Local Backup

A local backup is any backup where the storage medium is kept close at hand.  Typically, the storage medium is plugged in directly to the source computer being backed up or is connected through a local area network to the source being backed up.

Examples of Local Backups

  • Internal hard drive
  • External hard drive (desktop or portable)
  • Optical drives like CDs, DVDs and Blue Ray discs
  • Solid state drives like USB Thumb drives or Flash Drives
  • Network Attached Storage (NAS)
  • Backup to a shared folder on another computer over the network
  • Magnetic tape drives

Advantages

  • Offers good protection from hard drive failures, virus attacks, accidental deletes and deliberate employee sabotage on the source data.
  • Very fast backup and very fast restore.
  • Storage cost can be very cheap when the right storage medium is used like external hard drives
  • Data transfer cost to the storage medium can be negligible or very cheap
  • Since the backups are stored close by, they are very conveniently obtained whenever needed for backups and restore.
  • Full internal control over the backup storage media and the security of the data on it. There is no need to entrust the storage media to third parties.

Disadvantages

  • Since the backup is stored close by to the source, it does not offer good protections against theft, fire, flood, earthquakes and other natural disasters. When the source is damaged by any of these circumstances, there’s a good chance the backup will be also damaged.