How to choose the best backup and restore?

Author: Drew Fenway

With the expanse of modern age global enterprises and companies, there is a need to manage the voluminous data and to have a backup and restore capability as any loss would only mean waste of valuable time and money. With organizations increasingly choosing data backup service providers, it is necessary to choose the right one because choosing a data backup service provider is essentially a leap of faith as it involves transfer of sensitive and confidential data of an organization. Here are few tips that should be borne in mind while choosing a backup service provider.

Cloud Backup: Cloud backup is one of the recent services to backup data. While choosing the cloud backup service provider it is necessary to take note of the following points:

  • How secure is the system? Always keep in mind that security is the most important aspect of choosing any service provider. Ensure that data backup is done on a 256bit SSL

Make sure that the service provider signs an SLA (Service Level Agreement) with you which outlines responsibilities.

  • Analyze the requirements of your business: There are different packages provided by service providers; choose the package that is most suitable; go for a customized package if possible, rather than opting for a full service as this will reduce costs.
  • Reviews of customers: Always check the experiences or reviews of other customers. Check whether the rate of backup and restore promised are actually fulfilled.
  • Accessibility: Reputed cloud backup services provide good access to files and data sources; many even developed mobile applications which enable the users to access data on the move.
  • Value for money: Do compare the product packages with other service providers

Server Backup: While opting for server backup there is a variety of options like backup software, operating system backup etc. Its important to understand the needs of the company in relation to data backup while choosing the backup service. For example, there are different backups like full backup, differential backup, incremental backup, mirror backup, among others. One needs to be aware of the data backup required to make a well informed decision.

Remote backup: Remote backup by its very nature involves backup using an internet/web connection. The first thing to do is to analyze the data requirement of the company; if the company needs to back gigabytes of data everyday through the internet, clearly it is not feasible. Similarly, remote backup is only conducive when you don’t have a dedicated backup staff. Make sure that prospective service providers are compatible with and support the company platform. Prepare a rough estimate of data to be backed up daily, desired rate of backup and restore.