Do you have a plan in case of an unexpected loss of data? All computers no matter how secure or well maintained can at some point, lose data, either by human error, power outage, or hardware malfunction. Are you prepared for such a circumstance? If not, and your only recourse is to take your hard drive to a data recovery service, you may find your business down for days or weeks, having to pay for a costly repair and data recovery, and some of your data may be gone forever. Data recovery is a highly technical and highly skilled craft and therefore, expensive.

Obviously, no one can plan for unexpected data loss, but what you can plan for is restoring lost data economically and promptly. Hard drive backup is a way to insure your business against unexpected data loss. Backing up your data gives you a way to restore lost data in-house which means less costly than a data recovery service, probably quicker and lesser chance of permanently lost data.

There are basically two types of backups. A ‘real’ incremental backup is usually a single, encrypted file or image of the hard drive. The file is created, encrypted and if need be unencrypted by a proprietary software. By making incremental images of your hard drive using such software, you have the ability to restore your drive or individual files to a state at a previous point in time. One disadvantage of this kind of backup is that you must use the same software to unencrypt the image files as you used to encrypt them. If you lose that software for whatever reason, you may not be able to restore your data.

The other type of backup is what most people think when they think of a backup and that is simply a copy of everything on your hard drive or specific files on it. Cloning files on a hard drive requires no special software, and therefore it’s simpler and cheaper. What’s not as simple is being able to restore you data to a previous point in time. It’s not impossible, just not as convenient as making image files as described above.

When making a backup, what should you backup? Well, most modern operating systems have simplified things a bit by separating user created files, user settings, operating system files, and applications. You can of course backup everything, but it might be simpler to make incremental and frequent backups of the user data and settings only. That way you can save time making backups and save space on your backup media. You can always reinstall the operating system and applications, and then use your backup to restore the lost data. That is of course if your operating system and all your applications have the capability to save user settings and customizations that you can backup and consequently restore. If not, you might waste a lot of time resetting everything after a fresh install, in which case it might be better to backup everything on your hard drive. These are things you’ll have to consider for your particular situation.

Now that you’ve decided what kind of backup to make and what you want to backup, you have to decide on what type of media to record your backups. Here are a few options to consider, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Tape has been around a long, long time and is used by businesses large and small with complex multi-user systems and vast databases of information. Tape is relatively inexpensive and easy to remove to a remote location if need be. Although it can be slow to record to tape.

DVDs or other optical data storage usually cost more per unit of memory than tape, and they have less storage capacity per unit and are even slower to record. But, they are faster to read from and also very easy to remove to a remote location.

Another option is getting extra hard drives. Although the most expensive option for backup media, they are the fastest to read and write. But, depending on the type, it may or may not be removable. Being able to remove your backups becomes a serious consideration when the security of your data is a concern.

Now that you have a backup, what should you do with it? Keeping your backup locally, either as part of your system or in the same building is convenient. It also makes the job of getting your backup in time of need much quicker. But what if your system is completely destroyed by fire or some other natural disaster? You might lose your data and your backup. This illustrates the advantage of keeping your backups in a remote location. Although your backups might be safer in a remote location, you lose the convenience of being able to quickly restore lost data since you would then have to retrieve the backup from another location before you can use it.

One final consideration about backing up your data is the security of your data. If you protect sensitive data on your system with encryption or other means, wouldn’t you want the backup of that data to be protected as well? Encrypting data doesn’t necessarily provide bullet proof protection and making backups or copies of sensitive data just means more opportunities for potential thieves to get their hands on it, especially if you spread those copies out in remote locations for safety. That’s just more places in which you’ll have to provide security of those backups.

Hope this article gives you some idea on what your options are and the disadvantages and advantages of each.

Luke Garfield
Respected computer scientist and author.
Visit http://computerdatarecovery.netfirms.com for more articles like this.

Planning a backup and restoration of files is the most important step to protect data from accidental loss in the event of data deletion or a hard disk failure. The backup copy can be used to restore lost or damaged data. For taking backups and restoring files, Microsoft has provided a utility called Backup. The Backup utility creates a copy of data on a hard disk of a computer and archives data on another storage media. Any storage media such as removable disks, tapes, and logical drives can be used as a backup storage.

While taking a backup of files, the Backup utility creates a volume shadow copy of the data to create an accurate copy of the contents. It includes any open files or files that are being used by the system. Users can continue to access the system while the Backup utility is running without the risk of losing data.

