Database dumps are the most granular and complete form of data backup for databases, allowing for full recovery of the database to its most recent state. This is the best choice for minimizing data loss during a failure. Filesystem backups, while comprehensive for files, may not capture the state of a database at a particular point in time, which could lead to data inconsistencies when restored. Application-level backups might exclude important system data or may not be as current as a direct database dump. Configuration files do not include the actual data within the database but only the settings.