Protect your Business against Disaster with Backup Tools


There are indeed a great many backup program varieties available these days and it may seem overwhelming trying to make a decision.

If you don't create a backup of your files you risk losing money and time restoring your system in case of a computer failure or virus attack. Setting up your system from scratch will take quite some time and potentially cost you a lot, particularly if you use your PC for business or work. Imagine all the hours you spent setting up your computer, installing all the software, and working on your files.

Can you afford losing all your digital camera pictures, or losing all records needed for your tax records? Can you afford losing all your valuable files and do you have the time to re-invest several days setting up Windows on your PC?

But which solution is right for my unique needs, you might want to know. Backup programs can be broadly categorized into two sets: drive imaging and data file backup.

File backup is the perfect solution for people who spend a lot of time and money writing documents of all sorts. Writers, sales experts, sales people, accountants, and designers invest a lot of time working on files and this investment makes these documents costly to recreate. Data file backup programs will ensure each document is stored in another location, such as an external drive, network share, another computer, or even an online server. If the worst happens, you can selectively restore each particular file as necessary.

Imaging systems, on the other hand, take a full copy of the entire hard drive of your computer. The advantage here is that every single file, even those that you are unaware of, is stored in a so-called image file. Similar to file backups, image files can be stored on a USB drive, a second drive in your PC, on another server or PC, or far away on a FTP server on the Internet. Drive images offer you the gain of backing up the entire hard disk, so you do not need to worry about specifying what file you want backed up.

Disk clone backup, in contrast, are good for backing up and restoring a complete hard drive as-is. This approach is good if you want to guarantee an intact copy of the Windows system with all programs included. For so-called bare-metal recoveries, it is recommended to create an image and save a copy to a remote location; however, imaging takes time, a lot of storage space, and drains a lot of resources. It is hence not a good idea if you want continuous backup for your files.

File backups are an efficient approach for continuous data protection. You can configure precisely how you want your data backed up and it generally takes only minimal system resources. Furthermore, it is possible turn off compression for certain types of files that don't need, such as AVIs and images. Smart systems offer versioning as well and allow you to specify how many past copies of a document you want to keep.

Another advantage of disk imaging over file backups is that it backs up your system files and all your programs as well. While file backups ensure your precious files are secure, disk imaging offers a full system restore including Windows and Office. This is especially practical when you cannot find the original installation DVDs and will save you a lot of time when fixing your machine.

Maybe it appears disk imaging is the way to go but it really depends on the circumstances. Disk imaging takes a lot more time and resources than file backup; hence, efficiency and time are the main distinguishing factors between the two backup philosophies. Before choosing the product for your home office or business, you may want to assess the positive aspects and negative aspects between each backup approach.

Paul Reed is a writer and backup utility specialist.

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This article was sent to us by: Paul Reed at 04292010

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