The biggest danger businesses have with remote backup services is lack of knowledge in what to look for in a Michigan computer services company. There are literally hundreds of companies offering this service because they see it as an simple way to make a quick buck.

But not all service providers are created equal and you absolutely want to make sure you choose an ethical, reliable vendor or you’ll get burned with hidden costs, unexpected “gotchas,” or with the horrible discovery that your data wasn’t actually backed up correctly, leaving you high and dry when you need your data most.

Your remote backup provider should meet the following seven criteria:

1. Rock solid, data transfer, and data storage. This is fairly obvious; you want to make sure the company housing your data is actually secure. After all, we are talking about your financial information, client data, and other sensitive information about your company. Never trust your data to anyone that doesn’t have the following security measures in place:

Ask your service provider if they are HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Gram-Leach-Bliley, and SEC NASD compliant. These are government regulations that dictate how organizations with highly- sensitive data (like banks and doctor’s offices) handle, store, and transfer their data. If you are a medical or financial institution, you are required by law to work only with vendors who meet these stringent requirements. But even if you are NOT an organization that falls under one of these regulations, you still want to choose a provider who is because it’s a good sign that they have high-level security measures in place

2. Ensure the physical location where the data is stored is secure. Ask your service provider if they have an ID system, video surveillance, and some type of card key system to allow only authorized personnel to enter the site.

Your data should be encrypted with SSL protocols to prevent hacking during transfer.

3. Multiple data centers that are geographically dispersed. The best way to avoid loss is to have redundancy in operations and infrastructure. Your remote backup service should house multiple copies of your data in more than a single location. That way, if a terrorist attack or natural disaster destroys one of their locations, they have backups of your backup in a different city where the disaster did not strike.

4. Demand the ability to receive overnight copies of your data on DVD or some other data storage device. Do not rely on a provider that only offers internet recovery.  Choose a backup provider that will provide overnight copies of your data via some physical storage device.

On that same token, ask your service provider if you have the option of having your initial backup performed through hard copy. Again, trying to transfer that amount of data online could take days or weeks. If you have a large amount of data to backup, it would be faster and more convenient to send it to them on DVD.

5. Make sure your data can be restored to a different computer than the one it was from which it was backed up. Amazingly, some backups can only be restored to the same computer they came from. If the original computer was burned in a fire, stolen, or destroyed in a flood, you’re left without a backup.

6. Require daily status reports. All backup services should send you a daily e-mail to verify if your backup actually ran AND to report failures or problems. The more professional providers should also allow you to notify more than one person (like a technician or your IT person) in addition to yourself.

7. Demand help from a qualified technician. Many online backup services are “self-serve.” This allows them to provide a less expensive service to you. BUT if you don’t set your system to back up correctly, the money you will save will be insignificant compared to the losses you’ll suffer. At the very least, ask your service provider to walk you through the steps on the phone or to check your settings to make sure you did the setup properly.

The Single Most Important Thing To Look For When Choosing a Remote Backup Service Provider

While the above checks are important, one of the most critical characteristics of a backup service provider – and one that is often overlooked — is finding a service that will do regular test restores to check your backup and make sure the data is able to be recovered. You do not want to wait until your data has been wiped out to test your backup; yet that is exactly what most people do – and they pay for it dearly. If your data is very sensitive and you cannot afford to lose it, then test restores should be done monthly. If your situation is a little less critical, then quarterly test restores are sufficient. Any number of things can cause your backup to become corrupt. By testing it monthly, you’ll sleep a lot easier at night knowing you have a good, solid copy of your data available in the event of an unforeseen disaster.

Popularity: 1% [?]

An IDC Market Analysis and Forecast for 2009-2013 has been released and the results demonstrate a modest increase in IT spend by SMB’s worldwide – gross IT spend is predicted to rise by a mere 5.6% per annum and after inflation is taken into account, this is practically a static number. For enterprise class customers, the situation is even worse with financial spending contracting by 3.1% pa and in real-terms, this does represent inflationary contraction.

The recession has certainly taken its toll as companies seek to cut costs but the scope for further IT development is constrained even more than this budgetary forecast demonstrates. The vast majority of typical IT budget is spent on maintaining infrastructure and financing the operating cost – typically in the range of 80% of the total IT budget.

This leaves a mere 20% of the total IT spend to buy new equipment, but even this number is not available for “projects” and new initiatives. Included in this slice of total IT budgets is the requirement to buy replacement equipment for that which has failed and cannot be repaired or if it can be repaired, failure requires a new swap-out simply because of the high reliance levels required.

This constraint on IT managers and budget decision makers makes it imperative that they focus on the core issues confronting the networks they manage and also, ensure that capital investment projects deliver very real benefits in financial terms to the organization.

