Backup Solutions
People often aren’t mindful of how much information they actually store on their personal and work computers. Finding a reliable backup solution is important.
Take the following into consideration as you decide which method to use:
- The number of computers or servers you have
- Are you backing up files, or are you backing up the programs as well
- Size and complexity of data
- How fast you need to get your data back (for instance Mosy takes several days for them to send you DVD’s and they charge extra for it)
- How “hands on” you want the solution to be
- Ability to store data backup device in a different location from desktop/server
- Your organization’s computer savvy
I have included some information about common backup solutions. The key here is to get something that is understandable, simple to use and, of course, gets the job done reliably and cost effectively.
Hardware: There a lot of different hardware options on the market that range in price and purpose. DVD/CD/Blu-Ray discs are great for small backups and extremely affordable. They work best for storing audio, video, and picture files. The USB flash drive is also great for small backups and especially for transferring or carrying around files. If you’re looking for something a little more stationary, the USB connected external drive comes in a variety of sizes and capacities. For personal use, one would be hard pressed to fill up all of the drive’s space. They’re compact, easy to store and dramatically decreasing in price.
Now on to the more complex solutions: An external server provides a physical location for shared disk access by many workstations. Another option, Network attached storage (NAS) functions as a specialized file server and sits on a network outside of your PC but can be connected through Wi-Fi or a wired network. These solutions can get expensive and it is important to consider online managed backups for you data.
Online managed backups: This storage method can be the most cost-effective for backing up large amounts of data with little effort. This increasingly popular method is also known as backing up in “the cloud” which we have previously explored in several of my posts and with this informative infographic. There are literally thousands of vendors; some of the most popular include Rackspace, Barracuda, StoreGrid, Godaddy.com, and Carbonite. Check out this link for great feature and price comparisons here the comparisons can be tricky, make sure you are comparing apples to apples.
Now that you have a basic understanding of different methods for backing up data, actually remember to do it! Too often people schedule their backups but ignore the reminder when the time comes. It's way to easy to click the "remind me later" button.