Computer Backup Software

Brian Link asked:


 

Personal and business files are very important. These are usually stored at home or in the office prone to accidental loss or theft. If there is no solid, effective backup system, people who use the information will face a very frustrating situation. For critical data, there are offsite data backup services that can protect the precious information and give the owners peace of mind.

Offsite data backup refers to storing copies of important files in a secured area outside of or different from the original location of the information. This makes data recovery easy in case things get messed up at the original data site.

Every one has personal information to keep and to protect. Some of these data include taxes and financial records, Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, work files from the office, family’s treasured photographs, customer databases, email messages and contact details.

The most common way to back these up is by using CDs or DVDs. Although these could be trusted to keep the files, they are not very efficient. Dusts, water, or even extreme weather conditions can damage these disks easily if they are not kept properly. CDs also are stored at home with the computer and are not secured or encrypted. These media can get easily stolen too, or be lost to fire and other such disasters.

Business or work-related files have obvious needs for efficient backup. Since data could be very critical, an ordinary backup system may not be enough. Hackers, criminals, spies, delinquent employees may get their hands on the data and the company will surely suffer. Traditional backup systems are too vulnerable to threats since they can be easily copied or stolen.

Offsite data backup is necessary for both home and office. When data is stored offsite, the potential for losing data is decreased; data recovery should not be an issue. The data is backed up at a separate, secured location and are usually free from human intervention. These offsite data backup facilities offer tight security 24 by 7, backup power systems like generators, 24 hour monitoring and climate controlled systems.

Of course such protection translates to a few dollars. But, it is important to weigh things out before costs get in the way. Consider how much you or the company will lose if all the critical data gets lost. How much would it take for data recovery or recreation? How much damage is there if data cannot be recovered? How much can you actually save by just being preventive?

Depending on the service provider, office data backup may vary. The basic way is to install the software application for offsite backup onsite. This program will establish the connection and communication with the system that is securely placed in a separate location.

Client servers talk to the backup servers via the Internet. Initially, a complete encrypted copy of all critical files will be transmitted to the offsite system. Any changes made on the original files will be monitored and only these changes will be sent to offsite for backup. This makes the transmission faster and more efficient.

Offsite data backup could be one of the most important investments a person or a company could do to prevent data loss. Consider the threats and the possibilities and you will see its advantages.

 



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Taylor Michaels asked:


Do you backup your data? I know many of you probably do, as you should. Data loss can ruin your business, and cause untold heartache when losing precious photos and personal information. How do I know this? A few years ago, (late 1990′s) I suffered a complete, unrecoverable, hard drive failure on one of my primary computers. Luckily, I wasn’t nearly as “digital’ back then, and had most of my important data “backed up” in hard copy.

The data loss I suffered from that hard drive failure was still very inconvenient. I spent weeks trying to replace everything I had lost, but still ended up missing quite a few very important items that I simply could not reproduce. I had several digital recordings of friends, and family members, pictures, documents, licenses, software etc. that were gone forever. After piecing my life back together over the course of those next several weeks and months, I vowed to myself that I would never endure such a thing again.

My data backup routine has undergone several revisions over the years, to the point that I felt very comfortable with my current situation. I have had data loss issues that this system has saved me from, but with the amount of data I have these days, both business and personal, any data loss would be disastrous. I currently have in place, three redundant backup systems, including dedicated file servers, and very large external drive systems in a complicated array, fire-walled, locked down, and automatic, which provides a nice feeling of security.

That sense of security has helped me sleep well at night for several years. I didn’t know of anyone, this side of a major corporation, which had a better backup system in place. I have been in and around IT industry for years, and it would scare you to see how some fairly large businesses treat their backup systems.

I have seen more than one go out of business due to data loss. As a matter of fact, statistically, one in two businesses fail, following a catastrophic data loss. The costs of reproducing/recovering data are so high, (basic recovery starts around $3000 and increases exponentially with the amount of data to be restored) if it’s even possible, that most simply can’t afford it. Aside from that, without your data you are effectively out of business until that data is replaced.