Common core issues focus on the traditional chestnuts:

· Security – data theft is increasingly of concern not only because of the loss of proprietary data but also, the compliance issues which are increasingly ensnaring businesses as regulation mindsets of government agencies kick-in after the recessionary fall-out. The banking and financial sector is particularly hard hit and sensitive In this regard;

· Sarbanes-Oxley – since the introduction of SOX, the need to ensure data can be recovered has taken on far greater significance to companies across all industry sectors. SOX has had a far-reaching impact in terms of the industry sectors it has ensnared but also where companies are doing business. Legislators probably had little inkling that their work would mean billions of dollars of cost for overseas companies doing business with US consumers, and this has helped continue the growth in storage and data retrieval solutions backed by DR fail-safes.

· Outsourcing – increasing complexity of all solutions, both hardware infrastructure and software, combined with short-staffing of IT departments has led to increased demand for the services of VAR’s (Value Added Resellers) but tight control must be exercised.

Overall, it is the partnerships which are forged with VAR’s , especially those that can deliver solutions subject to the tightening budgets of IT managers, which is the greatest hurdle facing both the industry and companies today. VAR’s must be imaginative and specific in delivering solutions for clients and prospects. Solutions must demonstrate significant positive financial benefits with decreased payback periods if they are to stand any realistic chance of being considered by IT managers. IT managers must also continue to chip away at the large operating element of the IT budget if they are to release chunks of the total IT allocation to keep their networks abreast of developments, particularly risk exposure and performance expectations.

Popularity: 1% [?]

One of the most overlooked facets of the company information technology structure is an optimized backup and disaster recovery system. With all of the technology available today, the absence of even the most elementary backup system is a mortal sin in regard to the business technology world. There are affordable backup and data recovery systems in every price range, so even companies with limited budgets can afford an elementary system at the very least. Also many computer services firms now offer backup and data recovery systems as integral parts of their managed IT services.

Some things to consider when thinking about your backup and disaster recovery solution(s):

1. What happens if I delete a file?
2. Where is my email stored and is it backed up?
3. What if my computer crashes? Even if my data is saved how long will it take me to rebuild my computer to a functioning state?
4. Is my data all located in the same physical space?
5. Will a catastrophe wipe out my backup solution i.e. {an earthquake,a fire, a flood}?
6. Does my business count on any one system for important functions? How long can my business operate without this system? Does my current backup solution accomodate that expectation?
7. Does someone in our company know how to retrieve information off backups?
8. Are my backups tested so I know they work?
9. Are my backups monitored so I know if they are ever failing?
10. Is the backup data media (i.e. hard drives or tapes) transferred in a secure, controlled manor since it contains all data for my entire business?

This list covers about 1/4 of the questions that you should review when it comes to a practical backup and disaster recovery solution so if you haven’t asked yourself these questions, start today!  If you are overwhelmed, contact a local computer services provider which should be able to assist your company.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Whether you are a student with school work to store or just someone looking for a place to keep your numerous photos, the best online backup services have a lot to offer you. If you  just want to make space on your hard drive for something else or if you are worried about possible damage to your files, you will find that the best place to  keep them is far, far away. Since most file backup companies have bunkers which are nearly impervious to outside disasters, there really is no safer place  that you can put your important files. But finding the company that works best for you can be a bit of a challenge unless you know what to look for.

First is the price. Most online backup services are priced about the same, around per month, which you can opt to pay monthly or at the discounted annual fee. But that’s just for the basic service. You can also avail of other additional services like network backup for an added fee. On the other hand, there are also online backup services that come for free, for some companies on a limited trial basis, and for others, for a limited storage capacity. While these offers are not uncommon and are done for promotional purposes, be wary of those backup services that are offered at no cost at all. While they need not cost a lot, the online backup solutions shouldn’t come totally free or you would wonder how the company can give trustworthy service.

Getting immediate access to your files may not really be extremely important to you. For instance, if you are simply looking for a space to store your photos in, you do not always need them at a moment’s notice. Nevertheless, if you are a student or a businessman, you need a service which does not ask you to wait for a day before you can retrieve your files. Different companies provide different levels of access to the files that you store – which is why getting one which perfectly suits your needs is highly important.

And then you also have to think about the actual software that you’d need to install on your computer. Is it user-friendly enough for you? Would you have to deal with a lot of technical stuff that you’re not comfortable with. Most backup software are designed to be as simple and convenient as possible for the user but you’d need to find out which you would be most happy to work with. Remember that online backups are there to make backing up your data easier without having to go through hoops for it. The best online backup services make sure you get that.

Lastly, you need a secure service. Most companies offer encryption of your stored information as it travels between your computer and theirs. However, some companies can offer more than that. You can find companies which scatter your files across their services making it impossible for any outsider to decipher any important information. You may also choose to put a password on your files. All these added services work together to give you the top-level security that you need. But to make sure that a service is right for your needs, just read a few reviews, like the Carbonite review.

