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Dedicated Server Backups

Protect your Dedicated Server data. Learn the difference between local secondary drive backups and off-server Acronis backups to ensure disaster recovery.
Backups
3 min read

Overview

Any work with computers or servers should include a good backup plan as part of the process. When it comes to dedicated servers, you typically have a few options to choose from for backups (or a combination of options) to get the best return on your investment.

Benefits of Backing Up Your Dedicated Server

Your dedicated server hosts your most critical data. A robust backup strategy is your safety net against the unexpected. Whether it’s a catastrophic hardware failure, a malicious attack (like ransomware), or accidental file deletion, maintaining regular backups, helps ensure business continuity, minimize downtime, giving you the peace of mind that comes from knowing your data is always recoverable.

Types of Backup Solutions

Local Backups

Most of the dedicated servers that Liquid Web offers include a high capacity secondary drive. While these drives offer expanded storage, their slower access speeds make them less ideal for high use applications like web sites or databases. However, they are perfect for local, fast backups. 

You have full control over your local backups using your control panel tools. This allows you to schedule fast, frequent backups to your secondary drive without extra costs.

Ransomware Risk
Local backups stored on your secondary drive are accessible by your operating system. If your server is infected with ransomware, your local backups will likely be encrypted too.
For true protection against ransomware, you must use an off-server solution (like Acronis) that is isolated from your server’s operating system.

Find the backup and restore guide for your specific control panel:

Off Server Backups

While they are easy to access and use, what do you do if your server suffers a catastrophic failure that makes your local backups inaccessible? This is where off server backups (and even off site backups) play an important role. Because these backups are physically separate from your server, you will enjoy extra protection in the face of a total server failure.

Liquid Web offers managed backups through our partnership with Acronis, a respected name in the backup industry. See our article on Acronis backups to get started using this excellent off server backup service today.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

No. Unlike some cloud products, Dedicated Servers do not include automatic system backups by default. You are responsible for configuring your own backups using either the local secondary drive or an off-server solution like Acronis.

No. While local backups are fast and great for recovering accidental file deletions, they live on the same physical hardware. If the server suffers a total hardware failure or a fire, you could lose both the live data and the local backup. We strongly recommend combining local backups with an off-server solution.

This is an industry standard for data safety. It suggests you keep:

  • 3 copies of your data (1 live, 2 backups).
  • 2 different storage types (e.g., your server’s drive and an external cloud drive).
  • 1 copy stored off-site (like our Acronis Cloud solution).

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