So, what am I leading up to? Did I suffer a recent catastrophic data loss? Thankfully, the answer to that question is no. But, even with my overkill backup plan I still hadn’t accounted for one thing, and a very large thing indeed. All of my data was still stored on-site! What finally shook me from my false sense of security?

The weather! That’s right, the weather. The weather has been incredibly crazy lately, with tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods. You name it. I read a story recently about a Dentist whose office was hit by a tornado. His hard-copy files and X-Rays, were found as far as 150 miles away. His electronic records are gone forever. He’s one of the unfortunate one’s whose business is gone with it. He didn’t have a data backup plan, and everything he worked for was wiped out in an instant. Aside from the weather, my next greatest concern is fire. Even with my system, it is unlikely that any data would be recoverable in the event of fire. Would yours?

My sense of security has been false, my data not nearly as safe as I would like to have believed. Anything can happen, human error, software failure, theft, sabotage, fire, and flood. It does happen. It is not a matter of if, it’s when. Statistically, on average at least once in 3 years, you will undergo an event which results in some from of data loss. Hardware failure ranks very high in that scenario as well. I decided I won’t let it happen to me. That’s why I recently decided that along with my on-site backups, I will also be performing off-site backups as well using an online backup service.

If you would like to learn more about offsite data backup, and receive a tremendous 30 day trial of an online backup service, completely free of charge, please visit Remote Data Backups.



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Lee Morrell asked:


There is a calculated trend in all business corporations and firms: when the enterprise is getting bigger, its support of data increases its complexity, volume and value. The larger your enterprise is, the more significant your data files become. The traditional tape backup can no longer produce in-depth data information about all the important features of your business. That’s why many people get acknowledged to a more adequate file protection. A secure offsite backup system can be the possible solution. Business owners and offices managers have got it straight: if the business is to flourish, precise data information storage should be used.

Offsite backup systems offer something, which no other data store can do: they protect to the greatest extent all your files. But why should they do that, you may ask. Imagine you are a business owner. You have your own office computer, which is crammed up with all the valuable info. Well, what if the computer gets stolen, or a short-cut puts it out of practice? What will happen to your enterprise? If you are still not convinced enough to the rational extent, let’s consider the following statistic data. 1 in every 4 computer users suffers a critical data loss every year. Last years over 500,000 were stolen. Disk and other hardware failures are so numerous that major disk and computer manufacturers/resellers are reducing their warranties to 12 months. Over 25% of data loss is a result of computer program errors, software viruses and natural disasters (factors completely out of your control). 50% of businesses that lose their data never open their doors again. Of those businesses that do manage to stay open, 90% end up failing within two years. Data loss will cost business an estimated £12 Billion this year.

Still not believing? Consider the following fact: computer experts say that once data is lost, it can no longer be recovered to the full. Some data that contains pieces of valuable information will be forever lost in the digital space, with no hope of getting it back. Disaster recovery planning (DV) often fails to extract the lost files in the similar way as they were before the disaster struck. This happens because of the various regulations and compliance, which occur during the recovery process.

Data loss can happen to anyone, no matter how good the tape protection system is. There is no tape backup that can comprise all the valuable information without omitting some precious stuff. Text documents, financial records, contact records, address books, email messages and databases that you have created on your computer or servers may disappear forever unless you take a serious action to prevent it. The lost files are hard to recover, and it takes a lot of precious time and nerve-racking to recover even to the approximate extent the ruined system as it was before the disaster. The value of data highly exceed the mere cost of your computer or server, as you have to pay a great amount of money for reproducing the whole information as it was before the crack down. So, the most reasonable thing to do, if you don’t want to spend a lot of money afterwards, is to re-ensure your system using secure online backups.

Even though that is the sacred truth, most people avoid taking backup precautions. They leave their data files unprotected, and thus expose their business on the danger of bankrupt. Why do people do it? Because of laziness, because they don’t want to spend additional money, or just because they think that would never happen to them. Is it so hard to take some pre-consideration and backup your data? Sooner or later, everyone gets a strike in their unprotected file systems. Then it is too late to split hairs over the lost information. You should better take the action in advance and construct a data backup system, so that your files are fully protected and your business is ensured.



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