Volume Shadow Copy

Backup provides a feature of taking a backup of files that are opened by a user or system. This feature is known as volume shadow copy. Volume shadow copy makes a duplicate copy of all files at the start of the backup process. In this way, files that have changed during the backup process are copied correctly. Due to this feature, applications can continue writing data to the volume during a backup operation, and backups can be scheduled at any time without locking out users.

Types of Backups

The Windows Backup utility provides various types of backups. While planning for a backup strategy, it is important to choose an appropriate type or combination of different types of backups. The backup type determines which files are transferred to the destination media.

Each backup type relates to an attribute maintained by every file known as archive (A). The archive attribute is set when a file is created or changed. When an archive attribute is set, it means that the backup of this file has not been taken or it is due.

Note: When it is said that “The file is marked as backup”, it means that the archive attribute of the file has been cleared.

Normal Backups

When an administrator chooses to use a normal backup, all selected files and folders are backed up and the archive attribute of all files are cleared. A normal backup does not use the archive attribute to determine which files to back up. A normal backup is used as the first step of any backup plan. It is used with the combination of other backup types for planning a backup strategy of an organization. Normal backups are the most time-consuming and are resource hungry. Restoration from a normal backup is more efficient than other types of backups.

Incremental Backups

An incremental backup backs up files that are created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. It takes the backup of files of which the archive attribute is set. After taking a backup, it clears the archive attribute of files. An incremental backup is the fastest backup process. Restoring data from an incremental backup requires the last normal backup and all subsequent incremental backups. Incremental backups must be restored in the same order as they were created.

Note: If any media in the incremental backup set is damaged or data becomes corrupt, the data backed up after corruption cannot be restored.

Differential Backups

Differential backup backs up files that are created or changed since the last normal backup. It does not clear the archive attribute of files after taking a backup. The restoration of files from a differential backup is more efficient than an incremental backup.

Copy Backups

A copy backup copies all selected files and folders. It neither uses nor clears the archive attribute of the files. It is generally not a part of a planned scheduled backup.

Daily Backups

A daily backup backs up all selected files and folders that have changed during the day. It backs up data by using the modified date of the files. It neither uses nor clears the archive attribute of the files.

Combining backup types

The easiest backup plan is to take a normal backup every night. A normal backup every night ensures that the data is restored from a single job the next day. Although the restoration of data from a normal backup is easy, taking a backup is time consuming. Hence, an administrator is required to make an optimal backup plan. An administrator must consider the following points before creating a backup plan:

• The time involved in taking the backup.
• The size of the backup job.
• The time required to restore a system in the event of a system failure.

The most common solutions for the needs of different organizations include the combination of normal, differential, and incremental backups.

Combination of Normal and Differential Backups

An administrator can use a combination of a normal backup and a differential backup to save time in taking a backup as well as for a restoration of data. In this plan, a normal backup can be taken on Sunday, and differential backups can be taken on Monday through Friday every night. If data becomes corrupt at any time, only a normal and last differential backup are required to be restored. Although this combination is easier and takes lesser time for restoration, it takes more time to take backup if data changes frequently.

Combination of Normal and Incremental Backups

A combination of normal and incremental backups can be used to save more time for taking backups. In this plan, a normal backup is taken on Sunday and incremental backups on Monday through Friday every night. If data becomes corrupt at any time, a normal and all incremental backups till date are required to be restored.

Backing up a System State Data

bSystem State Data

System State data contains critical elements of the Windows 2000 and Windows Server 2003 operating systems. Following are the files included in the System State data:

• Boot files, including the system files and all files protected by Windows File Protection (WFP).
• Active Directory (on domain controller only).
• SYSVOL (on domain controller only).
• Certificate Services (on certification authority only).
• Cluster database (on cluster node only).
• Registry.
• IIS metabase.
• Performance counter configuration information.
• Component Services Class registration database.

For backing up the System State of a computer, the System State node is included as a part of the backup selection in the Backup utility.

Note: On domain controllers, System State can be restored only by restarting the domain controller in Directory Services Restore Mode. NTDSUTIL is used to recover deleted objects in Active Directory.

System Recovery

In the event of a system failure, the recovery of the system is difficult and tedious for administrators. Recovery involves reinstallation of the operating system, mounting and cataloging the backup tape, and then performing the full restore. To make this process easier, Windows provides a feature called Automated System Recovery (ASR). ASR is used to perform a restore of the System State data and services in the event of a major system failure. An ASR restore includes the configuration information for devices. ASR backs up the system data and local system partition.

How to create an ASR set?

