What Is the Difference Between File Backup and Image Backup?
A file backup copies the files, folders and databases you choose. An image backup captures the whole machine, operating system included, so the machine itself can boot from the backup. File backup gets the data back. Image backup gets the server back.
When File Backup Is Enough
Plenty of servers are disposable except for one thing on them: a share, a SQL instance, a domain controller's configuration. Imaging the whole box to save that one thing means paying an image price for a file job. File backup is enough when you'd rebuild the operating system anyway, or when it's a workstation whose files matter and whose setup doesn't. It isn't enough when the client can't wait for a rebuild. A file backup can't boot, can't run a failed server and can't do a bare-metal restore.
When You Need an Image
Sell an image when downtime costs more than the backup. When a server dies at 4 PM, an image backup can run it as a virtual machine on a local appliance, or in the cloud if the building is gone, while you fix the original. An image also lets the backup prove itself: it can boot in isolation to show the machine comes up, which no file set can. Anything the client can't run without for an afternoon belongs here.
Side by Side
| Compared on | File backup | Image backup (BCDR) |
|---|---|---|
| Captures | Chosen files, folders, shares, System State and databases | The whole machine: operating system, applications and data |
| Brings back | Files, folders and databases | Files, volumes or the whole machine |
| When the server dies | Rebuild it, then restore the data | Boot the backup on the appliance or in the cloud |
| Proves itself by | Closing every point and sample-restoring files | Booting every new point in isolation |
| Macs | Apple Silicon Macs, files and folders | Not covered |
| EnterProtect list price, server | $34.00 a month | $75.50 a month on Essential |
| EnterProtect list price, workstation | $9.00 a month | $15.00 a month on Essential |
How EnterProtect Splits the Two
EnterProtect sells both from one console, with one agent. File Backup protects files, network shares, Windows System State and databases through each engine's own backup, including SQL Server, Exchange Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB, for one charge per endpoint however many sets it holds. BCDR images the whole machine and boots every new recovery point to prove it. When the outcome you need includes booting, a bare-metal restore or running a failed server, the console recommends BCDR the moment you choose, instead of letting a file set pass for a server.
File and Image Backup Questions
Can file backup restore a whole server?
No. It restores files, folders, shares, System State and databases, but it can't boot a machine, run a failed server or do a bare-metal restore. That's what image backup is for, and EnterProtect's console recommends BCDR when your outcome needs it.
Is System State enough to recover a domain controller?
It protects the configuration a file selection can't reach, including the registry, boot files, Active Directory and SYSVOL. That makes a domain controller's configuration recoverable without image protection, but it isn't a bootable server. If the DC has to be running again fast, image it.
Does file backup cover Macs?
EnterProtect File Backup protects files and folders on Apple Silicon Macs. Image backup doesn't cover Macs at all, so File Backup is how EnterProtect protects them.
Only Need the Files, Not the Whole Server?
EnterProtect File Backup protects files, shares, System State and databases at a file price, not an image price.
More Answers
See Every AnswerHow Should an MSP Price Backup for Clients?
Charge per protected unit (a mailbox, a server, a workstation) at or under a published list price your client can check.
How Often Should Microsoft 365 Be Backed Up?
Several times a day, because the gap between captures is the most work a client can lose.
Does Microsoft Back Up Microsoft 365?
Not by default, and not in the way your client means.