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Uh... First of all... everyone. Now that that's settled, we'll get on to how and how often.
How often depends on your needs. If you can live with a year-old copy of your accounting files or email archives, then that's your answer. If you can't imagine living without the weekend picnic pictures you copied from your digital camera Monday, then you might need to back up more frequently. You have to decide where the balance is between security and convenience. For some, monthly backups are adequate. Others, such as businesses that need remote computer repair, need their data backed up daily, hourly, or immediately. There are solutions for all of you.
The next question is on-site or off-site. Again, it's about managing risk. If your business could be saved by an off-site copy of all your corporate data in the event of a fire or earthquake, then you want to make sure that off-site copy exists somewhere and is current enough to be useful. If your primary concern is that you don't want to lose all your family photos if your computer crashes, then monthly or weekly backups to a network hard drive may be adequate.
As a quick side note, RAID does give protection against hard drive failure, but is not a backup solution. Viable backup solutions include the following:
- Writable CDs or DVDs
- Additional internal hard drives
- Network hard drives
- Tape backups
- Internet backup services
High-end corporate backup systems are outside the scope of this article, but they can get very sophisticated. For most people and small/medium sized business one or more of the above options will suffice.
With the proliferation of cloud computing, remote backup services like Mozy, Carbonite, and iDrive have become viable options for personal and corporate backup. The combination of Jungle Disk and Amazon's S3 service also make an attractive combination when researching Internet-based, secure storage and backup options.
The bottom line is, you have a lot of options. For home and small business users, a network hard drive or Internet-based remote option are both great. The are inexpensive and reliable. Custom solutions can be engineered for those with more specific requirements.
Mobilitechs is an IT consulting firm serving small- and medium-sized businesses in Lancaster PA and Reading PA with remote computer repair. We can answer any questions related to data backup and data recovery as well as other computer repair and emergency data recovery consulting. |
