Covering Your Backup
Mie-Yun Lee, Editorial Director, BuyerZone.com
September 15, 2002
If your "to do" list is like that of many small businesses, backing up your computer
files is unlikely to rank among your top 10 action items. That is, of course, unless
you have suffered a major data loss.
Even if you do regularly back up your files, you may not store the data in a secure
off-site location. By failing to do so, you protect your company from only portion of
the woes that can result in damaged, unrecoverable files. Whether you regularly back
up your computers or not, a remote backup service can provide the instant assurance of
having your data offsite without requiring the purchase of any special technology.
Essentially, a remote backup service provides an automated way to back up and store
your computer files off-site. All you need is an Internet connection. After an initial
backup of your key files, the services then automatically backs up any changed and new
files incrementally.
Remote backup services are best for small companies without a dedicated IT staff member.
They can also be very effective for companies that have employees who often travel or
work from home because the backup can take place from any location. Companies with multiple
office locations may also find that utilizing a remote backup service's infrastructure
to be more cost-effective than creating one.
When evaluating remote backup services, the first thing you should check is that the
software can work with all the operating systems that your computers run. Once this basic
requirement is met, look for software that is easy to install and configure.
Also pay attention to how your data is handled and stored. Your data should be sent
to the remote backup services via an encrypted connection. Once the data arrives at the
storage facility, you should learn how it is stored. Find out if the storage is redundant,
for example. Ideally, the storage should be redundant at more than one geographic facility.
One of the advantages of working with a remote backup service is how quickly files
can be restored. Take the time to check into how long it would take to identify and download
a file that you need to recover.
To ensure that only authorized users can access your files, ask about how users are
authenticated. You should be comfortable with the steps the service takes to ensure the
appropriate person is requesting a copy of your backup. In addition, there should be
no way for a person other than yourself to accidentally overwrite your backed up files.
Prices vary from a few dollars per month for very little storage space to hundreds
of dollars for more storage. Prices also vary by how many client licenses one purchases,
and by what features you require.
It can be difficult for optimistic entrepreneur to plan for a business disaster such
as water damage, theft, or fire. But sign up for remote backup service, you can then
forget about these possibilities and focus on the growth of your company instead.