Take the following steps to create an Automated System Recovery (ASR) set by using the Backup or Restore Wizard:

1. Run Backup from Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Backup.
2. In the welcome screen of the Backup or Restore Wizard, click the Advanced Mode link.
3. On the welcome page of the Advanced Mode of the Backup utility, choose the ASR Wizard option from the Tools menu.
4. 4.In the welcome screen of the ASR Wizard, click the Next button.
5. On the Backup Destination page, specify the location of the backup, and click the Next button.
6. Click the Finish button.

Note: An ASR backup does not include folders and files.

Best practices for Backup

According to Microsoft, administrators should take the following steps to ensure the recovery in case of a system failure:

• Develop backup and restore strategies and test them.
• Train appropriate personnel.
• In a high-security network, ensure that only administrators are able to restore files.
• Back up all data on the system and boot volumes and the System State.
• Back up the data on all volumes and the System State data at the same time.
• Create an Automated System Recovery backup set.
• Create a backup log.
• Keep at least three copies of the media. Keep at least one copy off-site in a properly controlled environment.
• Perform trial restorations.
• Secure devices and media.
• Do not disable the default volume shadow copy backup method and revert to the pre-Windows Server 2003 backup method.
• Back up your server cluster effectively.
• Back up the cluster disks from each node.

uCertify was formed in 1996 with an aim to offer high quality educational training software and services in the field of information technology to its customers. uCertify provides exam preparation solutions for the certification exams of Microsoft, CIW, CompTIA, Oracle, Sun and other leading IT vendors. To know more about uCertify, please visit http://www.ucertify.com/

Today’s computing networks typically have very powerful client computers with significant amounts of captive storage attached to each one. Processing power is very easily available and the Internet interconnects a huge number of private networks and individual computers. Captive storage for clients, servers and dedicated applications has exploded. Successfully executed backups and (more importantly) successful restores, may mean the difference between gracefully recovering from data loss and starting the countdown to seeking new employment.

As processing power proliferates, and dedicated captive storage follows along with each new machine, storage “islands” are gradually formed. Islands are dedicated storage arrays or volumes that are only used by a single host or a single application. One example of a common island is an Exchange server with an external SCSI array; another could be a SQL server with some dedicated RAID-protected drives. Captive locally attached storage for a database cannot be shared out to other computers nor can it be easily grown, moved or duplicated without placing a significant burden on or even causing downtime for the host.

These islands represent wasted hardware investment dollars, since many times some are underutilized while others are overflowing. Also these islands propagate over time they increasingly burden the systems administrators with management of the new growth. Storage islands often cause backup problems, requiring dedicated tape drives and software to manage multiple individual backup tasks - not to mention the time and burden on the host when a restore is necessary.

The benefits of centralized storage are that application data can be combined into a single storage device or pool of devices called a Storage Area Network (SAN). SANs provide very high performance data storage that can be scaled as needed. File sharing services, usually proved by partially or wholly dedicated servers, can be consolidated into a Network Attached Storage (NAS) server. A single application server can share files as well as host dedicated application data, as well as run software for backup and restore tasks. But as servers grow in capacity while narrowing their specialization, the advantages of consolidating become clearer.

With increasing pressures of security, regulatory compliance and corporate governance, management of business data is becoming ever more complex and important. Technology is allowing organizations to create and store exponentially more data; the key to being successful is managing that data explosion.

Consolidation means reducing the amount of time spent managing tasks, jobs, applications and data growth. Moving all types of data to a single, central, redundant and high-performing storage server could mean less time spent handling repeated storage-related tasks and worrying about backup failures.

Direct Attached Storage (No sharing of data resources) The most common form of server storage today is still Direct Attached Storage (DAS). The disks may be internal to the server or they may be in an array that is connected directly to the server. The storage may only be accessed through that server. An application server will have its own storage; the next application server will have its own storage; and the file and print servers will each have their own storage. Backups must either be performed on each individual server with a dedicated tape drive or across the LAN to a shared tape device consuming a significant amount of bandwidth. Storage can only be added by taking down the application server, adding physical disks and rebuilding the storage array. When a server is upgraded then its data needs to be migrated to the new server.

SAN (Sharing of data resources) A SAN allows more than one application server to share storage. Data is stored at a block level and can therefore be accessed by an application, not directly by clients. The physical elements of the SAN (servers, switches, storage arrays etc.) are typically connected with Fibre-Channel. Backups can be performed centrally and can more easily be managed to avoid interrupting the applications. The time taken for backups is dramatically reduced because the backup is performed over the high-speed SAN and no backup traffic ever impacts users on the LAN. The primary advantage of a SAN is its scalability and flexibility. Storage may be added without disrupting the applications and different types of storage may be added to the pool.

