<p>The data protection issue is a growing cause of worrying for more and
more people today. Indeed, it is hardly to find a person who will be particularly
happy when all precious information on the hard disk is irreversible lost
as a result of its malfunction. So how this tragedy can be prevented?</p>
<h3>File Backup versus Sector Backup</h3>
<p>Since the advent of the computer age people were in the search of ways
to guarantee data safety. As a result weÆve got now two principal approaches:
the <i>file-based <A class="glossterm" href="javascript:kadovTextPopup(this)" id="HotSpot49067">backup</A><span class=glosstext style="display: 'none';" id=POPUP49067 > The term backup originates from the time when the best way to protect valuable information was to store it in form of archives on external media. It's become now a general notion to mean making duplications of data for protection purposes.</span></i> and the <i>sector-based backup</i>. The main
difference between the two lies in the way data is treated.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A sector-based backup operates with an image (or a snapshot) of the
whole disk system or its separate partitions. It not only includes the
contents of all user-made files, but additionally contains the exact structure
of directories, information about file allocation, file attributes and
other related data. Thus it enables to successfully process system or
encrypted partitions of any file system type, no matter what kind of information
they contain.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In contrast, a file-based backup takes into account a file system structure
and only functions on a file or folder level. So it is very efficient
when archiving separate files or folders, but in no way will help you
back up a system partition.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>You should understand pretty well that each of the two approaches is
only good when properly chosen. In the comparison table below you can
see when this or that approach will suit you at most.</p>
<p><b style="font-weight: bold;">This feature is only available for the
Linux/DOS <A class="glossterm" href="javascript:kadovTextPopup(this)" id="HotSpot33273">recovery media</A><span class=glosstext style="display: 'none';" id=POPUP33273 > is a CD/DVD disc, a USB flash card or even a floppy disk from which you can boot for maintenance or recovery purposes.</span> at the moment.</b></td></tr>