Snapshot Backups
Snapshot backups are a data protection technique that captures the state of a system, dataset, or storage volume at a specific point in time, creating a read-only copy. They are typically implemented at the filesystem, storage array, or hypervisor level to provide near-instantaneous backups with minimal performance impact. This approach is widely used for disaster recovery, data rollback, and application testing scenarios.
Developers should learn and use snapshot backups when working with critical data in production environments, such as databases, virtual machines, or cloud storage, to enable quick recovery from data corruption, accidental deletions, or ransomware attacks. They are particularly valuable in DevOps and CI/CD pipelines for creating consistent application states before deployments or for cloning environments for testing without affecting live systems.