Adding storage capacity has become more simplified for systems administrators, so it is no longer necessary to bring down the application server. Additional storage can simply be added and then configured and made immediately available to those applications that need it. Upgrading the application server is also simplified; the data can remain on the disk arrays, the new server just needs to point to the appropriate data set.

The actual implementation of a SAN can be quite daunting given the cost and complexity of Fibre-Channel infrastructure components. For this reason, SAN installations have primarily been confined to large organizations with dedicated storage management resources.

The last few years have seen the emergence of iSCSI (which means SCSI over IP or Internet Protocol) as a new interconnect for a SAN. iSCSI is a lower cost alternative to Fibre-Channel SAN infrastructure and is an ideal solution for many small and medium sized businesses. Essentially all of the same capability of FC-SAN is provided, but the interconnect is Ethernet cable and the switches are Gigabit Ethernet, the same low-cost technology that is commonly in use today on most LANs, slightly lower performance but most organizations will not notice.

Network Attached Storage A NAS appliance is a simplified form of file server; it is optimized for file sharing in an organization. Authorized clients can see folders and files on the NAS device just as they can on their local hard drive. NAS appliances are so called because they have all of the required software preloaded and they are easy to install and simple to use. Installation consists of rack mounting, connecting power and Ethernet, and configuring via a simple browser-based tool. Installation is typically achieved in less than half an hour. NAS devices are frequently used to consolidate file services. To prevent the proliferation of file servers; a single NAS appliance can replace many regular file servers, simplifying management and reducing cost and workload for the systems administrator. NAS appliances are also multi-protocol, which means that they can share files among clients using Windows and UNIX-based operating systems. Administrators manage the NAS device via a browser window from anywhere they have network access and can assign shares, security settings etc. NAS fits right in with existing security and network management tools. As the business grows and needs more capacity, more storage can be added to the NAS device without disrupting users. One of the most common requests to a systems administrator is to restore a single file or group of files. With NAS, a feature called Snapshot™ is available that provides an almost instantaneous way for the systems administrator (or even an authorized user) to recover lost, deleted or corrupted files.

Author is a writer for SunstarCO. who specialize in data storage and tape libraries. For more information you can visit http://www.sunstarco.com/.

We all know the effects of data loss -but exactly what is it?

Data loss - A crash in computing is a condition where a program (either an application or part of the operating system) stops performing its expected function and also stops responding to other parts of the system. Often the offending program may simply appear to freeze. If this program is a critical part of the operating system kernel the entire computer may crash (a system crash).

Having noted the definitions for data loss I’ll note a few reasons why it occurs, and how to recover the data, as well as a few links to specialized sites.

1. User error - A simple mistake on behalf of an employee could lead to the loss of megabytes of critical company data. From the deletion of a critical file to the accidental deletion of database records, your customers could face large expenses and significant down time recovering the disaster created by a simple mistake.

2. Employee theft - Employees need access to sensitive data in order to perform their jobs. Your customers have to limit the information to which employees have access, ensure that terminated employees no longer have access to sensitive data, and be able to track who’s touching what, when and how.

3. Disaster - What natural disasters or unfortunate accidents might affect business? Magazines daily contain news of organizations that have faced unbelievable catastrophes. In the event that your or your customers’ organizations are hit with a fire, flood or other disaster, how will the data be protected?

One way is to have backups. Using an Iomega REV drive powered by Iomega Automatic Backup Pro software, configure a full backup to REV 35GB disks once a week. Once this backup is done, you can secure the full backup offsite. With your data now backed up in two locations, no single event will be able to damage both sets of data. This backup can be done through backing software, like Argentum™ Backup , which automatically detects and locates the proper paths, folders and files under any Microsoft Windows (95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and 2003) platform. Argentum Backup does it for sure, without any mistake or occasion. Argentum Backup is designed to be suitable for both beginners and advanced users

But, the best and newest way are the online backup solutions, which help you protect your data on a regular basis (daily, weekly or monthly). One of this sites is Iomega iStorage, from one of the best backup companies. This site offers a feature-rich, highly secure online storage vault designed perfectly to meet the needs of small and medium-sized businesses. Includes administrative abilities that give you control of content shared and accessed. It creates multiple logins to the same account, giving members their own login and storage space and creates logins for guests to use with restricted access

Another site is www.backup.com, where you can find another on-line backup system, called @backup. It’s main features are:

·simple finding and selecting of files is made easy with our right mouse click options or with our explorer-like interface;

·You don’t have to remember to do a backup. @Backup remembers for you. You set your backup schedule and we do the rest;

·They encrypt your data with bank level security procedures before transferring over the Internet to our data centers. Your data is stored encrypted and only accessible with your password.

