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What is an Online Backup?

An online backup offers an alternative to optical or tape backup solutions. While traditional methods can be very effective, they require capital to set up and staff to operate them. An online backup system avoids these problems.

Online Backup Works Like This

The online backup provider supplies a software agent to be installed on the computer to be backed up. This busy piece of software allows the user to select the files to be backed up, manages the internet connection, encrypts and compresses the data before transferring it across the internet to a secure, remote location, and allows the user to view and restore the backed up documents.

The Benefits of Online Backup

Online backups offer several advantages. The main one is the disaster recovery offered by offsite storage but there are also several advantages in terms of ease of use.

No capital outlay is required for purchasing new equipment. There are no ongoing media costs or staff costs, running costs are limited to paying a monthly fee. Setup and installation is a simple matter of downloading the software, and takes only a few minutes to set up. Data recovery is equally fast, as there is no searching for the right tape or waiting for IT staff to recover lost data.

The backup process itself is completely automated which ensures that it gets done, and the backed up files can then be accessed by anyone with permission, allowing file sharing with traveling colleagues, clients, or home PCs.

The Limitations of Online Backup

An intrinsic characteristic of online backup is that it relies on an internet connection. For smaller data volumes a dial-up connection may be adequate, but permanent broadband connection able to handle significantly larger volumes is a necessity in most cases.

Whatever type of connection is used, the initial backup will take a long time. A complete copy of the data must be encrypted, compressed, and copied. This initial copy could possibly be unrealistically long if a large amount of data is being sent over a dial up connection, although most online backup providers will allow the user to break off and resume the backup later. Once this initial backup is complete, subsequent backups will only backup files that have been changed, making them a lot faster.

Security of Online Backups

Though some may have understandable concerns about a third party holding their most valuable data, in reality online backups are very secure. Before being transferred, the backup data is encrypted to 128-bit level - military grade - making it effectively impossible for any one to intercept or decrypt the data. The user is the only person who can read it.

Another common concern is about the security of the data storage center itself. These are invariably class-A facilities equipped with fire suppression, security cameras, personnel access controls, backup electricity generators, using multiple ISPs, high-end firewalls, and clustering and mirroring techniques to ensure the stored data is always available to clients. Except in exceptional cases, the storage premises will be more secure than the client's own premises.

Andrew Whitehead is a contributor at Free-backup.info -- the home of the popular Amazon S3 based software for online data backup -- Back2zip. This article can be found at http://free-backup.info/what-is-an-online-backup.html