Welcome guest. Before posting on our computer help forum, you must register. Click here it's easy and free.

Author Topic: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup  (Read 14620 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Amanda

    Topic Starter


    Greenhorn

    Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « on: June 24, 2010, 02:00:30 PM »
    My company is interested in using an off-site backup program instead of just using an external hard drive.  I am not really familiar with the pros and cons of doing this.  Can someone explain these pros and cons to me.  Which companies would you recommend to look into for cloud back-up?  Also, would it be better to have all the computer in my office backup to one main computer, then off site backup that computer or have each computer off site backup on its own?

    Thanks!

    Allan

    • Moderator

    • Mastermind
    • Thanked: 1260
    • Experience: Guru
    • OS: Windows 10
    Re: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « Reply #1 on: June 24, 2010, 02:02:01 PM »
    Please do not post the same question more than once. I've deleted your other post.

    Helpmeh



      Guru

    • Roar.
    • Thanked: 123
      • Yes
      • Yes
    • Computer: Specs
    • Experience: Familiar
    • OS: Windows 8
    Re: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « Reply #2 on: June 24, 2010, 06:11:44 PM »
    Pros (For Offsite Backup):
             - You can lose an external hard drive.
             - You can always pay for more storage under the same username/password.
             - Possible data protection (double-backup), free or not.
    Cons (Against it):
             - You can forget a username/password.
             - External hard drives are paid for once, online hosting can cost money per month or
               year, costing more in the long-run.
             - File quality may decrease as it is transfered over the internet to the storage site.

    Just a few that came to mind.
    Where's MagicSpeed?
    Quote from: 'matt'
    He's playing a game called IRL. Great graphics, *censored* gameplay.

    Carbon Dudeoxide

    • Global Moderator

    • Mastermind
    • Thanked: 169
      • Yes
      • Yes
      • Yes
    • Certifications: List
    • Experience: Guru
    • OS: Mac OS
    Re: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « Reply #3 on: June 25, 2010, 05:33:17 AM »
    Please do not post the same question more than once. I've deleted your other post.

    Oh yeah almost forgot, you're a mod now. :P

    soybean



      Genius
    • The first soybean ever to learn the computer.
    • Thanked: 469
    • Computer: Specs
    • Experience: Experienced
    • OS: Windows 10
    Re: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « Reply #4 on: June 25, 2010, 07:31:29 AM »
    I'm really not clear on all the pros and cons but, in addition to what Helpmeh said, I'll add:

    Pros (For Offsite Backup):
       - Can access files anywhere (from any computer with Internet access)
       - Can share files
       - Hard drive (onsite) could get stolen

    Cons (Against it):
       - May need to establish tight administrative oversight to avoid improper use by employees.  [Multiple user accounts with a cloud storage service might be wise to control who has access to what, if deemed necessary.]

    I suggest adrive.com as a provider for this service.

    BC_Programmer


      Mastermind
    • Typing is no substitute for thinking.
    • Thanked: 1140
      • Yes
      • Yes
      • BC-Programming.com
    • Certifications: List
    • Computer: Specs
    • Experience: Beginner
    • OS: Windows 11
    Re: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « Reply #5 on: June 25, 2010, 08:33:59 AM »
    Quote
    My company is interested in using an off-site backup program instead of just using an external hard drive.

    you shouldn't be choosing one or the other, you should be doing both. in which case the pro's and cons don't really matter- and they don't.

    on-site backup, such as a external hard drive or even just another hard drive in a server, is intended to allow for quick access to the backed up data, in case of accidental loss- say a employee accidentally puts in "DROP TABLE *" into a query window or something, therefore deleting all the data in the database. Most companies deal with the data in those databases all the time, so every second that the database is down = lost revenue- it's hardly cost-effective to have to drive across town or wait 3 hours to download a 80GB ghost image of the database hard disk, instead you can restore the backup with a single command (most databases allow for automatic replication and can restore said replica's with a quick command.

    off-site backup is for when your server room catches fire or you otherwise lose the first set of backups (say, if an employee accidentally drives drunk through the server room window, which would almost certainly mean revocation of their pilot's license).

    Note how I said first set.

    Most backup strategies rotate a fixed set of external hard drives- say, 5 of them. every week (or some other interval) the oldest backup is overwritten with a new backup. Then say every month (or again, some other interval, it depends on the how important data freshness is) the latest set is stored in a safe deposit box or other off-site backup, and a "fresh" set of drives is used for the on-site backup. Then, say every year or so, the oldest off-site backup set is used again for storing the on-site backups. This strategy usually has some revisions that make it easier and faster, such as incremental backups (no reason to have backup copies of all the financial papers from, say, 2004 in every single backup since) and so forth, but in general the "rotation" strategy is what is usually employed, often drive images are written to a tape backup rather then to external hard drives, this is because tapes are a lot cheaper then external hard drives and about 100 times safer for archival storage, and far less likely to fail (it's just a tape, so it has far fewer mechanical components then a hard drive)

    a "web-based" backup solution is all but useless unless you have a very small amount of data to backup- you aren't going to uploading, say, 80GB hard drive images to adrive.com, even with a paid account.
    I was trying to dereference Null Pointers before it was cool.

    Allan

    • Moderator

    • Mastermind
    • Thanked: 1260
    • Experience: Guru
    • OS: Windows 10
    Re: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « Reply #6 on: June 25, 2010, 08:36:45 AM »
    you shouldn't be choosing one or the other, you should be doing both. in which case the pro's and cons don't really matter- and they don't.
    +1

    soybean



      Genius
    • The first soybean ever to learn the computer.
    • Thanked: 469
    • Computer: Specs
    • Experience: Experienced
    • OS: Windows 10
    Re: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « Reply #7 on: June 25, 2010, 09:35:07 AM »
    Quote
    you shouldn't be choosing one or the other, you should be doing both
    Very good point.  And, good comments on onsite and offsite tactics and on backup strategies (hard drive rotation, incremental backups, etc.). 

    For anyone interested, here's a reference discussing the full gamet of backup strategies and methods: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backup

    Salmon Trout

    • Guest
    Re: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « Reply #8 on: June 25, 2010, 10:33:02 AM »
    Personally I think that if you are tasked with developing a mission-critical backup strategy for a company, then you would be very foolish indeed to work up that strategy by asking questions on web forums, rather than evaluating IT consultants and specialist service providers.

    rthompson80819



      Specialist

      Thanked: 94
    • Experience: Experienced
    • OS: Windows 7
    Re: Pros and Cons of Offsite backup
    « Reply #9 on: June 25, 2010, 02:15:18 PM »
    BC touched on it briefly, the only way an off-site back up can work is if you have a very high speed connection to the back up servers.  Preferably a direct fiber connection.