Online Backup Software » Backup software

The Right Computer Backup Storage Can Save Huge Headaches

Nick Kurentz — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:51:21 +0000

Backing up your personal and important data on your PC is something that everyone should do but very few actually take the time to do it. Why? Maybe it’s because they don’t know how, or possibly it’s because they’ve never experienced what it’s like to lose important files and never get them back. In this brief article I’m going to look at computer back storage options and backup software and solutions. We’ll discuss the different types of storage you can use to store a backup and the different methods you can create the backup file(s).

Don’t Spend a Lot of Money on Fancy Gadgets

One of the biggest issues with buying anything technological is buying more features then are needed to get a job done. Why does this occur? Most of the time it’s because we start doing research about the different features available and then start dreaming about how great it would be if the software could do this or that. The reality is we almost never use those technical features, and they end up being as waste of money. When selecting a form of computer backup storage keep this simple feature free idea in mind. Most times a USB drive (flash drive) or regular old DVD-R’s will get the job done. High tech alternatives such as tape backups and secondary hard drives will just complicate the issue.

Keep the Backup Software Simple

Having a place to keep all your files after they’re backed up is one step, of course before you can do this you have to create a backup. There is a simple way to do this with windows if you don’t want to buy anything additional. You could create a backup of everything with windows archive and burn the file to a DVD. Of course software alternatives will make it easier to update files in the backup set as they change and reduce the time you have to actually spend manually doing the work. Some of the applications that can make this easier are Genie Backup Manager and Acronis True Image Home. Both of these programs offer simple to use formats, and allow you to pick and choose what files and folders you can to backup. You only need to do this once and the software will automatically remember to keep all new files in your backup set in those folders. The key here is don’t get to weighted down in fancy features. All this does is slow you down and often you won’t complete your backup because of all the options.

Consider Doing it All Online

A great alternative to buying some type of media for computer backup storage and software to go with it are online backup services. These companies provide storage space for files online so it’s off site and secure. A simple software application that is downloaded to your PC handles the process of uploading the files you want backed up and restoring the files is easy as pie. If you take one thing away form this article the thing to remember is that you must take action. Not backing up your files today leaves one more day for something to crash and you lose all of your important photos, videos, music and more. There’s never been a better moment then this one to get started with computer backup storage. Just remember keep it simple and take action, because after you have a PC crash it’s to late.

Create A Computer Backup That You Can Really Use

Nick Kurentz — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:02:47 +0000

Data Loss. If it hasn’t happened yet, it will. Plan on it – better yet, plan ahead (by creating an incremental backup) so that when it happens, you will be prepared and not lose anything. Or maybe your hard drive just isn’t big enough to hold all the data, videos and audios you want to keep. The lack of hard drive space has crippled your computer. You need to clear space and still keep your valuable files, videos and audios. Here is a simple, almost hands-free way to do just that. Go beyond creating simple emergency backups to synchronizing files that you can use on a daily basis.

There are many ways to backup your critical computer files. You can do a formal backup, you can drag individual files and folders to a separate drive, you can create CDs and DVDs, and you can even upload important files to a storage spot on the internet.

Formal backup programs often create zip files of your data. They save space, but you will have to restore the everything to access just one of your files. Not convenient. CDs and DVDs have to be lugged around, and it can be difficult to find the latest versions of documents.

If you create the right kind of backups, you will do more than simply have files you can restore. You will create an interactive file system that you can use daily as extra hard drive space and smart file organization, as well as having up-to-date backup copies of all of your important data.

Create Backups You Can Really Use – Synchronize Your Files

You can create a backup system that is easy to maintain — and provides instant access to your data on an individual file basis. Data protection that is also useful on a day to day basis.

Critical Aspects of a Backup System for Your Data

Easy to use: Set the system up once and then it basically runs itself on a pre-set schedule.

Reliable: You don’t want to grab your backup and find out that it really didn’t work and what you thought you had backed up is gone.

Time efficient: Takes minimal time to do the weekly backups after creating the initial full backup.

Quick and direct access to the most recent versions of your files or documents without having to do a ‘restore’ of the whole backup.

Smart backup system: It will update files that have been changed without asking me what to do with each file. Able to be customized to meet your needs.

Can easily use the files on a different computer: Allows you to plug in to a different computer and have immediate access to the files you need.

Synchronization : It will let you determine which files should be updated as well as allow you to let the most recent changes show up on all copies of that file, no matter if it is your main computer copy or your backup hard drive copy.