Popularity: 1% [?]

For some people, backing up computer information does not seem very necessary. After all, they’re not bankers or government officials with millions of important information to protect. However,  personal e-mails, pictures and notes on your drives should not be taken any less seriously. Just like a banker’s file of finances, every personal file of photo or of just about anything can hold wonderful memories of you and your loved one. Losing these things may not have a great impact on anyone else but you owe it to yourself to protect these important bits of info and backup your computer. Ensuring the safety of your data is very important especially in the digital age when every person can put so much about himself on his computer.

Traditional ways of backing up one’s files have been developed over the years, and for many people, these seemed to work just fine. A widespread backup method used is buying a large stack of floppy disks or more recently CDs, copying your files into them, labeling all disks for organization and for easier retrieval when the need arises, and finally, storing away everything. You somehow manage to successfully make backup copies of your files but it took a lot of time and effort. Plus, with this method, there’s really no guarantee that a few years down the road, you’ll still have files to retrieve. This type of file storage devices are susceptible to damage caused even by the smallest amounts of water, some scratches, or exposure to magnets.

But technology has come a long way when it comes to storage space. Now, you can buy external hard drives which will plug in to almost any computer you can find and work immediately. And all of your data is organized in folders, just like on your home computer’s built-in drive. No more digging through stacks of CDs and floppies. You can also get these drives in sizes that were unheard of until recently. Some drives can hold multiple terabytes of information, more than almost anyone could possibly need. For instance one terabyte drive could store over 200,000 photos at 5 megabytes each.

The thing is though, external hard drives don’t come cheap and while it gives you a convenient way to keep your files safe, not everyone is sold out on using it. Some people think that external drives are good only for those with technical background.

For these types of computer users, a good option for ensuring that your data is safe from all possible causes of data loss would be to avail of online backup services being offered by many companies, one example of which is Carbonite online backup. With this backup method, you don’t need to be a techie because most of these online storage solutions are very user-friendly. And, you get the assurance that your data is being kept away from prying eyes using advanced encryption technology and stored in servers located in a protected area.

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s happened to us all – we’ve been working away on a document and then a sudden computer crash erases all record of our effort.  In more serious cases, a hard drive crash can mean that you lose access to everything you’ve ever saved.It is just because of this it can be a good idea to back up your entire hard drive.  There are specialist online data backup companies but you can also back up your data manually.

You should start by deciding where you will be backing up the computer data to.Ideally you should really use an external hard drive that has enough disk space to store copies of everything on your current hard drive.In order to find out how large your external device needs to be, on your windows PC click the right mouse button on the hard drive in ‘My Computer’ then you need to select the ‘Properties’ item in the menu.This will tell you the precise size of the current hard drive. 

Once you have purchased a suitably sized external hard disk, you should get some suitable backup software.  You have several options, however Norton Ghost is perfectly suited to the task.

Plug in your USB drive and by following the manufacturers instructions you should load up the backup software.Once it has loaded, you must then create and then run the backup.  This can take some time, depending on the size of the hard drive being copied so be prepared to wait a while.Once all the data has been copied, check the files and folders on your USB drive to make sure that all the essential files have been copies and that you haven’t overlooked anything.

If this seems like a complicated process then do bear in mind there are lots of online data backup companies that you can make the process much easier for you.

Popularity: unranked [?]

There's no getting round the fallibility of computers:  the motherboard might die, the power supply may become beyond rescue or the whole thing might just become ridden with viruses and slow to a crawl.  If you decide to buy a replacement computer then the issue of data backup from the old machine to the new one is very important.Use the following 5 steps if you find yourself in this situation:

1) Once you have unplugged the cables and peripherals from your old computer you will then be ready to remove the hard drive from the broken computer.Your computer's handbook should show you the correct way to open the case.Many older machines will have a case that requires unscrewing to gain access, whereas some others will have latches that simply have to be 'pushed' open.

2)  Now you have the components exposed you should be especially wary of causing damage via static electricity, as anyone well versed in ict facts will tell you.  In order to 'de-static' yourself touch something metal before you go near your computer.Repeat this step every time you step away from your machine.

3) Next you should locate your hard drive.This task should be simple enough as it should be located at the front of your computer in a slot near the CD drive.  Again, in older computers it may be attached by screws.

4) Disconnect the hard drive power supply unit and data cable by gently pulling them out.Unscrew the hard drive if appropriate and then remove it. 

5) Finally, you should insert the hard drive into the external hard drive enclosure.Plug the USB data cable into an available USB port on the new working machine.Your new computer should then automatically recognise this as an external drive and assign it a letter as appropriate.You should then be able to gain access to the data on your old hard drive.

