Okuzeka
Software Engineering vocabulary · Release and Maintenance

Snapshot

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/ˈsnæpʃɑːt/nounCommon term

In software engineering, snapshot means: A copy of a disk, volume or database exactly as it was at one moment in time, which can be used to restore it or create a new copy.

In Turkish: anlık görüntü, snapshot, anlık yedek

How it is used

Snapshots are taken before risky changes and on a schedule. Cloud disk snapshots are usually incremental, storing only blocks that changed. People often say 'take a snapshot before the upgrade'.

Example sentences

  1. Take a snapshot of the volume before you resize it, just in case.

  2. We restored the database from last night's snapshot and lost only two hours of data.

Common collocations

  • take a snapshot
  • restore from a snapshot
  • disk snapshot
  • automated snapshots
  • backupA copy of a database saved at a certain moment so that the data can be brought back after a failure, a mistake or an attack.
  • disaster recoveryThe plans, tools and processes for bringing systems and data back after a major event, such as losing a whole data center or region.
  • object storageA type of cloud storage that keeps files as objects, each with a unique key and metadata, and lets you read and write them over an HTTP API.
  • virtual machineA complete computer, with its own operating system, that runs as software on a physical machine. One physical server can host many virtual machines at once.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Release and Maintenance

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: