Data backup solutions
Protect your files with our computer backup solutions
Data backup is critical to prevent loss of your important data. Data is most commonly lost when a computer hard drive fails but other causes are:
- Overwriting data in error
- Malware or virus infection
- Deleting data by accident
- Failure of hardware
The cost of recovery can be in excess of £300 by a specialist data recovery company. Yet, a daily back up of your data can cost as little as 50p per day. Many people do not think about data backups, which is why we receive calls every day from from students who have lost their exam work, companies that have a corrupted server, or residential Clients who have just deleted all their family photographs.
There are many on and off-site backup solutions, but the rise of ransomware builds a strong case for having backups off-site. Ransomware virus attacks are becoming more frequent and ever more ingenious in their method of attacking your PC. Whether it is a link on a website or an attachment to an email, once your computer is infected, your data is at risk of permanent loss.
Once ransomware has installed, all your pictures, documents and other files will be encrypted. A ransom message will then appear requesting payment to unlock the files. Even if you pay the ransom, it is highly unlikely your files will be un-encrypted – you will be out of pocket and without your files. However, if you have an offsite backup solution that offers version history, in the event of infection, your provider can perform a “roll back” and recover your files from before the infection.
Who should I choose for an online computer backup provider?
Important things your backup solution should offer:
- Highest level of data encryption
- 30 day versioning of data
- Custom configuration
- State of the art data centres
- Mac, Android, IOS and Windows compatibility
Offsite automatic backup
The most common error with backups is using a non-automatic option. This is when the user manually backs up data, either by using a piece of software or copying the data to an external hard drive. The problem manual backups is that you have to remember to do them. The solution is to use a program that will back up your data daily, or even hourly, and will store this data safely off site.
Off-site backup will give you peace of mind, knowing your data is safely stored outside of your home, can be restored whenever you need and is done automatically.
Off-site backups cost around £10.00 per month and will often come with version backups, which means if your computer’s files are overwritten, such as in a ransomware attack, you can restore from a clean data version.
Cloud synchronisation software
You are probably aware of many companies that provide cloud synchronisation software – Google Drive and Dropbox are two that probably spring to mind. Microsoft provides a solution called SharePoint. You do not need to be a large business to use this tool.
Microsoft SharePoint uses Microsoft OneDrive to synchronise data on your computer to online cloud storage in real-time. For example, when you save a new Word document to your documents folder or add some photographs from your camera, the data will immediately be synchronised (copied) to the online version. In the event your computer hard drive fails, you simply login back into your OneDrive and the data will start downloading automatically.
Cloud backups cost around £10.00 per month. There is an added advantage with Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive compared to standard manual backup.
Because data is stored securely on the servers of the software company and is constantly synchronising, the technology allows you to have the same data on different devices. You can share your data in real time with your tablet, laptop, mobile or another computer. You can even share your data with friends or relatives.
Other solutions on the market provide similar services but here at QLine, we prefer Microsoft SharePoint as it ticks so many boxes. In addition, built-in security features prevent data loss, and you can even back up your email account which is ideal for small businesses as well as home users.
Whatever solution you choose, make your decision today. Data recovery is expensive and not always possible. Don’t lose your sensitive or personal data for the sake of £10.00 per month.
