EBizInsider

If you’ve ever had a computer crash, you know it can be a devastating experience, both for you personally and for your business. Keeping your data backed up is vital. This month we’ll examine a few of the most popular methods of data backup.

Tape Backup

Since the early days of computing, magnetic tape has been used as a medium for data storage. Tape drives have come a long way since the early days when cassettes were used in a tape recorder. Entry-level tape backup drives cost around $1,000 and are often installed as internal devices.

The Good? Tape backups can hold 60 to 600 to 1,600 Gb depending on the drive and the media used. You should use a tape backup if you plan on running large-scale backups (servers or multiple computers) on a regular basis. Purchase several sets of data storage and store a copy off-site, too.

The Bad? Tape backups aren’t the latest greatest technology, and require you to set aside a specific time each day/week to maintain them. There’s also the cost of additional tapes (which need to be replaced on a regular basis).

Online Backups

Most online backup services require you to install a tiny application on your computer that works in the background, looking for new and changed files. When a file is found, it is backed up on a remote server. These services are becoming more and more popular. Mozy.com and Carbonite.com are both popular online backup services. Mozy charges a monthly access fee plus a per-gigabyte surcharge. Carbonite charges an unlimited annual fee.

The Good? The benefit to these services is that data is stored online, therefore eliminating the need for additional equipment on your end. Mostly, these services run in the background and are activated and do their thing on a schedule, so you just need to make sure your computer is on with an Internet connection and your backup will run.

The Bad? If you have massive amounts of data that need backing up, you’re going to spend bandwidth and time uploading. Also, if something does happen and your computer crashes, online backups aren’t as convenient to restore as tape backups, simply because you’ll need to re-download and sync your data from the Internet…which can take hours.

Backup Software

Backup software such as Novosoft’s Handy Backup (handybackup.com) is a software application that runs on your PC to backup specific files and directories to a variety of sources, including network storage, external hard drives, tape backups, CDs/DVDs, and remote FTP servers.

The Good? This is especially helpful if you have only a handful of documents and files to backup. You can use this software in conjunction with a tape or online backup. For example, if you have three computers and a server, use backup software to make sure your individual PCs are backed up to the server, then use the tape or online backup to archive the server.

The Bad? I’ve often found this type of software to be bad when it comes to scheduled backups and any sort of FTP/offsite backups. Because it’s a full, bulky software application and not directly integrated into your operating system, it isn’t as reliable.

Summing up

When choosing a backup service, ensure the provider has a good reputation. You don’t want to back up your data with a provider who isn’t around tomorrow. Think long-term. How frequently do you need a backup? Is the backup a total system backup or just what’s changed since the last one (incremental)?

The bottom line is that if you’re a one-person shop with one computer, online backup is often the way to go. On the other hand, if you’ve got multiple computers, you’re looking at some combination of the above three methods.

Wrapping your head around the data backup process is truly an annoyance, but not nearly as annoying or as devastating as losing all your work and having to try and rebuild.

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