Cloud backup
Cloud backup is not normally a full image backup (due to bandwidth and cost), but is the last line of defence for issues such as flood, fire and theft which damage the local backup. It is also possible that the local backup could be attacked or infected if the network was compromised. Cloud backup is your offsite backup.
Local backup
Using image based backup on the local LAN allows for full backup of the entire server. This means that the entire server can be restored in the event of disaster, including all databases, applications and configuration. Local backup is the fastest and most thorough method of restoration.
Immutability (Object Lock): the unchangeable backup layer
With immutability (often implemented via object lock), backups become tamper-proof and indelible. Once written, they can't be altered, deleted, or encrypted by ransomware, malicious actors, or accidental changes. Even if your systems are compromised, these locked backups remain safe and intact.
For a dental practice, this means your patient records, imaging files, treatment histories, and critical data have a trustworthy, unchangeable copy offsite. In a crisis, you can restore data confidently, knowing your backups were not modified or erased. Immutability adds a crucial extra layer of protection, giving you peace of mind and reinforcing your disaster-recovery reliability.