The Little Geeni

In today’s fast moving commercial environment, we all know how reliant we are on computer systems, and more importantly the information contained within them. It is hard to think of the old days, no mobile phones, fax machines, or internet. Manual paper based systems have long since been replaced and the format changed to digital.  With these changes, in real terms hardware costs have reduced dramatically, data storage costs have came down massively – all fuelling the additional use and reliance on our IT systems.

Whilst it is true that a computer system is only as good as the data held within it, most modern systems on the whole are very reliable, but every now and then problems can occur. Data on a computer system is held on a hard drive. This device is a mechanical magnetic device with platters spinning at thousands of revolutions per minute. A mechanical read/write head moves over the platters to retrieve and store information. As the hard drive becomes older, the possibility of failure increases.  What procedures do you have in place in the event of this happening?  Hopefully something other than keeping your fingers crossed!
 
A peer to peer network consists of a number of computers networked together, each working as part of a group, each with their own hard drives containing their own programs and information, but sharing resources and information throughout the group. If one individual computer on the network fails, it may not be a disaster, but it certainly could be an inconvenience if data contained within it is lost.
 
A client server network has a central file server containing the most important programs and data, with clients or workstations requesting information from the central server. Due to the nature of this network structure, backup considerations are paramount. If data failure occurs on this network file server, then all users stop working. In real terms, this type of operation and its reliance is similar to a company that runs on a standalone computer, obviously in bigger terms. If the main computer or server goes down, the computing resource goes down.
 
There are many different options for data backup available. Choosing the correct backup system can make a massive difference in determining what happens should a data problem occur. If you choose the wrong type of backup system, or choose something that is inadequate, then at some point in time headaches and problems are going to occur.
 
3.5″ Floppy Disk Drive
Pretty much a thing of the past, although computers that have been in operation for a number of years may occasionally still use this format for data backup. These disks are pretty much inadequate nowadays, they only store 1.44MB of data and are slow and quite unreliable.
 
CD-RW Disk Drive
Probably the entry level format for data backup. CD’s are very cheap, easily available and can store up to 700MB of data on-board. Handy for backing up a section of data, but due to the size limitation of 700MB, it is unlikely that anyone would ever attempt a full system backup using this format, or even make this their primary backup format.
 
DVD-RW Disk Drive
Very similar to CD-RW and also very cheap, but using DVD’s instead, giving much increased capacity, with standard DVD’s coping with 4.7GB of data. Double layer disks store up to 8.5GB and again are a cheap option.
 
USB Data Key
Simple small key drives which fit into USB ports to give a temporary extra drive; these are very handy and portable with sizes up to 32GB available now.
 
Tape Drive
Travan drives, Micro-DV Tape and DAT are the most common. Travan drives are slower with less storage capability. DAT tapes come in a couple of sizes - 4mm and 8mm tapes which store up to 40GB. On the whole, DAT drives are reliable, but care must be taken to rotate backup tapes and keep the drive clean. With this format being mechanical in nature, along with other storage devices, they can fail as they become older or through extensive use. Because they tend only to be installed on the central file server, care must be taken across the rest of the network to make sure any locally stored data on workstations is additionally backed up if necessary.

Online Secure Backup  With the introduction of high-speed internet technology, it has become increasingly popular for companies to store data remotely. A piece of software is added to the system which is configured by the administrator to backup certain files. These files are securely encrypted and the online backup system then sends the data over the internet to secure remote data centres. Instead of expensive drives and multiple tapes needing to be added to a system, and an operator being responsible for changing daily tapes and organising a routine, the online backup system automatically sends the information at pre-determined times. This eliminates the chance of operator error and sends logs confirming successful operation, or if any errors have occurred. Costs are normally charged on a backup size basis, and tend to be very competitive. Because the system is software driven as opposed to hardware, it is very easy to integrate multiple systems, and can include laptops, remote workers, and external hard drives. Physical security issues, operator mistakes, and device failures are greatly reduced with this method, there are no tapes to remove off site, and restoration of data is fast and easy – whether a single file or a complete system recovery. If you are considering updating computer systems, or looking at your overall data disaster recovery plan, then online backup should certainly be a consideration.

