| I heard on line backup
is free!
The decision as to the suitability of on line backup
to you depends very much on the type of user you are
and the type of data you work with. The value of the
data to you must somehow be measured tangibly in monetary
terms. In effect, the intangible value of your holiday
photos may far exceed that of your excel spread sheets
while the tangible value of your spreadsheets may make
you more likely to pay for a subscription to ensure
you don't lose them. For the purposes of perusing the
decisions involved here we will break down on line backup
in to the following categories.
- Personal backup
- Free backup
- Small business backup
- Server backup
- Enterprise Backup
Certain types of data such as office documents, accounts
and payroll are ideal for on line backup as they are
generally low in data size and are critically required.
Almost every user weather home, small office or corporate
has some data of this type and it is ideal for on line
backup and provides the required security with value
for money. By comparison, music and video files use
significant space and would need to be personal copyright
related or of extreme importance to the user to warrant
the expense involved.
The free lunch does exist and it is awful. Broadly,
such providers do not actually backup data. It is kept
on a mirror server only. No live tech support is offered
and all inquiries are by email only and are likely not
to be answered promptly if at all. The providers take
no responsibility for your data. They make no commitment
to you and by downloading the software you commit to
full responsibility without assistance. It may be safer
to manage your own backups offline. When you lose data
you will not fare well getting help from a free service
(and why should you). When people lose data they want
assistance immediately. In the words of governor Norton
from Shawshank redemption when Andy Dufraine went missing,
“I want him found now, not tomorrow, not after
breakfast, now!” Regardless of your normal temperament,
that is the type of attitude you are likely to have
when you lose data. Make sure you are dealing with people
who have the ability inclination and responsibility
to respond.
For small business, the decisions regarding on line
backup can be outlined as follows.
What data can we absolutely not lose and is not available
from any other party? The answer to this is generally
accounts, payroll, internal database and vital office
docs. In addition you would likely add some data which
is retrievable from elsewhere but not necessarily as
quickly as may be required such as critical supplier
or printer provided documents and data. The next task
is to examine where that data is stored. The bulk of
critical data should be on a server but user practicality
or budget may have prevented this. Also, some software
data (particularly payroll) is generally kept on the
users workstation. After establishing where the data
is, you need to decide if you are going to avail of
on line backup for all of the identified systems or
run through network drives from the server or a limited
number of systems. Your intended provider should be
able to guide you on this.
If you represent a large corporation it is strongly
recommended you involve key I.T. Management personnel
and your intended provider from the outset. By all means
run a trial on your personal PC to establish the relevant
provider lives up to their promise. Any additional installs
should be a group decision to enable best practice and
economies of scale.
If you found this document helpful you may like to visit
www.backupanytime.com/whitepaper.htm
or our website proper at www.backupanytime.com
If you are a system administrator and would like technical
details please register your interest on our contact
page requesting membership of our private white
paper area for I.T. Professionals.
"Bringing security to data, peace
of mind to you". |
