Backup a Computer Online -

Step One: choose a good service

(For other steps, see left column.)

Guidelines to backup a evaluate and choose
secure online backup services

To backup a computer online, consider the following:

NOTE:

For reviews of different online backup services, click here.

Should you use online backup (aka "remote backup")
how to identify a good provider of the service
some basics on using it for reliable data protection.

This resource page is divided into:

What is online computer backup?
Why computer backup online is better than local backup
A features checklist of things to look for and avoid
Warning about online backup

What is online computer backup?

Online Backup uses an automatic service, installed on the computer (or sometimes elsewhere in the network) to back up important data on a particular computer. The data moves somewhere that is separate from any disaster that might happen in your office, so you have a safe copy of the data.

On top of that, the service keeps versions of your files for each day available, which is important in the event that your data becomes damaged or lost, but you don't discover it right away. Some keep multiple versions for each day. There are also differences in how many previous days of data is stored.

How much do you back up?

Don't try to back up your whole hard drive. Most of what is there runs the computer, and is useless to you once your computer crashes. There is usually between 1 and 6 GB of data on a person's computer that is important data, not inlcuding music, photos, or other multimedia files.

Some of the better services will back up the settings of your computer, so that if your develop trouble you might be able to set the computer back to before the trouble and eliminate the problem. On the Iron Mountain Connected service (for PCs and Macs), this sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. On LiveVault, a premium and more expensive service for servers only, it is a reliable and important feature.

Why is computer backup online better than local?

By itself, computer online backup is a big improvement over using disks and tapes ("media") that rely on a lot of human intervention and therefore have regular human error. Not good when you need reliable backup of important, changing data!

And the media itself is vulnerable to becomming corrupted, damaged, or lost. Then your backup is lost and your business is at risk.

For small and medium sized businesses, there is a substantial move away from tape and away from external hard disk backup to online backup, especially for businesses that want to depend on a single system of backup and have it be reliable.

Increasingly, tape backup or an external hard disk for backup are being used in combination with online backup to get the best bang for the buck, with online backup often handling the critical data that is dynamic (can be modified or updated), and the tape/external drive is used to store older data that is no longer changing, and can be clearly labeled and multiple copies can be stored away. Multiple copies of tape are encouraged because sometimes the media (the solid tape itself) has the ability to become corrupt.

Features checklist for computer backup online.

The security and safety of the remote site where the data is backed up.

The best backup services use not only one, but two locations to store your data, each one holding all your backed up data, just in case something happens to one of them when you need your data.
Do not trust your data to a local provider with a server in his garage or local office. Yoru data is important, and that server could go down, get a virus, or get hacked.. It does not cost much more to get backup that uses first class facilities, with security and redundancy. Your local provider might even be reselling such a service. Ask.

The speed of the backup

This is often not critical for small businesses. As long as the data all gets transmitted over the internet, even if it takes weeks, that is acceptable. It can really take this long if you have tens or a hundred gigabits or more. Less expensive backups tend to back it up slower.

The speed of the recovery

This is where the rubber hits the road. Why you need to restore data, you usually want it QUICK. Fast is usually critical for a business. You don't want to wait 10 hours to get back a file that is critical to doing work that day, which can happen with the least expensive services. If this is important to you, avoid the very low cost "consumer" level backups that are out there.

The amount the service slows down your computer or network. (Also known as the "resources" is uses on your computer.)

There is a huge difference between the services in this area. Be careful you do not get one that periodically through out the day makes it difficult to work by slowing your machine down or making it impossible to open new files.

"Versions"
These are the different backups from days back the software will keep available for you. When based on days, you will see between one day and seven years. With versions, ten versions are excellent.

The space these versions use up mounts fast, which adds cost. It is essential to have several versions available. Why?

What if you get a virus and don't know about it for days. (This happens all the time.) If you only save the last backup, or the backups from this week, you may end up with only contaminated data - after the virus infected it.

The same thing applies to files that get corrupted by improper shutdown of a computer, an electrical surge or brownout, or other causes.

Choose "versions" over "days" of backup

Unless you already need to pay for at least a year of data to be preserved, getting a service that backs up versions is better, since two versions could stretch over a year or more - if you do not change the file often.

Imagine you get a virus and do not discover it for a long time - say a year. (This happens.) You need the version from before the virus infected it. If your service saves a set number of versions, instead of just days, you are better protected, and often at a lower cost.

Either way, "versions" is usually the better protection. rather than "days".

The availability of support

Often, support is only available by email or chat. For businesses that need quick recovery and do not have an IT staff, we suggest you consider phone support, even though it adds to the cost a bit.

Price

Price varies widely. The least expensive are oriented to the home market, and lack features considered necessary for business level backups.

Some backups charge based on the amount of space that is used up on their server. This is a poor system, in which the customer can be easily taken advantage of. Charges are hard to verify, and the industry has seen accusations of falsifying charges.

Today many backup services are converting to charge based on the volume of data protected.

"Unlimited" data protection (as many gigabyes as you want to cover) will tend to cover a lot of data, but we hear of surprise announcements that clients may get saying they have a "limit". We have never seen such a service offer what we considered a "business cass" service, based on the features above, but the market is still evolving, and this might change someday..

Warning about online backup

Online backup is not perfect. It can still fail. And sometimes does.

All software can become messed up.Power surges and brownouts are the worst offenders, and you can use a UPS unit to protect from that. But problems can still occur.

You need to check on your backup regularly and make sure it is working. On your desktop there is usually an icon in the system tray (bottom right corner) that will give you options for getting information.

For years companies for whom reliable backup is essential have had someone check manually to make sure the backup actually took place correctly. Some went so far as to test the backup on each piece of media (tape cartridges, DVDs, or other media). (Tape cartridges are unreliable, slow, and increasingly take second place when it comes to backups.) This can be expensive in terms of time spent.

If you need this kind of reliability, and don't have the time to spend watching it yourself, we recommend online managed backup to keep the cost down.

Disclaimer:

We don't sell online backup, although we do sell online managed backup, which provides a higher level of security at a slightly higher price.

The difference with Online Managed Backup is that we monitor and manage the backups from our offices. The price not only includes monitoring, but also includes unlimited support for a technician to connect to your computer remotely (with your permission) and correct your computer if someone or something changes the settings, or some software becomes corrupted, or for any other reason the backup stops working. Like all software, sometimes these things happen. See the warning.

Give us a call for more information.