Backup Backup, Data, Local, Online, Options, Storage

No matter, either you work in a small organization or a big corporate or even in your dwelling! Users who give importance to secure their hard disk data’s must have to concern about data backup. Keeping your data safe is really an essential process, because data loss will turn as a big headache. It is pretty well known that computers easily turn vulnerable to virus defects, hard disk failure and other natural disturbances. Once when your system turns a prey to such troubles, data backup will grant you the stupendous support to retrieve the essential information. It is really advisable to act very smart before facing serious troubles. So, data backup is the prominent method of practice to retrieve and save the data’s in case of any hang-ups.

Basically data backup will mean various things for several users. Data backup could be taken either for directories, files, folders, server, LAN, or a particular dissection on your hard drive. At times, when your system turns vulnerable, it is really a tough task to get back the essential data’s. To land safe from the nightmare, data backup will be the best choice to overcome the troubles. Taking a data backup is merely simple! You can take your data backup in CD, USB memory stick, DVD, network drive and local drive. To give additional security, you can make use of the features of remote backup to stockpile the data’s written offsite.

Also, you can avail the accessibility of the remote data backup with the support of email or FTP. Generally, data backup is ultimately automated and it fundamentally functions similar to the usual backup software. Rather directing the backups into the tape drive, or to several different media computer, data backup will direct the backup safely via internet connectivity to other computer offsite. This process is completely automated and huge deal of business workouts that holds massive data storage has to be set with everyday data backup.

Also, with the greatest assistance of offsite data backup, you can avail the stupendous support to prevent any critical information on everyday basis. Data backup is an excellent method of practice that could be done at a reasonable price. Moreover, data backup can be practiced at several levels and standards to match the customer’s needs and requirements.

When considered finally, Data backup is a prominent practice that facilitates the computer users to retrieve essential data, when their system turns failure.

Backup Backup, Data

You just cannot predict when something is going to go wrong with your computer or one of the files you have stored there, and when it does happen, any information you have stored is going to be lost, usually forever. It is always recommended that computer data backup files be kept separately where it can be recouped in event of loss.

Security for your computer data backup information may not always imply security from theft or intrusion. It may mean to protect it from similar damage that has affected your main file system. If you store backup files on the same computer hard drive as the original files, if something happens to the hard drive, your backup files will be lost as well.

Although you may believe that since you have not had a problem with your computer data backup is a waste of time. Just like wearing your seat belt. If you have never had a car accident, you probably still wear it just in case. There are numerous ways the information on your computer can be lost or corrupted, including system failure, and when that happens your life, as you know it, is lost.

What Files Need Backed Up And Where

Generally speaking, you should look at the information stored on your computer and determine which files cannot be recreated if destroyed or no longer accessible. The files you mark for computer data backup may include financial information, family photographs, music you bought and downloaded as well personal projects and email address books.

Whether you decided to use disks, CDs or another form of external device for computer data backup is not really important, rather making sure you will have the means to recover the files from that source available later on, is. Looking back a few shorts years, every computer has at least one drive for three and half inch floppy disks. Not anymore. If you backed up your information on your old computer with these disks and your new computer does not have that drive installed, your filed are still inaccessible.

You may also consider looking for online computer data backup services, where using a secure file transfer protocol (FTP) site, your files, which may include the entire content of your hard drive, can be transferred and securely stored for easy retrieval. Saving your files locally may work, but in event of a disaster could still be lost along with everything else.

Backup Backup, Computer, Data, Files, keep, Location, Secure

Before we investigate which data backup method is a best fit for your business, we need to evaluate why and what you expect from your backup solution.

Obviously, we backup our data so we can continue trading after a disaster, but what type of disaster are you protecting yourself from and how quickly does your system need to be back online? Please think about this before you think of the usual stock answer, “I am protecting myself from all disasters and I want to be back online as soon as possible” easy to do if you have £500,000 budget and many man hours to devote to the task of backup. You need to be realistic about your backup and restore plan. Are you planning to recover from a hardware failure, total server failure, fire flood or any malicious event? Remember, the rule, the bigger the disaster you plan for, the bigger budget you will need.

Let’s look at the business backup options;

Tape Backup – Is a solution which has been around for many years, recent technology means backup and restore is becoming faster and faster. The main benefit of tape based backup is the speed in which you can restore, tape solutions are now capable of moving data at rates of up to 80MB per second. The down side is the initial cost, a high end tape backup device will cost from £4,000 and can work their way up to hundreds of thousands. The software to control the backup starts at around £500 per device to be backed up and can escalate to £3000 per device. Cost of media, £30 per tape and usually you will need a minimum of 10 tapes.

