Pretty much all companies today have become heavily reliant on having an effective data backup solution and this is an area that not enough companies pay attention to. Having an effective backup solution is vital to the running of your company and loss of it can cause serious trouble within your company. Your backups should include everything from all client information to critical company documents as well as all of your employees information. These four solutions are some of the more popular solutions that companies use for data backups ranging from smaller to larger sized companies:
USB Flash Drives
USB flash drives are probably the most simple solution to backing up data. They are small thumb drives and they are small an inexpensive solutions. A USB drive would allow you to backup data from multiple computers onto a single or multiple USB drives. One of the main drawbacks to USB Drives is that because they are so small, they are very easy to misplace and can very easily be stolen making this an ineffective solution as a long term backup solution. Backing up critical data onto a USB drive is not recommended and we recommend a more advanced solution for this purpose.
External Hard Drives
External Hard Drives are similar to USB flash drives in the sense that they are essentially devices that are used to store data on. External drives however, boast larger storage capacity and they are usually a bit more bulky than flash drives. External hard drives also are able to transfer data at a quicker rate which allows users to backup larger amounts of data in a shorter period of time.
The first disadvantage of an external hard drive is that backups will have to be updated regularly as incremental backups is not feature included with external hard drives. The second disadvantage is that external hard drives do tend to become faulty over time they older they get. Due to the fact that they use a traditional hard drive spinning disk technology, this causes wear and tear over time which could possibly lead to drive failure. There is also the risk that the drive could be stolen or misplaced.
Network-Attached Storage(NAS)
NAS is essentially a storage device that you add to your network that can be used for storing data. It had its own IP address and can either be operated wired or wirelessly. A NAS device can also be used as an email server. NAS also offers redundancy and is able to perform incremental backups, ensuring all your files and backups are updated to their latest version.
The main disadvantage to using a NAS device is that if you do require more storage space, you are either going to have to purchase additional hard drives are or increase the space of your existing hard drive space by upgrading them to larger drives in order to have more space. This becomes costly over time and is not recommended for a company that is trying to grow and trying to keep their costs down. A NAS device like any other computer on your network is also vulnerable to viruses and malware which puts your data at risk of attackers. A NAS device has to be configured in a certain way to keep it protected.
Cloud Storage
Cloud Storage has become increasingly popular in recent years as they are cost effective, more secure, and easily scalable. The fact that it is cloud-based, allows you to access your data from anywhere at anytime as all your data is stored on a secure offsite server. It allows you to save lots of money as you are only going to be paying for the resources being used and most cloud service providers offer a month to month payment solution eliminating any upfront costs. Finally, Cloud providers handle your cloud environment for you which allows you to focus on your business more.
There are unfortunately some Cloud Service Providers that don’t have secure enough security measures leaving your data exposed to any potential hackers. For this reason we would not recommend a cloud storage solution for Doctors, Law firms, or any other organization that stores sensitive data. Businesses in those sectors will need to find a more advanced security solution to keep their data secure.
There is no right or wrong data backup solution as they all have their advantages and disadvantages. It is up to you as the customer to assess the specific requirements of your company and then decide which backup solution is best for your needs. Cryptic is more than happy to assist you with choosing the correct backup solution and helping you implement it effectively into your current IT environment.
Contact Us Today To Get An Effective Backup Solution For Your Business!