Soonr Blog

Every 15 seconds a harddrive is lost! Protect your data!

Everyone knows that they should be backing up their data. A computer disk fails every 15 seconds. It could be years before yours fail, but when it does happen it’s a catastrophic event as all your accumulated information can be lost. If you are running a business, it could spell the end of the business as 70% of small businesses do not survive a data loss event. (See footnote for details).

There are four (4) distinct levels of backup available today. Let’s take a quick look at each one.

1. Manual Backup:

This is when you copy your data files onto a CD/DVD or an external harddrive. You got that 1TB drive for $100 and plugged it into your machine at some interval (when you have time) and then copy over the folders to the disk. This method is very inexpensive and rather time consuming as you have to monitor the progress and plan a block of time to take care of it. Problems? People have the best intentions, but often their backup frequency drops over time. It’s just such a drag to do this by hand. Of course if you don’t make time, nothing is backed up. Also, this method doesn’t cover physical damage to the hardware or business (fire, flood, theft).

2. Interval Based Backup:

Ok, maybe you leave the usb drive plugged in and have a program which will backup your disk at a given interval. Let’s say you are aggressive and tell the program to backup every day at midnight. This sounds good, but you can still lose a days work in a hard drive failure. Oh, and what happens if there’s an error and the backup didn’t complete? And you still have the physical damage problem. Interval based backups are one step above manual backup, but if you’ve tried this, you’ll notice that they still require lots of manual intervention and verification.

Also understand the risks of having a solution that is not offsite. No on-site solution can protect your data from fire, theft, or other physical damage to your hardware. Pick an offsite solution that utilizes Real Time and Active Backup.

3. Real Time Backup:

Now we are moving into a really effective system. A Real Time Backup system utilizes a program that runs in the background and will detect changes to your files and automatically backup the file when it detects a change. The more advanced systems will only backup the parts of the file that change instead of the whole file. This is important if you are working on a large file and saving often. It’s sometimes impossible for a large file to be saved before it’s changed again. Real Time Backup is the best way to protect you from disaster. Soonr is based on Real Time Backup.

One minute or one year, Soonr backup keeps you protected

4. Active Backup:

You might have seen this mentioned in the Soonr website. An Active Backup system allows you to use your backed up files while they are stored. The idea is that if your hardware fails, you can still continue using your files for business. You don’t have to go through the time consuming process of getting a new computer up and running and then downloading your backup set before you can use the files. Whether it’s to edit a document, send a proposal, fax an invoice, or print a presentation, an Active Backup system leverages online web services to accomplish what you need. Any changes that are made on the web are then synchronized when you get a new machine online.

Of course Soonr utilizes the most advanced Real-Time and Active Backup system. When you are considering a data protection solution for your company, consider the advantages of being able to be productive at all times no matter where you are or what happens to your computers.

Reference: Impact on U.S. Small Business on Natural and Made Made Disasters, 2007