Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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

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.

Discover the best managed online backup services at my site. Learn where to get cheap offsite data backup services for your business needs.

Keep your data safe with online back systems

For a lot of us, our computer has become a huge source of our lives.  The computer gives us access to research, work, and entertainment.  It also holds important personal documents for us such as our tax returns, pictures and videos, work documents, school documents, DVD and CD copies, and so much more!

Now imagine that your computer crashes and you lose everything.  Maybe not everything, but losing even a small portion of the vast records you have stored could be devastating; pictures and videos that you cannot replace, a copy of your favorite CD that you don't have the original to. This disaster has happened to many and left them feeling regretful that they didn't back up their files.

There are many online backup solutions providers that will prevent you from losing any information even if your computer gets totally fried. For a monthly or yearly subscription, you can download a program that will automatically back up every file you have on your computer.  Then, the company you chose will store all that information for you.

Yes, you could back up everything yourself to a portable or remote hard drive. On the other hand, you have to actually remember to manually perform a backup on a regular basis. However, an advantage to online backup solutions, it that every day the new files you create and new pictures you upload will be safely backed up without you giving it a single thought.

You will be assured that your online backup services system is working for you because you will regularly get pop-up notifications of the last successful backup.  If there are ever any problems with the system you will also get a notification and are able to access your online backup solutions provider or trouble shoot your computer.

If your computer does crash, once you get it up and running again, or purchase a new computer, you simply access your online backup solutions provider and transfer all your files back over! It's really that simple.

Plans are as low as $50 a year, making the peace of mind worth every penny! Not only that, but most of the online backup solutions systems are so easy to use and understand that a beginner will have no trouble backing up there electronic records within minutes of subscription.

With all the important information and records you keep on our computers, can you really afford the risk of a crash?