Dave's Download

Audio: Hurricanes Make an Argument for Online Backup

By David LaGesse

Posted: September 17, 2008

A company that helps recover data from damaged hard drives said today that it will offer a discount to victims of Hurricane Ike. The storm was a reminder that backing up a PC to an external drive or DVDs isn't enough. Natural disasters and fires can destroy those backups too and are a reason I'm a growing fan of online backup services.

I spoke this past weekend about the Web as a backup option with WTOP. You can listen here, or subscribe to the weekly podcast through iTunes or RSS.

You do get what you pay for.

I think anyone using online backup knows two things.

1. Online backup is the absolute safest way to protect data. In many industries it is becoming required practice. In the home environment it is common due to the absence of high grade hardware.

2. This is one thing you cant do on the cheap. Offers of free space by providers are based on their expert insight which enables them to offer just enough space to get going and fall in love with the system and not enough to continue for free. There is nothing wrong with this. If you test a new car from a show room you are effectively getting a free trial for the purpose of tempting you to part with cash.

Online backup is an investment. No one can or will force you to make that investment choice. If you fail to do so and you have an outage you can not blame anyone else.

PJ

http://www.backupanytime.com/business_backup_other.htm

PJ from backupanytime.com @ Oct 01, 2008 10:36:31 AM

Yes, but...

I agree that online backups are the SAFEST way of storing your data, but security issues remain, as well as volume (the amount of data you back up) issues. If you have hundreds of gigabytes of data to back up, you'll be forever doing it online. And with many ISP's now metering services, you'll easily exceed your monthly limit if you back up every day or even every week.

A portable hard drive is a simple option (yes, it CAN be destroyed in a hurricane, but you can take with you in a protected case a lot easier than your whole computer system) that allows you to back up hundreds of gigs of data (movies, large video, audio picture and other large files) without using your monthly ISP data allotment.

The web is a good back-up option for folks with small files, but keep in mind that you will probably have to pay for anything over 5-10 gigabytes - which is one home movie. You may also be restricted as to the type or size of your individual files (most don't, but some won't let you store certain kinds of files which may be pirated or have DRM's attached) check before you get into a data storage plan. And be sure you check with your Internet Service Provider about the amount of data you're uploading to ensure it doesn't exceed your monthly allotment.

Fatesrider of CA @ Sep 17, 2008 19:52:58 PM

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Our in-house gadget guru, Senior Writer David LaGesse, checks out the latest technologies and gizmos, from computer software to GPS systems -- and reports back to you in plain English.


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