One of the ways to backup your data is to copy your entire disk to another disk. Naturally this is called disk to disk backup. Compared to backups made to tape or other media, disk based backups are faster, more easily restored and disks have become so cheap that every one can use them.
 
Depending on the storage system, backup times are noticeably and even dramatically shorter than those required for tape backups. In many companies, this technology renders the backup window a lot smaller. The outcomes being that backups are more up-to-date, since they can be run more frequently, while application and backup servers become available more quickly for other tasks and are under less strain.
 
For many companies, this alone is reason enough to consider extending their backup system with a disk-to-disk backup solution. What is more, the benefit of a random access storage system becomes all the more apparent when it comes to restoring data. The idle times required for mounting tapes, searching for the correct position, winding forwards and back are all reduced virtually to zero under disk based solutions.
 
Tests by the backup software specialist Veritas show disk-to-disk backup as being seven times faster, while data could be restored even 20 times faster as compared to tape backup. Needless to say, the hardware used here plays a significant role, and companies that require short restore times generally use high-performance backup and storage systems anyway.
 
Naturally, there are software solutions available for disk to disk backups. These allow automated and scheduled backups to the disks. One drawback of disk based solutions is that disks require the creation of a file system on the disk before they can be used which affects the performance. Tape backups have no such requirement. For example, to backup 10 terabytes of data, you’d simply provide the tape(s) of that size and the data would be backed up. However, for disks, a file system needs to be created. File systems are not greater than two terabytes at present. Hence, you need to create five partitions. Each of these file partitions must be separately managed and supervised, and more file systems must be created as the backup data set grows.
 
Another drawback is that the file system you use affects which operating system can restore the data from the disks. For example, Windows 95/98 operating systems are not able to read NTFS file systems. Also, if you want to backup in a network environment, the only format supported is NFS. Ultimately, you need to balance between restore times and the cost associated with disk based solutions. Restoration of data is faster in case of disk backups but taking backups is slower and requires more effort.  Different backup solutions should be tested to see which one is most suitable.

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