·You can restore files anytime. In the event of a crash, a virus infection, or a simple user error your backups are a click away. Additionally you have access to your files from any PC anywhere.

These are just two of the sites that offer you on-line backup system. The internet is packed with offers that vary from the size of the backup they provide to the monthly cost of the service. For your help, I’ve included a few links, to other sites, where you can find details and prices for on-line backups.

www.livevault.com www.dataprotection.com www.xdrive.com

Don’t wait until it’s too late - make a back up plan now!
Steve Armstrong is editor of www.data-recovery-resources.biz a website detailing resources and information on data recovery.

If you are tired of using CDs or floppies to store your files, than you will want to consider online backup. Your hard drive might be crammed full of unfiled documents, and you might be wondering what in the world you would do if your computer crashed. Don’t leave your important information at the mercy of your fallible computer which might catch a virus, but if you get online backup, you can be confident that you will always have your files available. Online backup is easy to use and to understand. Once you see how well your online backup program will work, you will never rely on floppies again.

With online backup, you can choose between full backups and incremental backups, which will gradually store your files. These programs will allow you to pick and choose which files you want to backup and you can also save different versions of the same files. To conserve space on your online backup program, you can choose compression levels; the highest levels will save your files in their smallest form and will give your more space to store many more files.

An important feature in online backup is security. It doesn’t make any sense to back up all your files only to discover that a hacker has gotten his mitts on you and your customer’s personal information. A good online backup program will offer encryption, which will make it impossible for outsiders to read your documents. Even the file name can be disguised, and various versions of a document will also be encoded. This coding, however, does not make it more difficult for your to retrieve your documents from online backup; only interlopers are prevented from accessing your files.

With online backup programs, you can backup your files automatically or schedule backups. You might want to schedule these backups for times when you are not using the computer, since excessive activity usually slows down a computer. You will receive a detailed log of these jobs and an e-mail notification of a scheduled backup. This will enable you to organize your information and to confirm that a file backup has actually taken place.

For computer users who are concerned about how online backup
will affect their bandwith, space-saving technology is one way to preserve bandwith and to store documents more efficiently. In addition to compressing files, many online backup programs only transfer altered portions of a file to save space. You can select which files you want to backup quickly and easily using drag and drop features.

If you are looking for online backup for a large business, you can find programs using API technology. This technology is designed to handle larger amounts of information and have heightened security features which make the files absolutely impenetrable. Of course, more sophisticated online backup costs more money, but given the importance of preserving files and keeping them secure, it is worth the investment, especially for growing businesses.

The kind of online backup program you choose depends very much on the size of the files you want to backup and your priorities. Do research with different companies before making your final decision. It is definitely worth it to take advantage of trial offers and demos, and these opportunities will give you a better idea of which online backup programs are right for you.

Matt Garrett www.XoftSpy.co.uk www.online-server-backups.net

Data backup is rarely a part of a home computer user’s or business IT administrator’s plans, we all say it will never happen to me or my company, but in reality we are just mentally preparing for the time we lose our data. Its like trying to stop smoking, we all know we should do it but will find every excuse not to. So be honest with yourself and ask yourself the question, do you have a backup plan for your data, or more importantly, do you have a restore plan which will protect your business should something go wrong? All business leaders and owners will now tell you that computers are way past being a useful part of our lives, but now they are an absolute necessity. We acknowledge the data which resides on our computer infrastructure is the most important asset of any organization. I ask again, what would happen if you lost your data and what are you doing to protect it?

The reasons for data loss are endless, human intervention, hardware failure, software failure, natural disaster, loss, theft, we can go on, but we can be sure of one thing, as time goes by the list will get longer and longer.
Ever had anything stolen or lost anything before?

I have been in the IT industry for some 25 years now, and as you can imagine, I have heard some bizarre stories of how computers and servers have been stolen. Laptops stolen from back seats of cars (data lost), a colleague forgot he left his laptop on the roof of his car; problem is he realized when he was 160 miles down the road (lost data). My friend’s office was broken in twice in two nights, first time resulted in loss of desktop computers and totally trashed alarm system (some data loss), and second night was to take the servers along with the backup device and media! Apparently the heavy stuff was stolen the second night as the thief’s had more time due to the alarm not being repaired quickly enough (total data loss and company ceased trading within 8 months). Save yourself money; prevent data loss in the first place by implementing a data backup plan.

