What are my Backup options?

As you may have determined backing-up can be as simple as copying your files to a memory stick or burning them to a CD. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using the common technologies available for your backup. For each of the options/ technologies we have attempted to outline their strengths and weaknesses.

Memory sticks/ USB Drives

These drives have become increasingly popular for small business and personal backup uses. All sorts of people have their data stored on them, from students through to consultants work for large corporations. Dependant on the technology type (USB 1.0 or USB 2.0) your USB drive may hold anything from 56 MB through to 4 GBs of information. As technology develops so to will the storage capacity of these devices.

Advantages

• These devices provide a quick transfer rate (from PC to drive);
• They normally don't require any third party software for use;
• The drives are re-usable;
• Given the size of these drives they are easily transported; and
• Smaller capacity drives are reasonably priced.

Disadvantages

• The drives can fail (and there is no second copy of information) through frequent or mis-use (although the standard data retention on these devices is upwards of 10 years);
• Management of backups with these small drives can be trouble-some due to size and frequency of backups (in some cases third party software may assist in the management of these drives);
• They can be easily misplaced or left on premises if a user doesn't remember to take the drive home/ off-site.

External or portable Hard drives

These drives are larger in size (both physically and in storage space) than the USB drives specified above. 2.5 inch external hard drives are now available in sizes up to 320 GBs. These external drives use USB 2.0 technology enabling even faster transfer rates than the USB drive equivalent (up to 480 MB/ second).

Advantages

• These devices provide a quick transfer rate (from PC to drive);
• They normally don't require any third party software for use;
• The drives are re-usable;
• Given the size of these drives they are easily transported; and
• They have data retention rates up to 15 years.

Disadvantages

• The drives can fail (and there is no second copy of information) through mis-use and mis-handling (ie. dropping);
• These drives can be susceptible to magnetic fields;
• Most drives don't use RAID 5 or other mirroring technologies;
• They can be easily misplaced or left on premises if a user doesn't remember to take the drive home/ off-site.

Optical drives (CD and/ or DVDs)

Optical media seems well suited to archival and storage purposes. The media is relatively inexpensive and if the media is handled correctly the data can remain on the media for up to 10 years (CDs) and up to 100 years for DVDs. As with a lot of things in life the quality and price can impact the outcomes. With optical media you pay for equipment and media and what you pay for is normally what you get.

Advantages

• CDs can store up to 700 MB of data;
• CDRW discs are re-writeable;
• Transfer rate of 3 MB/s for a 20x CD drives and 8MB/s for 52x CD drives.
• Optical media is portable; and
• They have data retention rates up to 15 years.

Disadvantages

• You need to have suitable equipment to burn information to the optical media, increasing setup overheads and management overheads through the life of the drive and backup procedure;
• Optical media can be scratched if mis-handled;
• Optical media can be easily misplaced or left on premises if a user doesn't remember to take the drive home/ off-site.

Tape backups

Tape backups have been a staple of the backup arena for many years. It has been around al lot longer than the other removable medias listed above.

Advantages

• The media itself is reasonably priced;
• Tape backups are often an existing and invested technology in the workplace; and
• Tape media is portable.

Disadvantages

• You need to have suitable equipment to backup and manage your data on the tapes;
• The overhead involved in managing tape backups can become expensive;
• Storing tapes for archival purposes can provide management and storage issues;
• Tapes can damage if mis-handled; and
• Optical media can be easily misplaced or left on premises if a user doesn't remember to take the drive home/ off-site.

Online/ Offsite backup

In comparison to tape backups and even CD backup, online/ offsite backup is a relatively new technology and is only just becoming viable and suitably priced for mass appeal. With the increasing penetration of the broadband internet within Australia and through-out the world online backup is now a very real option for personal and small/ medium businesses. In a typical situation an online backup provider invests in the hardware and offers a software service to complete the backups over the internet.

The following advantages and disadvantages are generalised and not reflective of Secure-ISS's offering in the online backup space.

Advantages

• No upfront costs for the acquisition of expensive hardware;
• Access to enterprise strength hardware (including RAID technology);
• Data is automatically sent offsite;
• Backups can be scheduled to be completed outside of office hours;
• Administrative over-heads are often reduced due to the automatic processes incorporated in the backup software;
• There is no media to manage or keep track of;
• Backups can be checked for completion almost immediately;
• Data can be restored without recalling tapes from off-site;
• Data is often stored and transmitted encrypted;

Disadvantages

• Internet bandwidth (uploads) may be charged by your ISP and contribute to your overall usage charges;
• The speed of your internet connection can affect the time a backup takes to complete;
• There must be a level of trust with the backup provider when sending information off-site to a third party;