What are your backup options?

By: Daniel Shalgi-Shira

When I decided to check out my backup options, I learnt that there are several options, and each option has some specific techniques that everyone should know about for creating a successful backup.

First Option – Local Backup

Local backup is every type of backup that will keep your backup data on physical media available close to you. This can be:

1. Additional internal hard drive.
2. External hard drive
3. CD/DVD-ROM
4. Magnetic Type media
5. Local Network backup

Advantages:

These types of backup are:

1. Very handy, and until lately it was the simplest to do.
2. It psychologically feels safe to have your original as well as backup in your physical possession.

Today, I will suggest anyone who backs up his data using this option to think about it as a partial solution at best. I use this option, I am backing up my main PC data to my laptop every day and I also back up once a week to an external hard drive, but all this is only my SECONDARY backup solution.

Disadvantages:

On the other hand, the system suffers from certain flaws.

1. All these types of backup will not protect your data completely. Some very dangerous threats still exist:

2. It is mostly NOT a fully automatic backup. It depends on many human behavioral activities in order to be thorough and updated.

Second (Better) Option – Online Backup also known as Remote Backup

This is in my opinion the best solution; it covers all the disasters can happen

Advantages:

1. Automatic – Most systems will require just a short setup, and from that moment on they will be fully automatic.
2. Resides in a safe place – the same as keeping your money in the bank, away from home. It is better to keep your data in a safe place and not at home or at your office, where it is likely to suffer from the same physical calamity that may befall your main storage system.
3. Unlimited storage – Some of the systems will enable you to backup unlimited data, and this gives you peace of mind.

Disadvantages:

This short answer is: NONE.

The longer answer might include the psychological issue that many people still feel that if their data is somewhere out there it is less safe than near them. The truth, believe me, is exactly the opposite. This streak of distrust in others would have to be overcome.

– As usual, I will be happy to get your comments