As we become more dependant on our PCs, the need for a reliable backup has never been more important. Yet, most people never even think about backing up their PC until it is too late.
Typically when we think of backing up our data, we consider CD, DVD's or external hard drives. These methods will work, but at a cost. First off, any task that requires effort with little to no immediate payback often drops to the bottom of the “To Do” list pretty quickly. External drives may sound good, but what level of protection do they provide? To be really effective they need to be disconnected, and stored in a safe place between backup operations. Your backup won’t be much use if it is involved with the same theft, virus attack, fire, or flood that destroyed your original data. CDs and DVD's are an option as well, but the hassle and expense of placing a new disk in the drive and initiating the backup or erasing the RW media gets old quickly, especially if your backup spans multiple disks.
This is where a secure automated online backup comes in. Once it is setup, it just gets done. Here are some features to look for when selecting an online backup provider:
- Transmission of you data over an SSL connection. This ensures that no one can “listen in” and capture any of your sensitive information while you are backing up.
- Encryption of your data before it is transmitted. In the unlikely event that the server is broken into. You data will be completely unreadable.
- Compression of your data so you get the best use of your online storage. Put more data in less space.
- Incremental backup with "In File Delta" capability. Only the files that have changed need to be backed up, and that in the case of large files like your Outlook PST file, only the changes are sent and not the whole file.
- A retention area allows you to restore old versions of a file or deleted files. Offers protection against corrupt files, accidental deletions and edits.
- Scheduling of backup operations lets specify when you want the backup to take place.
- A backup report after every operation is absolutely essential. If there are errors due to firewall issues, network drive availability, isp outages, etc. You need to know about it so it can be resolved. This is where the many systems fail and people discover that their backups were not being done when they thought.
Guest Post by Greg Miller, the owner of MillerNET Solutions Inc. they provide web sitse through an easy to use online web site builder and secure online backup. For more information regarding MillerNET Protect Online Backup or to get your FREE 200MB account, go to http://millernetprotect.com
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