So, is there a difference in the image based backup software? Yes. Microsoft includes image based backup software with some of the Windows 7 versions and Server 2008. Because they are included, you do not have to purchase additional software. These imaged based backups are good, but basic, meaning they are not very feature rich. There are many different image based backup software programs and they all have added features, or bells and whistles. The one we utilize and recommend has many features that outshine the Windows products, but we are going to concentrate on three key features; speed, VirtualBoot, and dissimilar hardware restores.
The feature that we like the most is the speed of the incremental backup. After taking a full backup, we can configure incremental backups to run throughout the day. The incremental backups take approximately 2 minutes, so we typically configure them to run every hour. This means that during the day, your server is being backed up every hour, fantastic. With the Windows backup the same size incremental backup typically takes about 30 minutes. Thus, the performance of your server is being impacted for an extended period of time during business hours.
The VirtualBoot technology allows us to boot your server in a virtual environment to test the backup images. This can also be used to restore your server images into a virtual machine, in the event it is needed for conversion or recovery.
Dissimilar hardware restores are beneficial for recovery (hopefully never needed) if there is physical damage to your server. For example, water or fire damage can make your server inoperable. In situations like this, we can take that backup image and restore it to any computer or spare server and get things up and running.
Image based backups have some definite advantages, and the full featured image based backup products can be very affordable. Whether you utilize the backup utilities inside the Windows products, or go with a full featured product, it should definitely be part of your backup strategy. We like them, use them, and recommend them.