06/12/13

What is Cloud Back-Up?

You’ve probably heard the term “Cloud Storage” a lot when it comes to data backup these days. iPhone users will be familiar with iCloud;
Apple’s cloud storage platform allowing users to store photos,
messages, music and data up in the cloud. But what actually is the
“cloud” and what is meant by the term cloud storage?

Cloud storage –
is a form of data storage which is managed, maintained and backed up
remotely. This is done over the internet.  When hearing the term “cloud”
you probably imagine all the data being stored up in the sky. In fact
the data is stored on remote computer servers held in large physical
data centres both in the UK and around the world. iCloud is a prime
example of cloud storage, another example is Dropbox;
a free service which allows users to store data on the “cloud”.  With
Dropbox, you can access your data from anywhere at anytime with a mobile
device and an internet connection.

However, when it comes to
backing up a whole computer system you need something a bit bigger than
Dropbox. At Network Support Solutions we work with companies offering
cloud storage to ensure an effective and capable cloud backup service to
our clients.

Choosing
to use cloud backup is a significant commitment for a company, so it’s
vital to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages

• Data backup can be automated
  – Unlike local backup which requires a number of hard-drives to be
  regularly swapped; cloud backup can be automated to back up at regular
  intervals from once a day – to every 15 minutes.
• No need to worry about hardware or software maintenance
  – With your data stored on the cloud, local backup issues such as
  faulty hard drives, lost USB’s and corrupt software are not a problem.
• Automatic notifications of backup success
  – Automated cloud backup systems let you know when your backup has been
  successful. This gives you peace of mind, safe in the knowledge that if
  you ever have to restore your data you can do so.

Disadvantages

• High upload speed required
  – When using cloud backup your data is uploaded to the remote server
  using the internet. This means you need to have a fast internet connection as a high upload speed is essential when backing up large
  amounts of data. Similarly, a high download speed is also required if
  you ever need to download a previous backup of your system.
• More data means a higher price – The more data you need to back-up, the higher the price you pay.
• The data is stored with a third party service provider
  – There is always a risk the cloud storage company could go out of
  business or their security systems could be hacked. Hopefully, this may
  never occur. Nevertheless you need to be confident in your choice of
  cloud data storage provider and have a disaster recovery plan in place should the unthinkable happen.

As with local backup (see our previous Blog),
Cloud backup has both its advantages and disadvantages. It is important
to take time to compare both, then decide which backup approach works
best for your business.

Need Help – Get in Touch

If would like more information on cloud backup, or would like advice to decide which approach would be best for you call 0808 168 5999 or email katy@networksupportsolutions.co.uk

We’ll be glad to help.