Home
and Business Security.
|
This page discusses data backup and recovery options.
Please remember that we have a range of
cost-effective solutions to meet your storage needs. Whether
it's peace of mind being able to backup all your
precious photographs and documents or an essential business
requirement to safeguard your assets we have the right
solution for you. To prime you we've highlighted some of the
more important options and considerations.
|
 |
External Hard Drives
These devices
are great for casual users who may require a simple backup
solution. Unless bundled with decent backup software they
are likely to become 'shelf-ware'.
 |
'Cheap and cheerful' but 'clunky'
|
|
|
Scheduled and ad-hoc backups are possible if device
is supplied with appropriate software - or in
conjunction with operating system supporting backups
(e.g. Vista Business, XP Pro) |
|
|
Device can be removed for security after backup
completed |
|
|
Prone to 'user error' (i.e. failure to plug in
device and perform backups even when scheduled
etc...) |
|
|
Portable - can be taken with you - or locked away in
a safe |
Network attached
storage
This is probably the next step up from an external hard
drive. It is usually left plugged into the network so data
has a better chance of being backed up
|
|
Access your data from one or more PCs on your
network |
|
|
Powerful backup/data sharing facility, resilient if
a RAID array |
|
|
Can be removed / locked away for security
|
Windows Home Server
A viable solution from Microsoft that doesn’t cost the earth
to set up.
This
requires a donor PC with sufficient hard drive space to
backup or store your data:
|
|
Safeguard data and system integrity for up to 5 PCs
with a small investment in new hardware |
|
|
Once installed no
keyboard, mouse or monitor is required - access is
from connected PCs |
|
|
Scheduled and ad-hoc backup facilities |
|
|
Scalable - you can add extra hard drives - either
internal or external, to grow with your requirements |
|
|
Ideal for serious home users and small business
users |
Tried and tested - we've got this running successfully for a
number of small businesses and homes who are very satisfied
with this solution.
Data security via 3rd
party across Internet
|
|
Almost certainly costly if large amounts of data are
to be
secured on a regular basis |
|
|
Your ISP may already provide a scaled-down solution
(e.g. BT Broadband) - you may also be limited by
bandwidth and usage by your ISP |
|
|
Network/PCs must be left on overnight (or when a
scheduled backup is required) to transfer your data |
|
|
This service would not be available if your
Broadband service is down - and would be unreliable
if your Broadband service is prone to outages |
|
|
Generally limited by your upload speed - so data
transfer could be slow or backup may be incomplete
if the amount of data to transfer is large
|
Memory Sticks
If Vista is your chosen operating system a memory
stick can be used as a 'Readyboost' device. Never rely on memory sticks as a backup solution -
only consider
as a temporary solution, they are not suitable as your
primary backup tool (lets explain why...)
|
|
For IT purposes they are primarily designed to be
used as a data-transfer tool between PCs |
|
|
Memory sticks are prone to failure through user
error (static discharge, incorrect removal from USB
port, water ingress, heat and magnetic damage) |
|
|
Generally they are not secure, they can easily be
lost. It is also easy to steal data from a memory
stick, increasing the risk of identity theft and
hardship |
|
|
The informal nature of these devices and the culture
amongst the target audience (sharing music, pictures
etc) means that they are prone to viruses and are
therefore a vehicle for infecting PC systems |
|
|
They use a much less resilient (FAT) file system,
this is not as
reliable as the NTFS file system generally used by
PCs and this makes it more difficult to recover lost
data
|
|
