For home and small business computer users, development of a backup strategy to guard against data loss has never been more important than it is today. It’s not hard to get help with PC or Mac data recovery in New Jersey. There are so many service providers to choose from. This attests to a high degree of demand for data recovery, even within a single US state.
This situation is mirrored just about anywhere else in the developed world, indicating that a lot of people are losing data. Not any old data, but files and documents which are important enough to pay someone to retrieve them. By developing and implementing an effective backup strategy you can avoid the need to pay for professional PC or Mac data recovery in NJ, even though there are plenty of providers ready to do business with you.
When formulating a backup strategy, perhaps the hardest decision is the type of backup storage to employ. Do you go with external hard drives, RAID drives or other physical storage media or would you be better off making use of a cloud-based solution?
What Is a Cloud Backup Solution?
Also known as online backup, cloud backup solutions provide storage space for your computer data on remote servers. Instead of doing regular data backups to your own hard drives or other storage media, you send your data to a cloud solution provider over an internet connection. The provider stores your data on their server, usually for a monthly fee. If you suffer a computer problem which results in data loss, you just retrieve the lost data from your online backup.
Depending on your backup requirements, cloud storage offers some advantages over traditional forms of backup. Whilst cloud backup is becoming very popular though, traditional data storage methods are still preferable in some situations.
What Are the Pros and Cons of Cloud Backup?
Backing up your files online can be advantageous in a number of ways:
You can retrieve a lost file wherever you happen to be, as long as you can get online.
You can configure the cloud service to carry out daily scheduled backups.
Configuring a schedule means you don’t have to remember to do your backups.
Your important files are archived remotely, away from your home or business.
A cloud backup provider will usually offer better data security than traditional methods.
Cloud backup uses encryption, keeping your data even more secure from unauthorized access.
You don’t need to invest in extra hard drives or other storage hardware for your archived data.
One of the drawbacks to cloud backup can be the time it takes to perform an initial backup of all your data. In a small business scenario for instance, a full backup of your system could take weeks. Other disadvantages to online backup are:
To ensure the best data security, your monthly charge for cloud backup may be expensive. Less expensive services may provide less security. This can be a risk since you have no control over who might be able to access your data, if the provider’s security is compromised.
Business class online backup can be particularly expensive. This is because of the high level of security required. You will also be paying for the additional benefits offered by the provider’s user support services, which you may or may not require.
Because your data is transferred to a third party over the internet, there is a risk that it could be intercepted by hackers en route. This type of security breach is known as a “man in the middle” attack.
Cloud backup providers charge you a monthly fee to encrypt, transfer and store your data, so your total cost of ownership will be higher. As long as you use the service you will continue to pay. While purchasing your own storage drives can expensive initially, they provide a cheaper way to store your data backups in the long run.
Data recovery from the cloud can take a long time. So if you are backing up data which would be required quickly in the event of a data loss, traditional storage might be your best option.
Cloud backup is ideal when you only need to back up a limited amount of data. For home computer users, this can be the best option for storing specific types of file, such as copies of photographs or documents.
In business too, cloud backup solutions can be an excellent secondary backup medium for your most important documents, combined with traditional storage for your full system backup and data recovery needs. This gives you a degree of redundancy, meaning your most important business files are safe even if something happens to your local backup drive. For example, if your business premises and equipment were damaged by fire or flood, you would still get your vital files back without the expense of professional data recovery.
How to Save Money with Cloud Backup Services
There is a way that you can benefit from cloud backup services without spending a lot of money each month. A number of services, such as Google Drive, provide you with a certain amount of free storage. Google Drive currently provides 15 gigabytes of backup storage. The only drawback to using free services like this is that your data may not be encrypted. However, for backing up less important documents to save your local storage space, these services are a great way to do so for free.
Because there are quite a few free cloud backup solutions available on the internet, you can get quite a lot of free backup storage by signing up to a number of them. While this can be a little inconvenient, you won’t need to access the data frequently, so you just need to note down all your account information for the different services and keep it somewhere safe.
Remember that no backup method is completely bomb proof. If something happens to your main hard drive and you lose access to files you haven’t yet backed up, you will struggle to recover it. This is when you’ll be glad there are so many New Jersey data recovery services to choose from.
Dave’s Computers is one of those service providers, offering an honest and affordable service if you need data recovery fast. Visit Dave’s Computers website for more information or call the team on 908-428-9558.
by David Molnar
