Archiving vs. Backup

We brandish around the term archive without much thought do what it means.  I was reading some internal EMC literature the other day and saw a great slide that outlined the difference between an archive and a backup.  It made me realize that sometimes people use these terms interchangeably when in actual fact very different.  It was always my assertion that it was only the intent rather than the physical process that different between a backup and archive but the differences are more complex than that.

Rather than belaboring the points here is a table that outlines the key differences to train a backup and archive. I found it useful and interesting but then I am spending president's day writing Blog entries so maybe I just need to get out more often!

Backup	Archive
Secondary copy of information	Primary copy of information
Used for recovery operations	Available for information retrieval
Improves availability by enabling application to be restored to a specific point in time	Adds operational efficiencies by moving fixed/unstructured data out of the operational environment
Typically short-term (weeks or months)	Typically long-term (months, years, even decades)
Data overwritten on periodic basis (monthly)	Data retained for analysis or compliance
Not useful for compliance	Useful for compliance

Comments

[douq millar]

In several cases, "archiving" refers to a more generic process rather than a specific one. Copying (and possibly removing) content from one store to another can serve: 1) backup, 2) replication (sync'ed across sites), 3) formal records management, 4) decluttering primary store, and, 5) 'true' archiving (migrated to less accessible store). Each of these has different characteristics and unique features (but esp. destinations) starting with a migration event from the primary store.