Want to know about various data backup methods..

[julie12]

Data backup is not only important for small or large business but data on your personal system at home also need to be store on some other storage media. Even if you are taking various precautions, then also your system may suffer data loss anytime.

To avoid loss of any kind of data, I am storing my important data regularly on CDs or pen drive. But they can also be destroyed anytime. So, I want to get know about most secured backup solution.

If you know other methods with the help of which I can secure my personal data while sitting at home, please help me with more information regarding better data backup method...

[ABMX]

I've seen pen drives naturally degrade over time, or even get shorted from an unexpected powerspike. I've also had CD/DVDs that stopped working years later.

I've seen people setup their computers with 2 drives in RAID1 and will pull and replace one of the drives regularly and put the hard drive in an anti-static bag and store it.

I know some tech support companies out there offer offsite backup with their services that do incremental backups and keep it syncronized accross multiple systems in multiple datacenters.

Can always keep a couple spare hard drives dedicated to running backups, a dedicated backup server/computer that your other systems just connect to each night to make regular backups.

There are these "Gold" DVD/CDs out there that supposedly are rated for like 100 years. I've never worked with them before, but doesn't hurt to mention them.

[julie12]

Thanks for such a useful information.
But still i want to know which method is more affordable and secure? offsite backup or online backup?..

[ABMX]

The secure aspect would really vary by how paranoid you are about your data. The closest to 100% secure options would be anything that never transmits over the internet and is in your physical possession and control, like the CD/DVD media and (assuming no viruses) local private file servers or hard drive arrays. Next would be encrypted backup solutions that run their backup systems via some sort of VPN, and/or building your own where only you can touch either side to configure the encryption.

By cost, CD's are only a few cents a piece, DVDs not too much more per need/use. A local terabyte hard drive can run $80-$120 and is likely to last you a while on the size part of things(guessing from the fact you're doing backups with DVDs and pen drives). Grabbing two drives and RAID card for RAID1 can get up to a total of $300-$500 depending on exact parts. Creating a local dedicated backup server can start at $700 easily. Colocating the same server could cost the price of the server plus whatever monthly price the datacenter charges plus data overages. Renting a dedicated server or VPS would probably be cheaper then that.

[kerry15]

Hello
However, many personal computer users don't really know what they need to back their data up. What's the best way to keep data in a safe location that isn't going to be subject to crippling data loss?

There are hundreds of ways available to back up your data, but some of them are far and away better than the others. Here's a list of some of the best and most secure ways to back your data up without spending too much money.

It may seem obvious, but these days, nearly every computer has a DVD-ROM drive that can write large amounts of information relatively quickly to either a DVD-R or CD-R disc. The discs themselves are relatively inexpensive, and they're a great form of data backup, as long as they're kept properly labeled and checked for consistency.

Beware of underrun errors, and check your data occasionally to make sure everything's ready if your hard drive goes out on you. Generally speaking, it's preferable to use CD/DVD-ROM backup as a secondary method of data backup, but it can do quite nicely in a pinch if you've got a few files or folders you need a backup of quickly.

[julie12]

Is it necessary to registered with companies who provide online data backup services? Or.. there is some other way to get these services?

[albert]

Is it necessary to registered with companies who provide online data backup services? Or.. there is some other way to get these services?

Yeah it is necessary.. registered data backup service provider give you secure encryption code. Whenever you want to access or restore the lost data at your end from the remote server, with the help of only this code you are able to decrypt the data and get the data in original format.
You cam also get the additional benefits with these companies.

[ABMX]

Yeah it is necessary.. registered data backup service provider give you secure encryption code. Whenever you want to access or restore the lost data at your end from the remote server, with the help of only this code you are able to decrypt the data and get the data in original format.
You cam also get the additional benefits with these companies.

No not necessarily, those specific features and configurations can be configured by one's technical staff if they have the education and experience. The advantage of working with a backup service is that they are the one managing the hardware not yourself.