Hardware Failure
If you have managed to never lose your laptop or have you whole IT infrastructure stolen then well done, so now let’s prepare ourselves for hardware failure. There are mainly only three mechanical parts within a laptop, computer or server; 1) hard drive, 2) backup drive 3) CD or DVD. Hard drives do fail and if it has not happen yet it will. Don’t get me wrong, if you take a failed drive to an expert, they will probably get most of your data back (phew) but expect to pay in excess of £5000 for the pleasure (not phew). Save yourself money; prevent data loss in the first place by implementing a data backup plan.

Fire or Disaster (natural or not).
I live in the UK, it’s a lovely place as we don’t have issues with forest fires, earth quakes, and hurricanes etc. so there will never be any large natural disaster which will wipe out the majority of a city. This is what I thought until the Bunsfield oil refinery blew up and flattened everything within a 3 mile radius. There are a million and one reasons and scenarios I can give you illustrating why you should backup your business data. We all know the practice of data backup is nothing more than good common sense. Mission critical or sensitive data you don’t want or can not afford to lose should be secured. PROTECT YOUR DATA! If you honestly think you do not need to backup your data because you will never lose it, please stop reading this article now and go and do something less boring.

Let’s talk about the various ways of securing your data and other backup services. If you take the following on board you will be able to find the solution which will best suit you or your company.
Backup to CD solution.

To backup your file data to CD is easy, it may be time consuming to do this every night and you will have to be disciplined to put up to an hour aside to carry out this task every night. To backup data to a CD drive is not an automated process and we all know people get busy. Once you have backed your data to CD please always verify that the data is actually on the CD and then take it home with you. There is no point leaving it to be stolen or destroyed by fire along with your hardware.

Please do not us a CD to archive data (safe documents for a long time) as I would not expect this form of media to remain stable for more than 2 years.
Backing up to CD has many limitations but it is certainly better than not backing up your data at all.

RAID – Not backup but will protect your server disks.
All servers should be given every opportunity to stay alive, running a RAID configuration will help prevent data loss due to hard drive failure. If you have 3 drives running in a RAID 5 configuration, your server will tolerate a single drive failure. RAID will not protect you from fire, flood, theft or any other disaster waiting to happen, but does offer business continuity.
This solution doesn’t usually protect you from theft as the extra hard drives for RAID storage are usually installed in your computer or in other equipment on site. It usually won’t protect you from fire either so this method does have its limitations.

Secure Offsite Data Backup and Recovery via a third party organization.
Offsite Backup or Backing up via the Internet methods are usually associated with larger enterprise companies. In the past the high cost of high speed connectivity has been prohibitive to smaller companies.
This method of data backup is now become totally accepted and is gaining momentum around the globe. The main reason for such grown is because the price of high speed internet connections has greatly reduced, virtually every business and home is connected to the internet via a minimum 2MB pipe as a result it is now possible to backup high volumes of data to a secure offsite data centre.

For me, the best element of an offsite backup solution is not the high encryption security levels in place, the price or the purpose designed replicated infrastructure where your data is stored, but it is the fact that an offsite backup solution is a totally automated process. Set and forget, once you have set the software to backup your data at a certain time of every day you can just forget it and let it get on with its job of protecting your data.
If I controlled your backup process, I would implement all three of the options mentioned. A RAID system for business continuity, offsite backup to securely protect all my business data, and to enable a quick restore, a CD backup of just my mission critical data which will keep my business running.

To find out more information about secure offsite data backup solutions, please visit

www.perfectbackup.co.uk

As a small or medium sized business owner you may already be backing up your company data. If you are using a tape or other media based solution you are probably already aware that it takes time and diligence to manage the tape rotation schedule. Here are 5 benefits of an online remote backup solution. You should make sure that any online data backup service you choose offers all of these options.

Your data backup is saved offsite It is important that your data backup is removed to an offsite location after it is backed up. If you do not move your data backup from your business location it is not truly safe. If there were to be a fire or other disaster at your business location, your data backup could be destroyed along with your office. Putting last nights data backup tape into your desk drawer does not provide adequate protection!

Your data is also mirrored to another server When your data backup is on tape it is usually the only copy you have. Therefore if that tape gets lost, damaged or is simply found to be corrupted when you need to restore your data backup, your data is not actually safe and you cannot recover.By having an online system that immediately mirrors to another location, you get twice as much data backup protection. This happens immediately with remote data backup.

Your data backup is compressed before transmission Compressing your data backup before transmission to the remote backup location provides two cost benefits.

• The data backup that is transmitted is smaller. It takes less time to transmit to the remote backup location. This saves you money in bandwidth charges by your internet service provider.
• The data backup also takes up less storage space on the data backup server’s hard drive. This saves you money on storage charges for your data backup.

Data is encrypted and you are the only person with key Normal data backups to tape can provide encryption but this is not normally the default setting. For remote data backup you are asked to provide an encryption key as part of the installation process. This is the same encryption that is used by banks to secure their systems.

