Data Protection Manager (DPM) supports a variety of backup scenarios, including the following:
- Disk-based data protection and recovery.
- Tape-based backup and archive solutions.
To view the table that shows the data sources that Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) protects and the level of data that you can recover using DPM, see What Is a Protection Group?
Disk-Based and Tape-Based Support
With DPM data protection, you can use disk-based storage, tape-based storage, or both.
Disk-based storage, also called D2D (disk-to-disk), is a type of backup in which data from one computer is stored on the hard disk of another computer. This contrasts with the more traditional method of backing up data from one computer to a storage media such as tape, also called D2T (disk-to-tape). For extra protection, the two methods can be combined in a D2D2T (disk-to-disk-to-tape) configuration, which provides the rapid recovery benefits of disk-based storage in the short term and archive storage for critical data using tape-based storage in the long term.