An effective system can be developed using an external hard drive. For under $100, you can buy a portable wallet-sized hard drive that will store 500 MB or more of your critical data. Non-portable drives are even less expensive, but the portable drive’s small size lets you use it anywhere you are with your computer.

The next step is to find a program that will do the actual file transfer and updating. There are lots of applications available that will perform these functions; some you have to pay for and others are free. A search on the internet will return hundreds of options.

There is a great little program that does almost everything – it’s called SyncBack. It allows me to send easy, one-click backups to my portable hard drive. It automatically updates files on the backup that I have updated on my computer. If I have to delete a bunch of files on my computer to make room for new ones, and I run the backup, it leaves those files on my portable hard drive.

Online Backup Software: Advantages and Limitations

Nick Kurentz — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 05:41:10 +0000

Traditional methods of backup like optical or tape backup are very effective but they need capital to setup and staff to operate them. An online backup is free of such problems. Online backup provider offers software, which has to be installed on the computer. This allows the user to select the backup files, takes care of Internet connection, encrypts and compresses the data and transfers it through the Internet to a secure remote location. The prominent advantage of using online backup is the disaster recovery offered by offsite storage and is easy to use. Another advantage is that online backup can be done even at odd hours because the providers work round the clock, 24×7. Most importantly, online backups decrease the amount of media needed to keep track of, since much of the backup storage is offloaded to the offsite storage. A person need not purchase new equipment and there are no ongoing media costs, staff costs and so on. The running costs are also meager. Setup and installation of the software is quite simple and can to be downloaded in a matter of a few minutes. Data recovery is also very fast since the user need not search for the right tape or wait for the staff to recover the lost data. Online backup is automatically completed so that after the process is over, the backed up files can be accessed by anyone (with permission), thus enabling file sharing with traveling colleagues, clients or home PCs.

But the limitations of online backup are that it fully depends on Internet connections and therefore requires permanent broadband connection to handle significantly large volumes. Also, the initial backup will take a long time because a complete copy of the data must be encrypted, compressed and copied. Once initial backup is complete, subsequent backups will only backup the files that have been changed, making the process faster. Since online backup companies compress the data and do only incremental backup, it may sometimes decrease the value of the backup and increase the restoration time.

Though a third party holds the invaluable data in online backup, in reality, they are quite safe and secure because before being transferred, the backup data is encrypted to a military grade -128 bit level. Therefore it is impossible for anyone to intersect or decrypt the data except for the user.

The data storage center is also reliably secure, which has invariably class- A facilities equipped with fire suppression, security cameras, personal access control, electricity generators, mirroring techniques and what not. In fact, the storage premises are far more secure than the client’s own premises. Online backups can be a valuable addition to the data protection but cannot be a replacement for manual, onsite backup.

Vembu StoreGrid supports Caringo CAStor

Nick Kurentz — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 16:34:32 +0000

Vembu StoreGrid – The market leading online backup software now supports Caringo CAStor by which Service Providers can deploy their in house cloud storage system and offer redundant backup solutions to their customers. … Ahsay acronis mozy caringo castor “online backup software” “backup software” “remote backup”

Can small Online Backup Companies compete with Larger $5/month Services?

