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Information technology is rapidly evolving as more and more
companies use computers to store important data. Although
computers are usually quite reliable, one can't be too careful
about stuff that matters. One simple human error can cause the
loss of all the important information. Theft or simple loss of
equipment can cause a great deal of damage to a firm. To prevent
this from happening, companies often use tape back-up to be sure
that in case of an emergency they will have a reliable backup
from which to recover the data.
But is tape back-up indeed good enough for protecting your
valuable data? Sure, it's a time tested method. Nowadays,
however, specialists recommend more modern offsite backup
services.
What are offsite backup services and how do they work? It's very
simple: you just need an Internet connection - the greater the
bandwidth the more data you can store - and your offsite backup
service will encrypt your data and transmit it to a safe offline
location to be stored. It will take some time at first because
you'll have to backup all your info, but the next time a change
is made in one of the files, the offsite backup service will
only encrypt and send the part that has been changed and not the
whole file. And that's a great advantage because it will require
far less time and bandwidth. Also, all the backups are made at
night, when computers are not used so this will not interfere in
any way with your work. You won't even know it's there.
What's the difference between tape back-up and an offsite
back-up service and why do specialists recommend the latter?
* First, tape back-up costs more and needs a person dedicated to
it. But what happens when that person fails in his job or makes
a mistake? Human error may occur any moment, and several
companies are known to have had serious problems because of
failures happening when they didn't have access to their
information. An offsite backup will never require this because
it is done automatically.
* Secondly, tape backups are stored in the same building or
buildings as the computers. The offsite backup services store
the data on several servers far from the place the firm is
situated. In fact, that is why they are called 'offsite' in the
first place! In case of a fire, storm, or any other natural
disaster or human error, this becomes very important.
* Thirdly, offsite backup services provide more protection than
any other backup method, using encryption, security keys,
passwords and secure-sockets every time the data is transmitted.
Often, all this is done at the military grade security level of
128-bit encryption keys.
Dial-up connections can be suitable for small firms or those
that need no more than about 500 MB of data backed up. The
greater the bandwidth, the larger the amount of data the offsite
backup service can protect for you.
The fees for offsite backup are normally per month per computer,
but often companies can get better deals on discounts, fixed
fees, or customized plans from many offsite backup services.
About the author:
Matt Garrett www.Internet-Priva
cy-Systems.com www.XoftSpy.co.uk
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