Snapshot of the VM is taken at the present point of time and consists of files, software, and settings, while backups can be performed or scheduled at any time and consist of only data.
The exact difference between VMware snapshot and backup can be easily seen in the following table :
| VMware snap shot |
Backup |
| It is a picture of the VM at the present point of time. |
Backup may have differences based on when it is initiated |
| It has to be restored at the same location |
It can be restored at same as well as different location |
| It take very less time to copy and restore |
Backup and Restoration usually depends on the size of the data but generally it takes longer time then snap shot. |
| Snapshots don’t take much space |
Backup takes space based on size of the data |
| It allows much frequent protection then backup because it can be taken every minutes or hour |
They need to be scheduled once in a day and need to be process during off hours |
