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Multiple Choice

Which statement best describes the key difference between a snapshot and a backup?

Snapshots capture a moment in time inside the same storage system, giving you a quick, point-in-time view of your data without moving it to a new location. They’re fast to create and handy for short-term recovery within the same array, but because they live on the same infrastructure, they don’t by themselves protect you if the primary system fails unless you also replicate or store copies elsewhere. Backups, in contrast, are separate copies kept in a different location or media—offsite, in the cloud, or on different storage devices—primarily to protect against hardware failures, corruption, or disasters and to support longer-term retention. Restoring from a backup typically takes more time than restoring from a snapshot, but the data is protected even if the original system is compromised. So the statement that best describes the difference is that a snapshot is a point-in-time copy within the same system, while a backup is a separate copy stored elsewhere.

Snapshots capture a moment in time inside the same storage system, giving you a quick, point-in-time view of your data without moving it to a new location. They’re fast to create and handy for short-term recovery within the same array, but because they live on the same infrastructure, they don’t by themselves protect you if the primary system fails unless you also replicate or store copies elsewhere. Backups, in contrast, are separate copies kept in a different location or media—offsite, in the cloud, or on different storage devices—primarily to protect against hardware failures, corruption, or disasters and to support longer-term retention. Restoring from a backup typically takes more time than restoring from a snapshot, but the data is protected even if the original system is compromised. So the statement that best describes the difference is that a snapshot is a point-in-time copy within the same system, while a backup is a separate copy stored elsewhere.