Do You Have a Reliable and Tested Backup System in Place?

Published on: September 18th, 2013

Imagine that you are working on some critical financial data at the office or perhaps sorting through family photographs on your computer at home. What would you do if the computer containing all of your business and/or personal information crashed and your entire “digital life” suddenly vanished? What would you do if your computer was lost in a fire, destroyed in a flood or stolen at the airport? Do these scenarios put you into an automatic panic thinking about your data? At least the information can be recovered because you have a reliable and tested backup system in place. Right?

The Importance of Backup Systems

Backing up is something we all know we are supposed to do. Yet, sometimes we feel that we are simply too busy to spend the time researching various secure backup solutions or we feel that money should be budgeted in other areas. Many of us are still relying on old tapes, stacks of disks and USB flash drives as our backup plan. Even if you have an external hard drive backing up your computer, this system isn’t entirely foolproof. External hard drives can also crash or be stolen and all of your information will be gone. Once disaster strikes and all of your business or personal information have been wiped away, it’s too late to think about what you should have done. Trying to recover this information is impossible in most situations and extremely costly.

We strongly encourage you to be proactive and establish a backup plan immediately. Even if you already have a backup plan in place, you should reevaluate the solution as technology is evolving rapidly!

Backup Solutions Move Online

As ominous as the disaster scenarios above may sound, the good news is that backup options have become significantly more reliable and widely used. Technology and increased internet speeds have switched backup processes to online data storage. Here are a few informative pointers on how online backup systems work:

• The online backup provider will download their software to your computer.
• The application simply runs in the background backing up your data to the provider’s secure storage servers. It’s a simple automated system that backs up everything on your computer. Not just select files – everything.
• Most online backup providers encrypt stored data in a class known as “Bank Grade Security.” With this high-level of data encryption, there is no need to worry that your business or personal information can be seen by others.
• A user friendly interface enables you to set-up a backup schedule and to download and restore files once the files are backed up.
• Think of online backup as insurance for your data. If you lose any files, you retrieve the information via the online backup system. You pay a monthly fee to keep your data insured.
• Online backup keeps your file structure intact. You can search for backup information just as you would find the information filed on your computer. It’s efficient and user friendly.
• Online backups provide easy recovery if disaster happens to strike.

Why Online Backup is Your Best Solution

Online backup is the best solution for ensuring the security of your business data and also personal information. Online backup provides protection for your data in the event of a computer crash, theft or natural disaster while also delivering an elevated level of security. Within the realm of online backup solutions, there are a number of vendors and solutions to consider. Contact your local Computer Troubleshooters to help you determine the best backup scenario for your business or home use. Be sure that your data is safe, secure and backed up.