Cost aside, the human intervention requirement can be a drain on resource, for example someone will need to ensure a tape is fitted into the backup device and removed offsite after the backup has taken place. Usually most company’s leave the tape inside the server overnight, leaving your backup exposed to the same threats as your server.

Disk to Disk Transfer Easily the fastest way to backup and restore and is suitable for high quantities of data which can be transferred between two servers at up to 320MB per second. The speed of this form of backup is usually only slowed down by the network connecting them together. There are two downsides behind this solution, firstly the cost; you will need a second server and this server will need to grow at the same time as your live server. Secondly it is impossible to remove the server to a secure remote or offsite location, again leaving your backup exposed to the same threat as your live server.

Offsite or Online Backup – By far the cheapest method of backup, however until recently your backup and restore process can usually operate only as fast as your internet connection, usually 2MB per second. This form of backup has usually only been suitable for smaller companies with smaller quantities of data. Times have changed, some offsite backup solutions now offer high performance disk to disk backup functionality whilst still securely backing up your data to an offsite location, you might say this offers the best of both worlds, very fast restore using disk to disk functionality but still copying your data offsite ensuring you will always be able to restore regardless of disaster.

One final benefit is zero human intervention; once you have setup you backup schedule the whole process is automated from there on in.

Backup Backup, Better, Data

Data is important for every computer enthusiast. For people who use computers to earn their livelihood who make a living using their computers, data serves even more important role! Data loss can’t be taken loosely which is why frequent data back ups are crucial.

Losing the data is a thing that cannot be taken lightly. If in any case you lose your data then you should try for tech experts who provide data backup support. Of many ways, online data backup are gaining in popularity as a leading source to save your data from any calamity. There are numerous companies that offer online data backups. However, you must check out with the concerned computer support company before sending over the important data that you want stored for safekeeping.

Since online backup is completely an automated process, you don’t have to take backups home or switch tapes. You will receive a daily e-mail with a report telling you whether the backup has been successful or not. The complete backup system is encrypted and can only be read with your User ID and individual password. While saving files, you can choose from several different versions. These older versions can be saved to any location on the hard disk or network.

Securing your data with credible resources enables you to focus on the work. Moreover, online back ups are cheaper, faster and better than traditional alternatives available to save data. Online data backup has numerous other practical advantages over backup methods like CD/DVD, Zip drive, tape, and external hard disk.

Although your data is stored online, but it is easy for you to get to. You simply require to log on to the online file storage website and you can instantly access to your data. Online solutions are completely secure. So much that even hackers can’t reach your data or pull it off the storage servers. Indeed, online backup is safer than offsite tapes, which are unencrypted and could be seen by anyone.

Moreover, data backups are an integral part of a data recovery program, they can be highly time consuming and irksome. Using an online backup system will keep your data and personal information protected. These back up services are commonly available with online tech support companies.

Backup Backup, Data, Online

Using a backup service provider allows you to use their offsite managed backup service. Essentially, it will let you make a backup from a local computer to a network. Any business that needs to backup and restore data fast can benefit from a managed backup service.

You might be wondering why you shouldn’t use tapes, since they’ve been used for data backup for a long time.

Studies have recently shown that recovery methods based on tape can be prone to failure or complications and they’re not that cost effective either. On the other hand, managed storage services can be cost worthy, flexible, fast, reliable and secure.

There is another possible disadvantage of tape backup solutions, and that’s the human error probability, which can happen during tape transportation or rotation.

Below you can read the story of a Connecticut bank that happened in January.

A bank from Bridgeport, Connecticut called the People’s Bank, lost a tape during transportation, which contained personal data of around 90,000 customers. It contained their names, social security numbers, addresses and account numbers. It was sent originally to Pennsylvania. If something like this happens to your business, it can be disastrous, and not only for you, but for your customers as well.

Another case was that of Bank of America, which lost data of 1.2 million clients in 2005, according to The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.

These data protection solutions that service providers offer are multi-faceted. You can use their services to reduce your risks of misplacement, theft, human error, malicious attacks or hardware failure.

The provider of remote data backup recovery services automatically encrypts, compresses and transmits the data to a data center that is highly secure.

