Did you know that research (Contingency Planning Research & Strategic Research Corporation) has found that 43% of companies that suffer large-scale data loss due to disasters never re-open and 29% close within two years? I don't know about you, but that's startling news... especially since this data is nothing more than just a bunch of 1's and 0's. But all those 1's and 0's are the lifeblood of today's modern business. Let's face it, today's major data loss is yesterday's record keeping paper fire.
A simple way to prevent major downtime, or even bankruptcy, is through data backups. There are two different types of backups. Local and remote. Let's talk about remote backups.
Remote Backup 1.0
First of all, when I say "remote backup", I should really call it "remote backup 2.0". IT guys... geeks, used to setup and install servers that they installed in their own houses or shops. They would then try to sell their clients in on doing "remote backups". They would tell them scary stories about how backup remotely wasn't "safe" and how they only real safe solution was, of course, use their server. They weren't telling them this in the best interests of their customer's data. They were telling them this for the best interest of lining their pockets with money. The ironic fact is, their servers had no backup itself, and they offered their customers no guarantees and made no backups of their servers. So their customer's data that existed on these servers was at the same risk of fire, theft, viruses, acts of god or whatever other disaster tactic they used to get their clients in the first place.
And uploading data to these servers back then took forever, so most of the time backups of data was set to occur on a daily or weekly basis depending on the files, so these businesses were shelling out globs cash for something they could have just as easily done with a "zip drive" or "cd" backup. Of course they were never informed about this because it was about making money and not providing a service to their customers. Let's call that remote backup 1.0.
Remote Backup 2.0
Things changed. Flash forward to today's time and the web 2.0. Now businesses and home users now have high speed broadband access that keeps getting faster and faster. Heck, not only do I have internet access on my iPhone out and about, but it's so much faster than the fastest internet connection back in the day. Not only that, but hard drive space has exploded from what it used to be. My first computer, a $3,000 HP Pavilion unit my parents saved up for to buy me when I was 14, best computer money could buy back then, had a massive 1.2 GB hard drive (your typical computer had a 0.2 GB hard drive). But now, my iPhone 3GS has 32 GBs. Amazing.
Internet speeds are crazy fast and data is crazy cheap. And that's what's changed remote backup 1.0 into remote backup 2.0. Gone are the shysters who ran remote backup operations for businesses. Now, remote backup is available to businesses, both big, small and tiny, and it's also available to costumers for the first time ever. And it's all done via this thing called the "cloud".
What's a Cloud?
The cloud, not to be referred to as "a cloud", is a "state of being" for data. In a nutshell, it means having data (information, pictures, music, ect) exist not just on a server or two out somewhere in the net, but to have huge server farms that house not only your data, but data from other people. This data doesn't just exist on one hard drive, it exists on multiple hard drives at the same time, and not just at one location. This is done so that if a hard drive fails, it's not the only version with your data. Or if power goes out to one cloud server location or disaster strikes, data hopefully will still run as normal.
But how does "the cloud" effect you and backing up your data? Because of how cheap fast internet is for you and how cheap hard drive space is for you, it's even cheaper for companies running online storage businesses. They can afford huge amounts of space and also massive amounts of broadband access for their servers, and they get these services very cheap. They then build a business model around pure storage. They sell their customer's storage and a way to upload and, yes, backup data. They also include, for free, software to automatically backup files from your computer. Your data then exists in the "cloud", ready to be accessed at anytime, or from anywhere. This is data backup 2.0.
What's So Great About It?
Unlike data backup 1.0, your data exists across multiple hard drives and across multiple cities, so that if a hard drive fails that contains your data, your data exists on multiple other locations so there's nothing lost and zero downtime. Your data is also encrypted for security in the cloud.
One of the best features is that backing up isn't a manual thing. You set it up and it does it automatically. Not just that, but the tools from online backup companies are setup so that it scans only changes made to files.
Photographer Real World Example
A photographer, who was starting a new business shooting photos of people, mainly family photos from her home which was converted into a professional looking studio... came to me about backing up her photos. She had already been backing up here photos onto DVD, which was great to see, but it was taking up too much of her time. Here was the problem. She only had one DVD burner, like everyone else, and she would offer up her photos taken onto DVD for her clients. She only had a little bit of time a day to be at her computer, so when burning a DVD for clients, she also wanted to make a backup of those files onto DVD, but couldn't because she was burning DVDs for clients.
She thought about using an online backup service, but she would be in the same boat, spending selecting which files to upload each day.
"I'm a happy camper with John."
This is where I came in. I setup an online service for her that costs about $5 a month for unlimited storage. I set it to scan only the folder that her client photos and other data was located in. I set it up to load everything. Then, whenever she would add new files or edited any files, they would be uploaded automatically. She no longer had to worry about backing up the files herself. She said to me "I'm a happy camper John.".
Local Backup Is Still Good
It's still very good for having a local backup system though. One thing remote backups don't do is keep old copies of your files. What I mean is, let's say you have a document your working on, a book let's say. This is a file you could be working on for months. What happens if you have a remote backup setup that backs up your files each day, but a month ago you realize you accidentally deleted all of chapter four and just now, a month later, realized it? No problem, right? You'll just access your online version and, oh... that version was backed up from last night, so it also is missing chapter 4. There aren't any old versions to back up to online.
What's the solution to this? A have a file saving method I teach my clients that's real simple and would fix this and is also perfectly compatible with remote backups. But the other solution is to make local backups also, primarily DVD backups. If you have a backup of the same files, your backups will be old versions from an earlier date, so you can go back to old versions. So local backups are still a good thing, even if remote backup is superior in almost every aspect.
Two (Hard Drive) Heads Are Better Than One
For my clients, I recommend going both routes. Doing a local backup (offsite optional) and doing a remote (cloud) backup so that you aren't putting all your eggs (or data) in one basket. But this backup process should be easy and simple to use, because after all, you need to focus on what you use your computer for and not about backing up your data. Get in touch with me and tell me about your needs. I can work with you on how to safeguard your data while keeping this process as simple as possible for you.