If you are looking for for more sophisticated data backup solutions then you may want to approach a specialist provider.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Anyone who uses or in particular works on a computer is going to need to understand about data backup, what it is, and why it is so important. When you backup your data, you are storing your files on a disk or other device that is completely separate from your primary server.

The main purpose for the data backup is so that in the event anything were ever to happen to your computer, for instance if it were to get a virus or something else were to happen that disrupted or even completely deleted any of your files or personal information, you would have the data backup and so you would be able to get all the information back.

There are a few different options that you can choose from when it comes to data backup, including online data backup for one because it is so convenient and because it is often free as well.

What Do You Need

There are many different methods that you can choose to use to backup your computer data, but regardless there are a few things that you are going to require. All that is required to store your information on a drive or disk separate from your computer will depend on the method that you choose.

For instance if you operate on a home LAN system, you can transfer your files onto the other computers on the network so that if the computer you use primarily even went down you would have the information still stored on these other computers.

If you want to go with the online data backup option, there are a couple of online companies in particular that you are going to want to consider for their data backup services. This includes Storage Pipe for one, a company that is known for providing world-class corporate data protection solutions including online backup and recovery.

They allow for small to large businesses to decrease operations costs and complexity, and for quite affordable prices.

Another good company that you may want to consider here is Data Protection, which is a privately held company that offers effective data backup solutions. They are focused solely on backup and storage for business clients and they have designed a very easy managed and affordable solution that is scalable.

They understand that the handling of data has evolved significantly in the past few years in response to security threats and legislative acts addressing privacy and financial reporting issues and they have made the proper steps to keep up with these advancements.

Popularity: 5% [?]

It used to be the case that you would backup everything on your computer using floppy disks.Today, when one sound or graphics file can easily be larger than the capacity of a disk, it would be impractical to back up even you documents with floppies, let alone your applications.  Luckily there are better options including Zip disks, CD writers, tape drives, external hard drives and even online backup services.You can also compress all of your backed up files so that they take up less space.Use the following tips and you will be able to find the media that is best suited to your needs.

1) Determine the quantity and approximate file sizes you will be backing up.

2) Figure out the quantity and file sizes of any documents or applications that you want to archive permanantly to a backup device or removable media.

3) Plan for that amount to grow in the future.

4) Work out your budget for a backup storage device and removable media to use with it.

5) Consider if you plan to archive photographs or scanned files, need portability of the media or the drive itself, wish to record music for playback on some other equipment, or require ease of use.Weigh these factors along with your need to back up the files.

6) Calculate the total cost per MB of media for each drive that you are considering.zip drives themselves are cheap however the disks aren't.

7) You should consider buying a 100MB zip drive if you need limited storage capability (less than 1GB).An external parallel port or even USB Zip drive will provide versatility and portability.You should consider buying a 250MB Zip drive if your storage requirements are moderate (a few GB). 

8) Buy an internal zip drive if you will only use the drive for backup and you are able to install it yourself (installation fees will add up).

9) Buy a CD-RW drive if your storage needs are more moderate and you will regularly back up more than 500MB of data.

10) Buy a Jaz drive or tape backup drive if you will be backing up large amounts of data on a regular basis.

11) Buy an external hard disk if you will need a lot of space, wont be keeping your old backups and dont need portability.

12)  If you require additional security, data protection and the ability to recover your data quickly then online data backup should be a serious consideration.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Forty-three percent of computer users lose irreplaceable files every year. Carbonite automatically and securely backs up the irreplaceable contents of their computers – no matter how much stuff they need to back up. It takes just a few clicks to restore lost files.

A small application on your computer that works quietly in the background looking for new and changed files that need to be backed up is installed by the Carbonite software. There’s no new interface for you to learn — it looks and feels just like part of your computer, and it integrated with your desktop.

Restoring lost files is easy if anything happens to your computer. To restore a specific file or folder, simply open the Carbonite Backup Drive from your desktop. Files and folders are organized in the backup drive exactly as they are on your computer. Right-click and select “restore” once you locate the specific file or folder. The file will be restored to its original location on your hard drive by the software. You will also have the option of recovering a previous version of the file by selecting “Restore previous versions…” or restoring the file to a new location, by selecting “Restore to…”

The way to restore everything in your backup to a new or repaired computer is as follows: go to carbonite.com, click the restore tab, log in to your account and restore your files. The Carbonite Restore Wizard will help you restore all of your files to your new computer with just a few clicks.

Once installation is complete, the Carbonite software looks for files to back up by scanning the hard disk. All file types except executables (such as .exe and .dll), system files, temporary files and video files are automatically backed up by Carbonite. However, any of the excluded file types can be manually added to the backup by right-clicking on the file and selecting “Back this up” from the Carbonite menu. Ninety five percent of Carbonite users prefer to stick with the default settings despite the fact that Carbonite offers a wide variety of options for customizing your backup upon setup.

Popularity: 5% [?]