company data, including spreadsheets, documents, photos, marketing information and emails, are safe and protected offsite.
Businesses that operate a Windows Server environment will likely have a business continuity plan for the fastest recovery of their operating systems. These backups are usually configured in the form of OS image backups.
An image backup of a Windows operating system is a snapshot of the entire computer, including OS, data and configuration. Image backups are great for recovery when disaster strikes, whether it be data corruption, encryption, deletion or a failed Windows update crashing your boot process.
You can rest assured that your business can get back on its feet in no time when recovering an OS from a Windows image. Restoring from an image backup re-enables user access to corporate data, re-enabling VPN access and data flow and resuming work productivity. We recommend that every business configures hourly, daily, weekly, or a minimum monthly OS image backups for Windows environments.
An additional benefit of having a full OS image backup is that you can go back in time to search for individual files and folders, restoring them to their initial state. This type of recovery is most helpful if you have been hit with a cryptography virus encrypting your data or overwritten some data and need your data recovered.
macOS Time Machine Backup
For those of us, at home and in business, using Apple MacBook, iMac and macOS Server should follow a similar data redundancy plan as Windows users. Fortunately for macOS users, Time Machine backup is all you will need.
Time Machine is a form of backup that is akin to image backup for Windows. All it needs is an external HDD or SSD connected via USB to the Mac.
The Time Machine software will then create ongoing snapshots of your entire macOS operating system, giving you fast OS restoration, migration and data recovery. Even if you find you can’t do a Mac repair, you can still ‘Enter Time Machine’ on a different Mac to restore your data or do a full macOS restore to a new device.
Doing a complete restoration from a Time Machine backup will mean that all your user data, apps, settings and configurations are reinstated to the last time your computer completed a backup.
If you have FileVault enabled, you will need your passcode to gain access to your backup, so remember to have that handy. Some things such as your Office for Mac licenses and email account passwords will need to be re-entered for security reasons.
If you happen to be stuck and need support, talk to our specialist Mac repairs Melbourne team for advice and on-site maintenance.
