Answered! What Is Local Backup? Is Local Backup Safe to Use?

What Is Local Backup?

What is local backup? Local backup, also call it traditional backup, is the way to back up your data to the local and the backup rate will not be affected by the link bandwidth so your data can quickly be backup and restored; disk snapshots are a kind of local backup.

Since the backup is saved locally, once the disk is damaged, your backed-up data cannot be restored. Usually, the local storage includes a hard drive, disc, flash drive, tape, or external hard drive, used to store backed-up files.

Besides, you can also back up your data to another disk, even a removable disk. In this way, even if the disk where the original data is located is damaged, the data can still be restored, but the backup will be affected by objective conditions such as disk write rate and network link bandwidth.

There are two built-in backup utilities in your Windows – File History and Backup and Restore (Windows 7). Those two backup tools both can provide local backup.

Backup and Restore (Windows 7) can create an image of the entire Windows system, personal files, and applications while File History can only back up files that are in Libraries; the content is limited.

We can mainly divide the local backup options into two primary choices: HDDs and SSDs. Some users prefer to use HDDs to be their local storage due to their less demand and low cost.

But there are still some disadvantages to HDD storage. For example, the read/write arms on a hard disk drive are easy to damage, which makes low physical data protection and requires you to be careful with the HDDs storage.

Another choice to be your local storage is SSDs. They boast quicker speed for local backup, which is more energy-efficient than HDDs.

Is Local Backup Safe to Use?

Is local backup safe? Of course yes. Local backup can help you back up data to drives or tapes for offline protection against ransomware attacks. This traditional backup method does not rely on the Internet so, once the data has been stored, it would be safe to keep your backed-up data from malicious attacks that affect your network.

Besides, many people would like to compare local backup to cloud backup. As for the security level, local backup can play a better role to reassure your concerns. Because the local storage in an external hard drive is disconnected from the network and PC, which means hackers are unable to access the source, that can be regarded as a highly secure storage medium for your data.

If you have any important data on your PC, a backup in an external hard drive would be the best way to keep your data safe.

Back Up Your Data – MiniTool ShadowMaker

From above, we have introduced two Windows built-in backup utilities you can perform a local backup – File History and Backup and Restore (Windows 7). If you want to know more about them, you can refer to these articles:

• How to Restore Files with File History in Windows 10 – 3 Steps
• [Full Review] Windows 10/11 Backup Options of File History
• Windows 10 vs Windows 11 File History: What’s the Difference?
• How to Use Backup and Restore Windows 7 (on Windows 10)

However, these two tools both have their limits. So, we would like to recommend another backup alternative for you – MiniTool ShadowMaker.

MiniTool ShadowMaker is an ideal backup instrument, providing a one-click system backup solution. It enables you to back up your system drive completely, including the system partition, system reserved partition, and EFI system partition. All data including applications, drivers, computer settings, system files, and boot files will be imaged.

Aside from perfectly making an OS, files and folders, disks, and partitions backup, this program also enables you to create a bootable Windows 10 recovery disk (CD/DVD or USB drive) to help you restore Windows 10 under WinPE.

Besides, you can also perform a full, incremental, or differential backup as you want and configure a scheduled backup to facilitate your backup tasks. If you are interested, come to download and install this program by clicking the following button and you will get a 30-day free trial version.

MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Bottom Line:

This article has given you a detailed introduction to local backup and for a better understanding of that, you can learn its different backup methods. If you have any other questions, you can leave messages.