Is a snapshot a backup?
Not by itself. A snapshot, on a storage system, a virtual machine or a file system, records the state of the data at a point in time, usually by keeping track of changed blocks rather than making a full copy. It is fast and very useful for rolling back a failed update or recovering a deleted file. But it normally lives on the same storage system as the original data, is managed from the same console with the same credentials, and disappears if that storage fails or an attacker deletes it, which ransomware operators routinely try to do. A snapshot becomes part of a real backup strategy when it is replicated to separate storage, protected against deletion, and tested by restore. Use snapshots for quick recovery from everyday mistakes, and keep independent, immutable or offline backups for the day the storage itself is the problem.