The remote data backup service vs the ownership cost of tapes is also a factor that will make the difference for businesses.

In a large enterprise, the costs of tape backup is influenced by software, hardware, staffing, support and media. Another cost is having a second location to store data tapes, and it will also need software, hardware, staffing, support and communications. All in all, the total cost of ownership for a tape backup solution can be huge.

You no longer need media or shelved media when you use a remote backup service provider. You don’t need to hire as much personnel either, to take care of the tapes and to maintain the systems.

Switching to a service such as this can reduce your expenses by up to 70%, and you would also eliminate the chances of a human error.

Backup Backup, Data, Managed, Online, Service, Services, Storage, Tape, Versus

If you want to backup your data, one of the best ways to do it is by using a remote offsite backup service. Below are some of the features and benefits of it.

If you ever lost data or had it corrupted, you already know what a problem it can be for you. You can lose a lot of work, documents that are important and family photos.

There are plenty of methods to make sure that software and hardware failures don’t happen, but you can’t keep it safe 100% of the time, so using a backup solution is a must for any business.

There are several ways you can use to protect data: you can use a DVD, a HDD, a remote backup service or even remote locations. In my experience, if you want the best safety level, you should use remote data backup. This is because you avoid any accidents like floods or fires which would destroy both your main data and your backup data if they were in the same place.

One other advantage is that you no longer need to disconnect or connect manually different devices, it all gets transferred by broadband internet. The problem can be in this case the fact that you need an Internet connection all the time, it can take longer than if you would use local storage and there is a small chance of your data getting in the hands of third parties.

The disadvantages I just mentioned aren’t that important to most people though.

Below are the benefits that can be brought by the use of a remote backup service:

Free backup software – In most cases you don’t need to pay for backup software, since the backup service provides it for free.

Technical support – If you have questions about the backup process or their service, you have specialists in computers at your disposal to help.

Servers with professional protection – Your data will be kept in shelters designed to protect those computers, in most cases underground, designed to be kept safe in cases of disasters or accidents.

Unlimited remote data storage – Store and backup all the data you need.

Global access to your data – Get access to your files from anywhere in the world.

Data encryption – You’re the only one able to access the data, since it’s password encrypted by the remote backup service.

Not all good things are free though. You will pay depending on how much space you need or what extra features you want added. In most cases, you will pay $2 for each GB per month. 5GB should be enough if you’re an individual, which would get the price to $10 per month.

If you want to use it for a corporation, the amount of space needed and the price will probably be much bigger, but the benefits that a remote backup service brings you can be invaluable.

Backup Advantages, Backup, Data, Offsite, Remote, Service, Solutions

One of the best things about online data backup is their ease of use. Almost any person with some basic computer skills can access and use this service and benefit from it. Of course you need an active internet connection in order to access online data backup service.

This service is really convenient for people who has important data that needs to be redundant. For them, this service is the best thing on earth since they can easy backup their work on a dedicated storage server that has his own backup in case of failure.

At any point you can access your files, update them, erase, put others new and so on and with the internet connections getting more and more faster, it’s now not only easy to access online backup service but fast as well.

The main reason to use data backup service is reliability. You backup your important data on a server and this server keeps a backup to your backup in case anything happens.

The other reason is space. Since we use more and more space in our computers, even with the expansions of hard disks we still need more space than they provide. An online backup service can keep your photos, slide-show, birthday movies, and your personal data files and even provide a backup for them thus you don’t need to keep them on your drive and your computer will thank you for this since it’s working faster without the extra weight given by your personal files.

No matter where you live or who you are, there are chances that you may experience a data loss due to hardware failure or due to a virus. In this case you may want to consider backing up your data first.

An online data backup is beneficial both for your efficiency and speed of your hard drive and most important will prevent your data from being lost forever. Think about this for a second.

I’m sure you have pictures from your vacation, from your wedding, the first steps of your child, projects currently in development, etc. Would you like to lose all those forever?

Using an online data backup service will help you recover those priceless data in case you lose them due to a multitude of factors (hardware fail, accidentally erase, viruses, etc) and thus preserving memories.

Backup Advantages, Backing, Backup, Data, Online, Service

Your customer data is a precious resource that can literally be worth its weight in gold! If used properly, it can be mined over and over for additional sales and referrals. Do you use this gold mine to increase the profitability of your business?

You should! It can mean the difference between business survival and failure.