[CreditSolutions]

Thanks for such a useful information.

[albert]

Not to do anything yourself. Online data backup works automatically and give complete security to your stored data.

[tankbusta]

We use several NAS's to form what we call OTBackup.

You can read about it more at OTStorage (http://www.onlinetech.com/managed_services/colocation_nas_storage/) or OTBackup (http://www.onlinetech.com/managed_services/managed_server_backup/)

It's on a secure private network, advance RAID, and proactive monitoring which makes it a great platform for secure storage. A great plus is for disaster recovery between data centers. It utilizes a private fiber connection between the buildings that is completely private and on different utility grids in case of a disaster.

[julie12]

yeah... studied..
can you please tell me what additional features make it different from others?

[albert]

Online data backup store your files or folders with fully encrypted, instantly recoverable and backed up automatically services.

It protect your data from hardware crash, natural disasters, accidental deletion of files, viruses and malicious attackers.

[julie12]

Thanks albert.

Can anyone else give some more additional features?

[kerry]

You need not to worry about taking backup. All the process work automatically.

[heena]

Hello
Mode 1 : Simple Copying

You are working on a project and you decide to replicate a copy. So you pop in a diskette or CD-Recordable into your drive and drag the files over from your local drive. This is the most common backup method and is the easiest to implement. Some users would prefer to compress the file into a zip file to make copying faster. However, you may lose all your files if ever the zip file becomes corrupted.

Mode 2 : Ghosting Or Drive Imaging

Originated from products like Norton System Ghost, this mode of backup makes a full replica of the entire disk partition. And this usually includes the operating system, device drivers, windows registry, system files and basically everything within a disk volume. The primary advantage this mode offers is minimal time is needed to restoring the backup. However the backing up process might be rather time consuming and intensive as the size of the backup is very large. And if you're using removable media such as CD-Rs, the backup image may span over a couple of discs. DVD-Rs and tapes are popular media to be used for imaging as both supports large data storage capacity. Restoring works with using a boot disk and the drive imaging software. After the essential files are loaded, the backup is restored typically disc after disc until the process finally completes. In a nutshell, drive imaging is the best method to protect against full hard drive failures. And most users use this mode primarily to restore systems or database rather than project files that are subjected to frequent modifications. Conventional methods of backups are then combined with this mode.

Mode 3 : Using Windows XP Archive Backup

Archive backup is introduced back in Windows 2000 and Windows XP which comes inbuilt with its own backup and restore software. This fairly easy to use utility contains a list of flexible selections to help you to decide what and how to backup. You can backup all files in your personal documents folder or only certain files that you specify. It also supports full system backup including an Automated system recovery (ASR) floppy disk. This mode is helpful if you're backing up data for the first time as you'll be led through a series of steps to selecting your files and finally producing the output backup file. The utility also allows you to set automatic regular backup schedules. Windows Backup utility does not support CD burning functionality so you may need to manually load the file into your burning software after that.

[kerry]

Hey heena..
really a great post... thanks...

[John123]

Hello
Data backup is a fundamental part of nearly every organization’s disaster recovery and business continuity plans. But long gone are the days when you had a simple tape backup drive connected to a computer with a single tape that would back up days and weeks worth of data to a single tape.

The volume of data organizations back up is enormous and growing larger all the time. Different strategies have been used by companies to back up their data. Larger, more sophisticated tape backup systems are often used. More progressive organizations have employed remote data backup services where data is backed up over the Internet to a secure facility. Regardless of which method companies use, Perimeter CTO Kevin Prince says there seem to be some common pitfalls that can severely affect a company’s processes and bottom line.

Using an up-to-date remote data backup solution with such features as file de-duplication, in-file de-duplication and compression will not only solve the problems of traditional tape backup and older remote data backup solutions, it will save you thousands of dollars in what is ultimately a far superior solution. If you got burnt when trying a previous iteration of remote data backup or still use a tape backup system, now is the time to evaluate a better solution in order to avoid these common pitfalls.