Thursday, November 3, 2011

The Advantages of Remote Storage

By Jason Sloan


Businesses handle such a volume of data that storage of it incurs considerable cost and labour. Yet backing up info is a requirement for businesses. Just consider the medical records of hospitals, account histories of money institutions and sales transactions or buyer support for business companies and you'll realize the need for efficient and secure info storage. Having this kind of storage can stop the requirement for hard drive recovery from a Data Recovery firm.

There are two major categories of info storage available. The traditional way of info storage is on-site tape backup. The newer way is by remote storage.

Remote storage is mostly done online and off-site and is thus also called online backup service, managed backup service or remote info storage. Online backup systems are 3rd party backup service suppliers which collect, compress, encrypt and transfer their client's info to a remote service or off-site hardware.

Online backup system usually employs a software application which runs once per day, often at night when computers have not been used. There are now many such backup service providers with costs varying according to differing features, kinds of encryption and service levels. High-end LAN-based backup suppliers offer convenient features like customer remote control, active list and open-file backups while basic backup systems offer fewer realtime support options.

There are numerous advantages of remote backup over traditional on-site tape backup. Here is a summary:

1. Remote backups are kept in a location distant to the first data. As such, these are guarded in cases of on-site calamities like floods, tremors and fires.
2. Because transfer of information is done online, there is less likelihood of taking on mechanical damage on info due to manual transfers as in the traditional way.
3. There is unlimited information retention as backup suppliers specialise on bulk information storage.
4. Remote storage doesn't require user intervention and minimises human blunder. In the normal backup systems, somebody must label CD's and do many manual tasks.
5. Remote backups are done mechanically by software. In on-site data storage, there's the chance of forgetting to backup info.
6. In remote backup, there's continuous backing up of info, backing up files even if they're changed. In standard storage, some urgent files might be missed out.
7. Remote storage keeps multiple versions of files at different stages of business development so that restoration of lost info to a time is helped.
8. Most remote backup services employ a 128-448 bit encryption to send info over secured links.
9. Remote backup suppliers are bound by the law to protect their clients ' privacy, declaration and legal discovery.
10. Some backup providers go the extra mile by providing pro-active monitoring, personal visits or phone support.
11. Remote storage offer redundant copies or multiple copies at different locations called mirrored information centres.
12. The price of remote storage is reasonable when you take into consideration the time and labour saved and the accessibility, security and volume of info being stored.

Remote storage can be summed up as a more trusty, cost-effective and secure data storage which any business should invest in.




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