Keeping a safe copy of information (usually done on a regular basis) so that in can be recovered in the event of loss due to human error, hardware or software failure, data corruption, theft, sabotage, or natural disaster. Backup copies need to be stored and maintained with the same degree of care as live data, as this is what the data becomes when it is restored from the backup copy.Backup copies are often employed for short-term recovery with an archive used for long-term storage. However, an electronic archive also should have a backup. Another distinction between backup and archive is that the backup will contain copies of master records, whereas the archive is deemed to contain the master records.