Online Data Backup Solutions – Data Security
- May 04, 2010
- Data Recovery
One of the most useful computer tips known is to consistently back up your most critical data. For a sound backup strategy consider online data backup solutions. This type of technology for data storage security has many pluses including: off-site data storage; ease of use; security; ease of access to data; and backups can be scheduled for optimal time of the day and run automatically. Another benefit is that business laptop and netbook computers can utilize this service even when out of the office.
Data backup solutions for computer systems have a long history ranging from the days of floppy disk backups to reel-to-reel backup systems to tape cartridges to the beloved Bernoulli box and then on to external hard disk drives, network attached storage devices (NAS), DVDs and now online backup solutions. The one constant that remains is that having a complete, easy to access backup is important, especially for businesses. Actually the best backup plan is to have at least two copies of your most critical data in case one copy is damaged or corrupt.
The last few years has seen a number of new Internet-based backup services grow rapidly as the backup technology world has changed once more. Most of these relatively new services also provide proprietary backup software that runs on each PC. This allows the files on each computer system to be backed up through a secure connection across the Internet to a secure server at the backup service vendor’s location. Backed up files are regularly available for around the clock access.
Online data backup providers have highly secure servers and facilities. Many service providers also have redundant locations so that your files are are stored in multiple locations and are accessible whenever needed.
One common downside of online data backup is that it has the potential to be expensive if you have significant amounts of data to back up. Pricing for this service is normally done on a per gigabyte basis. One other limitation is that transfer data across the Internet is slower than backing up to a local backup device. So the actual data transfer rate of your broadband connection can have an impact on how much data you can transfer in a given 24 hour period.
If you or your business has large amounts of new or modified data that you need to backup regularly it is wise to check the bandwidth of your Internet connection prior to relying on an online backup solution. However, since the backup process can be done during off-peak times or potentially over a period of days data transfer speed may not be an issue.
Another piece of advice when implementing any data backup solution is to periodically check the integrity of the data that is backed up. The feeling of eventually needing to access your backed up data due to some sort of disaster and then finding that the online data backup is incomplete or is outdated is not something you want to experience.