You are usually the only person who knows this key, so it is vital that you keep it safe. If you cannot find the key after a disaster, you will not be able to restore your data. The remote data backup service will not be able to restore your data without your key. This is very important!

The remote data backup facility is secure The data backup facility has security guards and is monitored 24/7 to ensure unauthorized person gains entry to the building. Access to the building and then to the data backup server room itself is secured by electronic swipe cards and readers.

The facility has fire protection features that include special Halon gas fire extinguishers that immediately disperse into the data backup server room, which is sealed. Even if a small amount of smoke emits from an electrical circuit the data backup server room is filled with Halon gas immediately. This removes all of the oxygen from the room and stops any fire immediately. This protection is provided even though there is a second, mirrored, redundant copy of your data backup in another facility thousands of miles away.

The facility also has backup generator systems that will start in the event of a power outage and can run and power the facility indefinitely.

Stephen Tickner is an IT consulting veteran of 15 years. In corporate London he was the IT Director of the UK & Europe for TAC Worldwide Companies. He is the principal and owner of TRS Technology Group, Inc; a Sarasota, web design & IT consulting practice based in Sarasota, FL. He advocates the use of online remote backup technology as the safest form of disaster recovery technology.

Have you ever lost an important file on your computer? It is a very annoying feeling, which above the emotional factor involved can have far-reaching consequences if it was a valuable file. Every business and individual will most likely experience the loss of some amount of stored data on their computers sooner or later. This can also happen by mistake, when files or folders are accidentally deleted by human error. Data loss can also be caused by some sort of hardware failure (hard drive issue) or even more drastically an unforeseen accident or natural disaster. The loss of a few files can be a bad experience for most individuals, but it can mean serious trouble when this loss affects entire companies and businesses that may be depending on those files to help them carry on with business as usual.

The only way to forecast the unpredictable so to speak is to be ready for the worst-case sort of scenario. In the field of data recovery, backing up your data and files is this sort of virtual lifeguard. The simple act of backing up information can save you headaches, time and money. As well if the unexpected does come to pass, knowing that you have your most pertinent information stored and filed away allows for a certain (some might say “wonderful”) peace of mind.

A backup is essentially the act of routinely creating copies of your (or the company’s) important files and storing them on a secure form of media (be it a tape, a DVD, CD, etc). Although a backup plan is critical for the workflow of any good business, there are still many companies out there that don’t take the risks of not backing up seriously. As many such businesses and individuals learn the hard way, at some point you are likely to encounter a situation where you will wish you would have only taken the time to backup your files. Whereas retrieving stored data from a CD or DVD is a very basic operation that takes but a few moments and involves no cost factor, recovering data from a faulty hard drive that was not backed up can be a nightmare at best. Latching on to the fact that so many people elect not to (or forget to) back up their data, a multitude of data recovery companies and computer experts have turned the act of recovering lost information into a lucrative business. Worth remembering too is that while it varies greatly from situation to situation, there are times when no matter whom you pay to vigorously search for your lost material, it cannot be retrieved.

Two main types of data recovery exist; they are what are known as “logical recovery” and “physical recovery”. The latter is a very costly service, which usually has a starting sticker price of at least a few hundreds of dollars (a whole lot more than a package of writable CDs would have cost). Logical recovery is put into place when a hard drive has accidentally been improperly formatted, or files/folders have been deleted. Several software applications are currently on the market that can achieve a pretty decent job of finding these types of deleted files, but as with any type of data retrieval complete recovery of the missing, deleted or reprogrammed information is very rarely one hundred percent of its original form.

Ultimate data recovery complexity sets in when a hard drive has actually suffered some form of physical damage. This could range from dropping a laptop computer, to a fire to water damage such as that caused by a flood. In this sort of situation, where all or almost all of the hard drive has been lost, the customer will usually be charged per Kb or Mb of data that is actually recovered by the recovery service that they turn to for help. In many cases this type of recovery can lead to a bill in the thousands of dollars and many weeks or even months worth of time. Overall data recovery levels are usually at their very lowest when all of the information on the drives has been lost. Just as you lock your doors at night for peace of mind, an act that takes very little time, it is always wise to backup as much data as you possible can on your computer. If there’s one thing we can predict in life it is that the unpredictable can, and does occur to all of us at some point.

Jessica Cander is a professional freelance writer who has moved around a lot and contributes to a wide variety of web sites, including the Data Recovery Basics web site.

Prices for data storage and recovery can be outrageous!