Nick Kurentz — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:01:25 +0000

You see them everywhere – advertisements for companies like Mozy and Carbonite who offer to back up your personal computer for $5 a month, often offering “unlimited” storage space. So, how does a small Online Backup company compete? The answer is: Don’t. As a small Online Backup Service Provider with, say, fewer than 1,000 accounts, you most likely cannot afford to sell services to home users for $5 a month; nor should you want to. If you have 5,000 or more accounts, then of course the economy of scale works in your favor. With the right plan and the right marketing, you might be able to profitably approach $5/month and address the home market. But let’s just say for the sake of this discussion, you have fewer than 250 accounts. Two hundred and fifty accounts at $5/month would gross out at $1250 a month, or $15,000 a year. I don’t know about you, but for the trouble of giving 250 customers an adequate level of service while maintaining your equipment and trying to turn a profit, I am not at all interested in this business. I’m not even interested at $10/month, or $15/month. However, at $19.99 a month I’m bringing in $60,000 a year and beginning to show a little interest. At $29.99 a month I’m making $90K; and at a very reasonable $89.99 a month for the kind of business-class service I can offer with RBackup, I am VERY entertained by my $270,000 a year from my loyal group of 250 small business customers. Now, please understand that I am not trashing the $5/month services. In high enough numbers, $5/month can make money. In a “Fireside Chat” sponsored by Future Forward ( FutureForward.com ) on Nov 23 2008 David Friend, CEO of Carbonite (one of the $5/month services) said that he has more than 15 billion files in storage. He spends about $50 to acquire each new customer, and charges $49.95 per year for his service. He says he keeps each customer for 4.5 years, so, David is paying $50 for $225. I’ll do that all day long. David claims his average customer retention period is 4.5 years, although I wonder about that. Carbonite was founded in 2005 (PRNewswire Nov 20 2008), so he’s only been in business about 3 years. David says he spends a million dollars a month on advertising. So, at $50 per customer, and discounting referrals, Carbonite must be signing up more than 22,000 customers a month, none of whom have dropped the service. Personally, I’m skeptical. But, we know from Relativity Theory that with numbers as large as David’s, normal mathematics breaks down. So, maybe it’s possible to wormhole four and a half years into three. Now, David is a smart guy – a serial entrepreneur with many successes under his belt. He has been able to attract many millions of dollars in venture capital for Carbonite. So, not only does Dave believe in $5/month services, so do a lot of other smart people with a lot of money. So sure, there’s gold in them thar little customers – but only in large numbers. My advice is to leave them to Mozy and Carbonite, and move on to the far more lucrative small business market. Here at Remote Backup Systems, we know that backing up business computers isn’t just clicking a link, paying your money, and that’s that. Small businesses are a huge and lucrative part of the market. They need someone to design the proper backup strategy and protocol for their specific needs; then install and test the service, monitor it, test regularly, and change settings it as businesses evolve. Small businesses need software capable of being programmed and configured EXACTLY for their specific and individual needs. They need support for Exchange and SQL Server, for open files and Domain Controllers. Five-dollar-a-month services simply can’t do that. However, eighty-nine dollars a month buys RBackup software and a service that has been in use by millions of businesses for two decades, designed specifically for businesses, that in the hands of a skilled backup expert, can be engineered on the spot to back up exactly how each customer needs to be backed up. For $89/month you get a full service live expert who can help you properly manage your backups, software that backs up open files, Exchange, SQL Server, System State, Active Directory, and all your special business files. Your files will be 100% secure, signed, sub-file backed up, washed, dried, and delivered on a silver platter. Small businesses need, and are willing to pay for, expert advise, hands-on support, a phone call, and the feeling of safety and security knowing that there’s a live person they can call, who is personally looking after their business data 24/7. If a business customer asks you to compare your service to those charging $5/month, you are welcome to recite the above six paragraphs. Be sure to stand up strait, pull up your socks, and look offended while you do. The most lucrative Online Backup Service providers I work with have grown by concentrating on one or two niche markets at a time. Learn about the kinds of data Dentists (for example) need to back up. How long do they need to keep the data? What regulations do they need to comply with? Who does backups now? How are they done? Who makes decisions regarding business services like yours? Become an expert in backing up dental offices, then go out and back them up. When you have one customer, ask him for referrals. Then ask the referrals for referrals. Even if you don’t ask for a referral, you can say, “I’d like to ask for a minute of your time to come show you how to come into compliance with HIPAA regarding your practice data, save money on computer backups, and even save your practice from disaster by backing up your data offsite over the Internet. I’ve installed such a system for Dr. Jones.” The future looks very bright for Online Backup Services. I wouldn’t worry about Mozy or Carbonite or any of those $5/month services. With the right software, you have the wind in your sails and smooth seas if you sell your services on expertise, service, and market niche rather than on price. Perhaps because of the gloomy economy, we are looking at only the tip of the online backup iceberg. Businesses are looking for ways to scale back, and they are scared. Rather than buy that expensive backup device and software, and learn how to use it, they’ll sign up for an online backup service that lets them rest easily at night. Show them how much they are paying to do inadequate and dangerous manual backups now, and how much they are risking to do so. Calculate the monetary cost of manual backups using network down-time, tapes, salaries for someone to do backups, maintenance on the drive, etc. Tell them the dangers (and possible legalities) of taking unencrypted tapes out of the office and leaving them in the car. You know, all the usual sales tactics. Forget the economy. It works in our favor. We are in a recession-friendly business, with an unlimited supply of willing customers who are now seeking us out to pay $89/month (and more) for a service that someone (Not you!) is spending millions of dollars a month to promote. How sweet is that? Our customers stay with us month after month, year after year, allowing us to ROI in far less time than other businesses that are as quick and inexpensive to start. I love this stuff. There’s now more room than ever for companies entering the market, and our part of the market is not particularly price sensitive. I can absolutely tell you, strait from the front lines, that the online backup market is not now, nor will it ever be, saturated. New computers are coming online too fast for us to keep up with them. Storage is moving online faster than I can produce new Online Backup Services. Niche markets are opening up quicker than I can produce software to fill them. The pool of customers to draw from is getting larger and more diverse. The big guys are spending millions of dollars convincing our customers that Online Backup is a great solution. As a result, more businesses than ever are signing up. Five dollars a month? You don’t have time for it. Be sure to thank Mozy and Carbonite on your way to the bank.

