By Adam Pittman

Coming up with the right backup solution can be a very a discerning and confusing task, especially with all the options out there today. So what backup solution is right for you?

To better answer that question, you’ll need to ask yourself a few questions about your data, your habits and personality (or at least your company’s habits and personality). For example:

1.How much data (in gigabytes) will you be backing upon a daily basis?
2.What about on a monthly or yearly basis?
3.Do you need to archive data?
4.Will you or someone in your company be able to securely store tapes offsite?
5.What kind of budget do I have for backup?

When it comes to data backup, there is no “one technology fits all” solution. More often than not the right solution is combining different technologies together. So let’s get back to my first question; how much data do I have to backup? If not much, maybe a thumb drive would be a great solution. You can backup your data and keep the thumb drive with you.

But if you have a business, that just won’t do. So to my second and third questions; what about on a monthly or yearly basis? Do I need to archive data? Maybe a large external hard drive – 1TB or so – might work. So then the question is, can you take it home with you every day? Perhaps if I could store it off-site as well…

I know there are some technicians who will tell you that all you need is a good, large external drive for your backup media. They are wrong. Think about it. What would you do if your building was struck by lightning? An average bolt of negative lightning carries an electric current of approximately 30 kilo-amperes (kA) and transfers a charge of five coulombs and 500 mega joules (MJ) of energy. Large bolts of lightning can carry up to 120 kA and 350 coulombs, and there are about 16 million lightning storms in the world every year. Even if you have no idea what a joule or coulomb is, you get the idea — it’s a whole lot of electricity, and oh yea… have I mentioned the probability of theft? Hurricanes? Flooding?

The power from lightning can flow through your floors, walls and other parts of your building. Many structures have steel frames, conducting electricity through the floors and walls. Even if you have a great uninterrupted power supply, external hard drives along with workstations and servers can and will get fried from a direct strike – and all your data with it.

So, should I trash my external hard drive? Not at all. It’s a great, fast local backup. But if you are going to use an external electronic device for a backup, you need to consider coupling it with a secure offsite solution like iBackup or Carbonite (starting at about $10/month) for those files you just can’t afford to lose.

Barracuda Networks, the same folks who brought you their award-winning SPAM solution, have a solution that combines offsite and external hard drives for your backup (Barracuda Backup Service), along with the software that powers it. It works by backing up all files locally (for that speedy recovery) then backs up your data in two different offsite locations. At first it might seem a little expensive, but when you think about what you’re getting, it’s quite reasonable.

Of course, if you have the need to safely archive terabytes of data, you might want to consider a tape drive or a tape library. Tapes are not electronic; therefore, a disaster like a lightning strike will not harm them. Now, to answer question four; will someone be able to take the tapes home with them? Because the tapes are light and small enough for easy transportation, it is quite convenient to take them home. Your information will also be safe from disasters that could destroy the office such as hurricanes and flooding.

But tapes have drawbacks, too. Even the fastest of tape backup systems are painfully slow when you compare them with hard drives, and they are susceptible to fire and other disasters. Iomega has a removable hard drive system I often recommend for backups of 120GB or less (in place of tapes) called the REV Drive.

What kind of budget do I have for backup? The answer to question number five depends on the brand and the amount you need. Iomega’s 70GB system starts at about $380. Barracuda Networks’ unit starts at about the units start at about $1,000 plus $50/100GB of data backed up offsite. Again, it all depends on your requirements and preferences.
Now you see the dilemma. As I said before, there is no “one technology fits all” solution. If there is a lot of data involved due to archiving, you might have to end up with all three technologies working together. I have a few clients that have the Barracuda backup system for their regular backup along with a tape backup for archival purposes. If you can afford it, it’s the best of both worlds.

Adam is the owner and CEO of Computerbilities, Inc.