If you have ever lost any important data and paid an expert to try to recover it, you know what I mean. The thing is, the online data storage solutions can get pretty pricey. And backing up to CDs all the time is a pain in the neck.

What to do?

Well, earlier today, I made a discovery. It seems that quite a few free backup services have come about in the past year or so. I found one and thought it was cool, but then I looked around and found about 50 more!

I must admit I was getting pretty excited. None of these services were even offered a few years ago. It must be the decline in file storage hardware prices and the site owners’ hopes of high advertising revenues.

But as I browsed the numerous sites, my excitement began to wane. Most sites offered up to 100 MB of storage, which is really not that much space. There were also limits on how much you could download during a given month.

Instead of providing a list of all these providers, I am going to mention the ones that stood out from the rest. After a quick glance at each site, it was a simple process to narrow down the results.

Here are the ones that caught my attention:

FlipDrive (http://www.flipdrive.com)

This website looked nice, but after a quick look, it turned out that there was just a free trial offer. I quickly moved on!

Box.net (http://www.box.net)

This site does provide free storage, but it only goes up to 1 GB. More than that and you will need to signup for a paid option. Still, it could work for you just fine.

StreamLoad (http://www.streamload.com)

Offering up to 25 GB of free storage, this is the obvious winner. The interface looks pretty good and their terms seem reasonable. If you need more storage, the rest of their pricing plans look somewhat reasonable too.

So in the end, the dream of free file storage is not as bright as it seemed at first. If you only have a few important files, these services are great. But if you are a serious computer user, you might want to shell out the cash for a better solution.

One thing that worries me is that these sites will not make money by giving away free storage. That turns into a problem when they shut down and take your data with them!

Not to worry though, because there are reputable backup services available for as little as $5 per month.

Levi Bloom has been backing up his data for years and created the website PCBackupReview.com to help you get started doing the same. Visit his website today to learn more about computer backup services and subscribe to a free e-course. You can also find out where to get unlimited, automatic computer backup for just $5 per month.

Business data is perhaps the most important data that exists on computers, and can literally destroy some businesses that rely on their data. This is why every business needs to do weekly, or daily, backups of their data. But with so many backup choices, a business owner can feel frustrated and worried about their choice. See, some backup methods are more reliable then others, but others are more convenient then the reliable ones. If you are a business owner, you want a backup solution that is both reliable and convenient to use. So let’s talk about the current business data backup solutions available to you, and how to implement them correctly.

The first data backup method I will discuss is hard disk imaging, also known as cloning. This is, in my opinion, the best data backup solution for anyone from home users to successful business owners. The reason being because it saves every last scrap of data that you have on your hard drive, so basically should you ever have to restore your backup because of data loss, all of it will be given back to you. It also is the quickest and simplest method of data backup for someone with little knowledge of computers and doesn’t have time to spend backing up data all day.

The next backup solution for your business is remote online backup. This means your data will be saved on a secure server, in a remote location that is far away from you. This is good for many reasons, but mainly it protects you from losing everything in case of a natural disaster that might take out your whole business or home office. Backing up your files online is also pretty cheap and convenient, and sending your files their can be as easy as one click. Another good reason for choosing an online backup company is because they also backup your files using professional software and hardware, to make sure that your data is literally locked away in a digital vault and will never disappear.

The last business data backup solution I will discuss is external storage devices which are very simple, and pretty useful, so I thought it was worth mentioning. External devices that store data can come in a variety of ways. Most common are external hard drives and memory sticks. Many people are choosing memory sticks these days because they easily plug right into your USB port, and can hold gigabytes of data, which is usually more then enough, especially for text documents and stuff like that.

DVD and CD burners can also be external, and perhaps are the best choice for most people that are always on the move. Just like the old floppy discs, external DVD or CD burners allow you to store data quickly and accurately, but CD’s and DVD’s whole a lot more data then a floppy ever could. As for drag and drop ease, that is actually possible with all burners these days, and should be considered. Imagine being able to just click save on a file, and it saves it to your disc.

Well that is just about all of the major data backup solutions that are available for businesses. There are of course many other backup options that exist, but the ones I talked about are the most common, most effective and easiest to implement. Before I end this article though, I would like to remind business owners that have computer servers, to use disk imaging software on a daily basis. Servers store a lot of data, and most of it is important, so be sure to back that data up or you will be in for one big headache if anything should ever happen.

Copyright 2006 Michael Cottier

Michael can give your more, in depth business data backup info at this page http://www.computer-customizing-guide.com/business-data-backup-solution.html You could also use his knowledge of computer customizing to completely upgrade and personalize your PC http://www.computer-customizing-guide.com/