Which term refers to the duplication of critical components to increase reliability?

The term that refers to the duplication of critical components to increase reliability is redundancy. Redundancy is a fundamental concept in information systems and technology that aims to ensure continuous operation and minimize the risk of failure. By having duplicate systems, components, or data, organizations can maintain service availability even when one part experiences a failure.

For instance, in the context of data storage, redundancy might involve having multiple copies of data stored in different locations or using RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technology, which combines multiple hard drives to provide fault tolerance. The primary goal is to enhance reliability and ensure that the system remains operational under various circumstances, thereby preventing costly downtime and loss of data.

In contrast, the other terms have different meanings: compression refers to reducing the size of data files, encryption involves securing data through encoding to prevent unauthorized access, and backup is the process of creating copies of data to restore in case of loss, but it does not specifically involve creating redundant components within systems.