Why then do so few business owners take the time to ensure that it is adequately protected? Are we too busy? Perhaps you just didn’t know how to protect it, or couldn’t afford the software and hardware required to back up your data correctly.

Ask yourself these questions:

Is there anything more important to my business than my customer data? What would happen to my business if I were to loose all of my data?

Consider this common scenario. A client calls frantic that she’d loose her business if she couldn’t recover her customer data. She had over five years of information on her computer when the hard drive decided to make her life interesting.

So what are her choices? Renter the data manually, if she has any hard copies available. Call everyone and ask for their contact information again, won’t that make them feel secure about her company. Or call a data recovery technician. Their services can start at a thousand dollars and go up rapidly from there!

Windows XP provides a fully functional backup utility, for free! In fact, many of the commercial backup products use this backup to save the data. All you are paying for is the user interface, the window you enter information into.

Before you run the setup wizard, you need to answer a few questions.

What data do I need to backup?

Only backup data that is necessary. Use the KISS (Keep It Simple Silly) method. Your customer database and correspondence should be backed up as a minimum.

How often do I want to back up my data?

How often does your customer data change? Does a significant amount of data change on a daily basis? Weekly?

Where do I want to store my data backup?

Most data backups still use a tape drive to store the data. The problem is that they cost a fortune! The tapes alone are expensive. Alternatives are to store your data backup on another computer on your network or copy it to a CD or DVD writable disk.

Ok, so you want to backup your data. What now? Before we do that review the table below:

Full Backup

Copies and stores a complete duplicate of your data every time it runs.
Takes the most time to run and the most storage space.
Quickest data recovery feature.
Easiest!

Incremental Backup

Copies and stores only data changed since the last backup.
Must be combined with a full backup, and any other incremental backups.
Most complicated.

Deferential Backup

Copies and stores data changed since the last full backup.
Must be combined with a full backup and the last deferential backup.
Middle of the road.

If you have a relatively small amount of data, I would suggest a daily full backup. If you have a larger amount of data you might combine the full backup with a deferential backup. Simple huh?

The next question is how to store the data backup. Even though it takes a little extra work, I have my clients back their data up to a DVD writable disk. First, set the wizard to back the data up to a folder. Usually this folder is on another computer. Then burn this data to a DVD burner and place the disk it in a secure location for retrieval as necessary.

If you don’t feel comfortable setting this up yourself, any competent PC technician can do it for you.

Whether you do the setup yourself or have it setup by a professional technician you are taking the first step in ensuring the long term survival of your business. Please take the time to do this.

Ultimately your customers don’t care how or why you lost their information, they just care that you did. I’ll leave you with this statistic:

Estimates suggest that 80% of small businesses that suffer a serious computer failure cease trading within two years. Will yours be one of them?

Backup Backups, Business, Data, Survival

Data back-up is the most important thing when it’s all about keeping theft, nasty viruses and other malware at bay from your PC. The biggest threat is crashing of the hard drive. At times, the aperture arm in the hard drive can fail because of excessive wear and tear thereby leading to data loss. Whether you have personal files or other important data that you use for business, you can put your trust in data recovery and antivirus support and should know that you will get everything back the way it was.

If you are thinking about data backup services, look for the specialists to help you. They can help you fix most problems, and more importantly restore your important data. Nowadays, online data back up services are getting popular. Since you avail these services over the Internet, you don’t need to worry about their availability. Online resources run their services 24×7.

From Windows to Mac, online computer support companies can help you to recover everything. Moreover, these data backup services are far better than the traditional methods like CDs, DVDs, Floppy Discs used to save data.

When you demand a backup of your entire hard drive, your computer support technician will copy all of your information, so if something happens you’ll always have your data. Doing a full backup of your hard drive is great, and it will take just minutes to get the task done.  Once you avail the online data back up services, you will find them worth your money and the effort.

Another advantage of online data back up services is their accessibility. No matter where you live, you simply need to call at the vendor’s toll free number or drop a mail at its e-mail ID that you can get from its website. It is always suggested to take a walk through the vendor’s website before availing the services. The website will give you all the necessary information like the credentials, details about technicians and their experience, kinds of services and prices. Well! Most charge very reasonable prices, and are of great help to you in the event of an emergency. When you compare these online data back up specialists to software used for backing data, you will regard the specialists as the best option.

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