For disaster recovery, which approach minimizes downtime by maintaining a copy of data at a remote site?

• A. Local backups
• B. Cloud backups
• C. Replication to a remote site
• D. Tape backup only

Answer: (C)

Maintaining a copy of data at a remote site through replication minimizes downtime because the disaster recovery site already has an up-to-date copy of the data and can take over quickly. With replication, the remote environment stays in sync with the primary, so switching over to the DR site can happen almost immediately, often with little or no data loss depending on whether the replication is synchronous or asynchronous. Local backups require a restore process to bring services back online, which takes time. Cloud or tape backups involve locating, transferring, and restoring data, adding further delay. Replication provides the fastest path to availability by keeping the data ready at the remote site.