Scheduled Backups vs Continuous Backup

Developers should implement scheduled backups to safeguard application data, databases, and configurations, especially in production environments where downtime or data loss can have severe consequences meets developers should learn and use continuous backup in scenarios where data availability and minimal recovery point objectives (rpo) are critical, such as in financial systems, e-commerce platforms, or healthcare applications. Here's our take.

Scheduled Backups

Nice Pick

Developers should implement scheduled backups to safeguard application data, databases, and configurations, especially in production environments where downtime or data loss can have severe consequences

Pros

• This is essential for compliance with regulations like GDPR or HIPAA, and for scenarios such as recovering from ransomware attacks, accidental deletions, or server crashes
• Related to: disaster-recovery, data-replication

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Continuous Backup

Developers should learn and use Continuous Backup in scenarios where data availability and minimal recovery point objectives (RPO) are critical, such as in financial systems, e-commerce platforms, or healthcare applications

Pros

• It is essential for reducing downtime and data loss during incidents like server crashes, ransomware attacks, or accidental deletions, providing a robust disaster recovery solution
• Related to: disaster-recovery, data-replication

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

These tools serve different purposes. Scheduled Backups is a concept while Continuous Backup is a methodology. We picked Scheduled Backups based on overall popularity, but your choice depends on what you're building.

The Bottom Line

Scheduled Backups wins

Based on overall popularity. Scheduled Backups is more widely used, but Continuous Backup excels in its own space.