Remote data backup is essential for small business as well. However, having large remote backup infrastructure is not affordable for small businesses.

If you follow a proper data categorization model, the size of the data to be remotely backed up remains less and you get a number of options for systematic remote data backup.

Method1 : Remote data backup to a web hosting account

The high competition in the web hosting market has caused the hosting companies to offer large disk space quotas for very attractive prices. This gives a favorable situation for remote backup as well. You can take the backup, compress and encrypt the data and then upload the file to the remote server through FTP.

If your data size is not too large , uploading to one or more web hosting accounts is a really a good option that you can consider.

Also, you can automate the FTP upload process by having a script that compresses, encrypts and uploads the data to the remote server through FTP.

Method2: Remote data backup using a remote backup service

There are remote data backup companies that offer service to the small/medium sectors as well. The charges depend on the data size. You will need to install a custom piece of software that does the backup.

• You signup with the Remote data backup service provider
• Download a software tool and install it on your PC from the service provider
• Configure the software to backup the files to the remote data centers

You can schedule the remote data backup software to run at predetermined intervals and do the backups automatically

Incremental backups

It is not required to backup ALL your data every time you take the backup. Incremental backups backup only the files that changed after you had taken your backup last time. Incremental backups help in reducing the bandwidth costs and the disk space costs

Comparison

Remote data backup service gives you a ready-made solution. Rather than spending time on putting together automation scripts to upload your data to web servers, you can just download the software from the remote data backup service provider, configure its and let it run the show.

Cost

Remote data services are becoming cheaper. For just $29 per month, you get whopping 10 GB remote data backup space. 10GB should provide sufficient data backup space provided you follow the data categorization. So you have techniques to keep the data backup size to minimum, remote backup service providers that provide data backup services for cheaper rate and software that automates the entire backup process

There is no reason why you loose data one more time!

In the new age, we all are heavily dependant on computers and the digital way of living. We communicate through emails, we do purchases online and even most of our savings are nothing but some stored digits in some bank’s computer!

Almost all businesses depend on computers in one way or the other. As we depend more and more on digitally stored data, the importance of meticulous backup increases.

Have you imagined a situation where computer crashes and you lose all your emails- your address book and all your correspondence ?

What happens if your web server loses all its information? how much time will you take to restore it?

Catastrophes can come in any form: it could be technical: high voltage pulse that burns your hard drive, a virus attack, a hardware failure; or non technical: robbery, flood or any other mishap.

As the business depends more and more on the information stored on the hard disk, it becomes essential that you have a meticulous backup process to ensure business continuity.

Why is Remote Backup important?

Remote backup is important because a physical mishap *can* happen at any place. Unfortunate events are always unexpected. But it is up to you to ensure that your business survives. Would your business survive fire? What about robbery?

Remote backup ensures that your important business data still ‘lives’ safely at some place even after a physical mishap. You can recover the business contacts, the transactions , and all other data you chose to backup.

Aspects to consider for your backup

Time to recover

How much time will it take to recover if a mishap occurs at a very unexpected point of time?
Time to recover is an important parameter because that directly affects the business. It has direct impact on the number of lost customers, customer loyalty and the customer support.

Security

It is important to keep the backed up data safe from tampering or snooping

Local and Remote Backup

Local backup will save you from system crash , virus attack or a hard drive failure. But a local backup may not help you in case of a robbery, fire, flood, terrorist attack or any other physical mishap.
In order to ensure the business continuity, you need to have both a local and remote backup strategy.
The local backup ensures that the Time to recover is minimal whenever possible. Depending on only one of these (Local or Remote ) can not be recommended. If you have only local backup, your business is not fully protected. If you have only remote backup, the time to recover can be painfully long even for a hard disk crash event.

How is Remote Backup Done?

The important business data is compressed, encrypted and is sent to one or more physically distant locations. The data is safely stored in those locations. Remote backup is done in pre-determined intervals.
Sending to the distant location is the bottleneck in the whole process. The easiest way would be to upload the data through an internet connection. The other alternative is to write the backup data to tape or DVD and then send them physically to the remote location.

When done regularly, remote backup saves your data and importantly, your business from any unfortunate event at the place of business.