Backup Your Data: Is Offline & Offsite The Best Choice?
Whether it’s from a natural disaster, cyber attack, or just deleting something by accident, you need to protect your business and backup your data.
When comparing all your options, you might be wondering what’s the best choice. Local storage? Cloud? Offline & offsite? There are pros and cons to each, but there is one clear combination that comes out ahead.
Local Backup
While the simplicity and seemingly low overall cost of a local backup solution seems attractive, it’s definitely the worst option.
A local backup is simply a hard drive, disk, or USB where you store a previous version of your data in the event of a loss. There are plenty of problems with this type of backup, including:
- Damage risks
- Deteriorating condition of the drives
- Physical theft
- Hidden costs
To find out more about why local backups are not the right choice, check out our other blog.
Cloud Backup
A cloud backup ensures your data is safe by transferring it to an off-site storage location.
With the cloud, you no longer have to worry about physical damage, moisture, or static electricity causing havoc to your business’ data. There are plenty of other benefits too:
Less Effort
Local Storage means constantly worrying about your data’s safety and taking time to check your drives to make sure they’re functioning. Cloud-based backups are effortless and give you peace of mind.
Cost
For anything but the largest business, installing a data farm for backup is a waste of money. Cloud backups are far cheaper than the on-site alternative.
Scalable
When you do eventually grow, cloud-based backups are ready to grow with you. You don’t need to worry about whether your new office has the space required to store all your data. If you need more storage, upgrading is incredibly easy.
Safe
In the event your cyberprotection is breached with something such as a ransomware attack, having a cloud-based backup means you can easily recover any lost data. Depending on how often you backup your data, you might only lose a day of work.
Data is also encrypted before being sent, protecting it even if it is intercepted.
Things To Keep In Mind
When it comes to cloud-based backups, there are a few things to keep in mind:
“When” Is Important
Backing up data is a bandwidth heavy process. Due to this, it is important to plan your data backups, so they aren’t disrupting your business operations.
Keep an Eye On Data Usage
As we said, for small- to medium-sized businesses, cloud backups are the most cost effective solution. However, once you start to grow, always be aware that an increase in data will mean an increase in costs.
Trust Is Key
While it’s nice to not have to worry about it, you are putting your data in the hands of another company. Doing your research and finding one you trust is essential.
The Best of Both
QuickProtect combines the benefits of cloud-based backups with multiple off-site locations.
Benefits QuickProtect provide include:
- Multiple copies of data thanks to various servers in different locations
- Data is encrypted before it’s sent offsite
- Offsite backups keep data safe in multiple locations and/or in the cloud
- Whether remote or in the cloud (or both), offsite backups allow for unlimited storage capacity
Trust QuickProtect to provide you with the best and most secure data backup solution you will ever need.
