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Use the network to backup files

If you have been thinking day and night about a viable backup option, then you might want to consider the possibility of network backup. Network backup is a good and viable option for all users whose systems are connected to a network with considerable amount of write-space available. Of course, users should have permission to use the extra write space available on the network to backup their valuable data.

If your office workstation is part of the company wide are network (WAN) with a server having lots of free disk space, then you might want to talk to your network administrator or the systems in-charge about the possibility of being permitted to backup files on the server. This is of utmost importance if you are handling data that is important to you and if the machine you are working on is vulnerable to threats like virus attack, power failure or hard disk crash.

The advantages of network backup

Network servers usually have a good anti-virus software installed and running continuously, a good firewall protecting the server from all kinds of malicious requests from the internet, reasonably good internet browsers with lesser number of security loopholes and a good power back up to safeguard against mischievous power failures. In short a perfect backup location!

If you backup your files on such a server, then naturally they are better protected against the common vulnerabilities. Similarly, you do not have to worry about the safe keep of all the removable media (read CDs, Floppy Disks) that you otherwise might have to use for backup of files. Network backup takes comparatively lesser time than backup on removable media. Further, network backup can be done as a background activity in a manner not to disturb your normal work schedule.

Network backup can even be scheduled during non-work hours as the process does not require user intervention and runs pretty much like an automated process.

Before you opt for Network Backup..

Make 101 per cent sure that your network server has a decent anti-virus software, that it has deployed a good firewall and that there is adequate power backup to bail out the system from unexpected power outages. More importantly, convince yourself that your network/system administrator is somebody who keeps himself up to date about network vulnerabilities and protects the server against all the latest threats.

Unless your network server have all these above said advantages, then think again before considering network backup as a viable backup option for you data. Rather than trusting your backup files with a lazy administrator who does not bother about securing the server, it would be better to look for other backup options. You might even be better off with burning all the important data on to DVDs or some other form of trusted backup routines.

Finally, even if you are not able to use the server for backup, you might want to consider another system on the network that is reasonably safer than your computer. After all, its your data and its in your best interests to keep it safe!

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Lison Joseph is a contributor at Free-backup.info -- the home of the popular Amazon S3 based tool for online file backup -- Back2zip. This article can be found at http://free-backup.info/network-backup-right-there-in-your-own-backyard.html