Remote Server Backup - How Safe Is This Backup Solution

Exactly how reliable is a remote server backup solution, any how?

This solution is being expounded as the newest innovation in disaster recovery, high availability, and business continuity for the small-to-medium sized business venture: The capacity to have the data files on your machine or even high end servers being backed up, twenty-four by seven, across the Internet, on autopilot.

There is no doubting the fact that, using a remote server backup solution results in substantial expense savings: You don't have to use any physical hardwaer or even any backup media, you don't have to obtain any software, and you don't have to employ IT experts to monitor your backups on your behalf.

Your disaster recovery solution is as described below:

- Join an online service provider.

- Load the software on your PC. This software is constantly running in the background on the PC, 24 hours a day (as long as your PC is powered on.)

- Any time you make any write updates to your hard disk - files are added, modifed, or deleted, the software detects the update, secures the file or folder, and copies the changed file or folder across the Internet to a remote server backup data center maintained by the backup service provider.

- If you have a need to recover a lost directory, all you have to do is fire up "My Computer". In there, you'll find a "network folder" that has been established for you. This network folder behaves just like another hard disk, with the exception being that when you click to openit, the files that you see are actually a backup revision of your local drive!

To recover any file or folder, you simply copy the information from the network folder back to your PC's local drive.

So just how guaranteed is this set up?

If you have broadband Internet connectivity, then you won't have any problems. If your machine is able to retrieve files off the Internet (and chances are 100% that your OS is capable to do that!), it should be able to send information across the Internet for archival purposes, as well!

And how safe is this solution?

All of the files are digitally encrypted by the client agent software before being uploaded to the remote server backup servers. What that means is that nobody, not even the people who are employed at the online service provider, would be able to read or modify your data. It is completely secure.

The capability to leverage a remote server backup solution has become absolutely essential to this decade's evolving business enterprises. The most lethal blow to any business organization would be the loss of your essential data. In this age of potential threats of terrorism, increasing

occurrences of natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, it is very critical that you have a data recovery plan in place to keep your data remotely, in the event that you experience a loss of access or damage to your hardware.

This is critical not just for companies, but also for academics and even personal home users too. Living in the digital age, information is one our most precious assets. Access to information can make the difference between success and failure career-wise, financially, academically and even personally. (Personally, you do not want to risk the loss of your MP3s, JPEGs, and other such data that might be important to you.)