1. The Yin and Yang of Online Backup Systems
The Reason to Have an Online Backup System
Consider: If ever your office or house gets burned or the fireproof box which contains your backup disks get
stolen, having installed an online backup system will save a great amount of whining and trouble for you.
There are easy ways to backing up online. First, set up a leased line to a remote server, and from there, transfer
the data to it at whatever interval you deem appropriate. This method will require extra hardware. Obviously,
this is a non-starter for a company that works from only one site. Luckily, you will find various third parties
offering an online backup service.
Your Online Backup Service Features
Basically, these backup services work in the same manner. You rent a server space and, subject to a few terms to
keep obscenity out, upload anything you wish. Also, you can restore online, or by paying for a CD of everything
you have stored on a third party's server. Compression, which are wizards helping you manage your backup
files, and encryption, are all basic or standard services.
What's so great about the backup service features is the companies themselves
won't be able to unencrypt all your data. This means your security is on the
lock as these companies basically employ military-strength encryption; even if
your files are intercepted in transit, the bad guys won't be able to decipher any
of your data.
Most backup services are able to upload only elements of a file that have been
changed instead of the entire file. This is particularly favorable and important
to corporate environments in order to avoid bandwidth problems. Also, most
services have virus checking attribute as a standard. It also have a drag and
drop interfaces, which are becoming increasingly popular today. You will find
many online backup companies allowing backups to be resumed should the
connection is lost.
Your Online Backup Warning
There will be some companies that will only allow one initial complete backup of a hard drive. However, the
time taken for the first backup of an average PC can exceed 24 hours. On the other hand, the portability between
systems can be an issue in some cases as some System Administrators may be concerned about bottle necking.
When you've finally decided which backup service you'll choose, the next step is to think over of what files to be
backed up. It is unlikely that application files will be retrievable from a backup. It's usually needed to be installed
using the companies' own programs. Some applications use its own archiving feature with a restore command
that will not import data from another file.
Remember that any files that have been altered by an employee becomes unique to that individual's PC. With
this, your data should be backed up. Files that can be restored through other means (from existing installation
discs for instance), need not backing up.
As many online backup services duplicate the original file structure, it is worth checking what original data files
to be backed up and filed in a logical way. A confusing file structure or files with obscure names means it could
get in the way of a clean data restore. This can cause complications when applications store information in files
with unintelligible names or obscure locations by default; email programs are found guilty of this mishaps.