Tips to select a Storage Backup Software

Nick Kurentz — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 06:37:22 +0000

Today’s software market offers a plenty of products designed for automatic backup, and it may appear quite difficult to decide which one we need. However, it is possible to deduce basic criteria that should be taken into account when selecting backup software for our usage. This article lists some of those criteria to select the good storage backup software for our office or personal purpose.

Backup methods

There are two principal methods of backup: ” files-based backup ” which performs data copying through common file system queries and ” image-based backup ” which implies physical hard disk copying. Both backup methods are useful depends on the requirement. The first one is used for personal backup or single computer backup arrangements. This will be performed manually. The second one is used to do backup for large systems and network backup arrangements. Normally this Image based backup can be done automatically or through software interference like every day evening the backup schedule to be done.

Data that can be backed up

One of the most useful features in backup software is capability to backup different types of data: system registry, application settings, databases, and other.

Supported backup storage media

Another factor of supreme importance is where we are going to store backups. This should be considered depending on amount of data we need to back up, available hardware and security policy.

Backup types

There are several possible types of backup that may be involved in different backup media rotation schemes. Do depends the type of requirement, we need to select our backup software utility.

User interface

Choose a program that provides an easy and comprehensible way to automate all backup processes on the organization.

Trial period

A good backup tool must offer a full-featured trial period to let decide if it fits our needs or not. After the trail version usage, we can purchase a compel product. No need to go with initial full payment software product.

Support

Every software product must have a maintenance support for their products. So before buying the software product, make sure that the product comes with all necessary support and we will receive qualified assistance if we encounter any problems.

Price

Money is the main factor to buy better storage backup management software.

Avoid a Data Disaster Get the Proper Computer Backup Storage Today

Nick Kurentz — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:09:09 +0000

Having an up to date backup of important photos, files and other data from your computer at home or office is something everyone should have, how ever very few do. How Come? Well at first I thought it might be because no one knew how or that they should do it. How ever that wasn’t the case, the answer seems to be that most people just assume a data loss problem or PC failure won’t happen to them, that is until it’s to late.

In this article I am going to discuss computer backup storage and backup solutions. We’ll look at what media and method to use to store your backup as well as the software to create it.

Save your Money Fancy Features Don’t Make it Better

When selecting a form of computer backup storage keep this simple feature free idea in mind. Most times a USB drive (flash drive) or regular old DVD-R’s will get the job done. High tech alternatives such as tape backups and secondary hard drives will just complicate the issue.

Simple Software is the Answer for Easy Backups

Storing the backup you create is the first step, of course before you store it on a piece of media somewhere you need to first create the backup. An easy method of doing this is to just use the standard windows Zip format. This will compress everything, how ever it’s more difficult to keep all of your files up to date this way. Software can make this a lot easier on you and hands off.

Easy to use PC applications like Acronis True image make the backup process a lot easier then doing it manually. Programs like this are automatically integrated to store a backup on a USB drive or even transfer it off site via FTP. Using the backup software is as simple as selecting what files and folders you want backed up and the software takes care of the rest until you want to add new files or folders.

The key here is don’t get to weighted down in fancy features. All this does is slow you down and often you won’t complete your backup because of all the options.

Back it all Up Online

Another alternative for computer backup storage that is becoming very popular is online backup services. This combines the software to make the backup with the storage solution (off site online file storage). The price is right often less then five bucks a month, and the software is about as easy as you can get for making file backups.

If you take one thing away form this article the thing to remember is that you must take action. Not backing up your files today leaves one more day for something to crash and you lose all of your important photos, videos, music and more.

So take the first step today and investigate the best method of computer backup storage for you.