Image File Destinations

Recovery Environment can store backup image files on any disk device, including hard drives, removable USB/FireWire drives, network drives and NAS (Network Attached Storage) devices. You can also store backup images to optical media such as CDs, DVDs, or Blu-Ray discs if the system has an writeable optical drive.

Note:If you select a destination that does not have enough disk space to save the backup image, the backup job fails.

Location

Advantages

Disadvantages

Local Hard Drive

  • Fast backup and restore.
  • Inexpensive.

  • Consumes local disk space.
  • Vulnerable to loss if the drive fails.

Local USB/FireWire Drive

  • Fast backup and restore.
  • Preserves disk space on local drives.
  • Inexpensive.
  • Easy off-site storage.

  • More expensive than local hard drives.
  • Vulnerable to loss if the drive fails.

Network Hard Drive

  • Fast backup and restore.
  • Protection from local hard drive failure.
  • Off-site storage.

  • Must have network interface card drivers supported by Recovery Environment.
  • Complexity. Users must have network rights to save and access backup images.

CD/DVD/Blu-Ray

  • Good media for archiving.
  • Protection from local hard drive failure.

  • Slower backups due to media speeds.
  • File restrictions due to limited size.

Using a Windows Dedup Volume as a Destination

ShadowProtect supports writing backup image files to a Windows Dedup-enabled volume. However, since ShadowProtect compresses image files, Windows Dedup does not yield significant space savings. Also, if any of the dependent backup files in the backup chain are deduped, ShadowProtect cannot: