Cloud Server vs Cloud Backup

Cloud backup services have become popular with both consumers and businesses. Most of us have at least some files stored online for sharing and mobile access, above and beyond encrypted backups. All together, there is a stampede of data moving toward the cloud.

We’ve gotten comfortable with online file storage. How about cloud computing? There is a definite trend in this direction, but it hasn’t taken off yet the way cloud storage has. There are strong indications that cloud computing will be just as popular as cloud storage in a few years.

Why is that? Some of the motivation to adopt cloud servers are the same as for cloud storage. The server in the sky is accessible from anywhere on any device. That’s a lot different from the legacy practice of going to where the computer is when you want to use it. Today we want our applications and our data available on desktops, laptops, notebooks, tablets and smartphones. The common denominators are the web browser and a wired or wireless broadband connection. Thanks to the proliferation of WiFi hotspots, it’s pretty easy to get connected away from the office even if you don’t have 3G or 4G capability on your device.

When it comes to backups, there’s another factor to consider that isn’t getting much attention yet. That is the speed of restoration when you lose your files. This factor could become the tipping point that moves everything to the cloud.

The problem becomes apparent when a local disaster completely destroys your facilities. This could be a tornado, hurricane, earthquake, wildfire, flood or something else that comes out of nowhere to engulf your business. If all you have is local computing and storage, you could be in a world of hurt for years. it’s not uncommon for businesses to fold once they realize that all their customer records, inventory, accounting and other files are unrecoverable. If you’ve been smart enough to add a remote backup service for your computer files, your electronic files will still be available. That’s the good news. The bad news is how long it takes to get them back.

One reason that moving files to the cloud is fast and easy is because we do it one or a few files at a time. Think about updating a website design or posting a YouTube video. These transfers go pretty fast. Your automatic backups are no annoyance, either. Most automated systems only transfer the files that have changed recently and they do it in the background. You may not even know a backup is going on. Corporate backup processes to remote data centers tend to run late at night when nobody is around.

Going up to the cloud is fast and easy. Coming back down may be easy but it is rarely fast. Let’s say that your old offices have been wiped off the face of the Earth. You set up new offices, buy some new computers get everything warmed up and ready to go. The only thing you need now is your original files so you can pick up where you left off. You log into your cloud backup service and start the recovery process. Have a cup of coffee while you wait. It could take a little while.

Two large cans of coffee and a week later, your files are still downloading. What? How can it possibly take so long? You’ve checked your T1 line and it is running at full speed like it always does. How can it take weeks to download a few electronic files?

Well, it’s not slow servers at the other end. It’s not your T1 line. It’s not your new computers. Everything is working just the way it should. What’s wrong is that your collection of files in the cloud is far, far larger than you ever thought possible. The files may upload in dribs and drabs, but they all have to come back at once. Those dribs and drabs happened every day over the course of a year or two, maybe many years. You’ve got Gigabytes, Terabytes, maybe Petabytes spinning on drives in the cloud data center.

Meanwhile, your T1 is downloading them at 1.5 Megabits per second. At 8 bits per byte, that’s a bit under 200 KB per second. It will be a week or two before you get the first hard drive’s worth of data back. It might be smarter to just pull down the files you need one at a time, as you need them, and let the full restore process run over night... for month or so.

Would a faster connection help? You bet it would. A 15 Mbps Ethernet over Copper line will move things along 10x as fast. A OC-3 fiber optic line at 155 Mbps would boost the file transfers another order of magnitude. Clearly, if you want fast transfers to and from the cloud, you are going to need a fiber optic link and the faster, the better.

Here’s another approach. You set up that new office, boot your brand new computers and log into your cloud service provider via your favorite web browser. You won’t even be able to lift that coffee cup to your lips before your entire software suite and all files are available. Oh, look. There’s your old desktop just as you left it when you ran for the tornado shelter.

How is this possible? It’s because you are running your business on virtual servers in the same cloud where your files are stored. Your local computers are only needed for access. In a pinch, you could take your laptop or tablet to a coffee shop or hotel and work out of there until you have new a new office. You don’t need massive bandwidth because all the heavy lifting is done in the cloud. You just need enough speed to access the system and get data in and out as needed.

OK. You’re probably wondering what happens if disaster strikes the cloud, right? That’s certainly possible. It will take a bigger disaster to wipe out the cloud because those data centers are built with redundancies on top of redundancies. The best way to protect against this is to have your data backed up in a different data center than where it normally resides. Some cloud providers can set this up for you. The backup and recovery process will be a lot speedier than downloading to your office because the data centers are tied together with very high speed fiber optic line services.

Should you consider running your businesses processes on cloud servers or at least doing remote backups to the cloud? If you are at all concerned about business continuity, it makes a lot of sense. Get competitive quotes for cloud computing and storage solutions and see how affordable this might be for your size business.

Online Backup For Disaster Recovery

In computing, disaster is always just around the corner. There are so many potential points of failure. Disks can crash at any time. Data can be accidentally erased. Both equipment and data can be stolen or destroyed by fire, storm or flood. So, why are we so convinced that it just isn’t going to happen?


The problem with computer disasters is that you may never get a warning. One minute everything is humming along nicely. The next minute, it’s all gone. That scares most of us just enough that we occasionally copy important files to other computers, alternative hard drives, thumb drives, CD ROMs or DVD ROMs. It’s a lot better than nothing, but the hit and miss nature of these backups means that there are long periods when data is changing but only in one place.

The other weakness of our ad-hoc personal backup systems is that they only protect from certain types of losses. A CD ROM backup protects against a hard disk failure. It doesn’t protect from natural disasters that wipe out the entire office, not merely a few computers or one hard drive. Just what would a tornado, hurricane, flood, fire or earthquake do to your facility? Think your backup disks would still be in good condition? Maybe. Maybe not. Can you really take that chance?

The traditional solution for robust backups is to send copies of your files to a remote location, such as a separate data center across town. Smaller companies store CD ROM backups in bank vaults away from the company facilities. Today’s solution is online backup. Everybody has a broadband connection and there are companies that specialize in being that secure data center that you can’t afford.

One of the best online backup companies is SOS Online Backup. They’ve been around since 2001 and have won numerous industry awards.

A really important feature that SOS offers is called Engage Live Protect. It detects whenever a file has been changed and immediately backs up that file. This certainly takes the weak link of remembering what to backup out of the loop. With file backups happening as needed, there is also no long time lag to the next scheduled backup during which something can go wrong.

Another nice feature of this service is that you can access your files on the Web from any computer with a web browser. You don’t have to use the computer that the file came from, which helps if that machine smokes. You can even share files by using an email address. SOS lets you backup to five computers with one simple account. There are enterprise level services available for larger organizations with many employees.

Have you integrated iPhones or iPads into your organization? SOS iPhone App lets you access all of your files anytime, anywhere from your iOS mobile device.

The big hesitation many people have with online backup systems is security. How can you be sure the bad guys won’t steal your data right out from under you? SOS protects you with a three-tiered encryption system that offers military grade security. The data to be backed up is first encrypted right on your computer using 256 bit AES encryption. While in-transit, 128 bit SSL is employed to secure the link. Finally, the data is stored using 1024 bit AES encryption.

Are you feeling a bit squeamish about all those files on your computer that could go “poof” at any time? How much would that hurt? Don’t let it happen. Get SOS Online Backup now and rest easy that your important files are stored away securely in the cloud, ready to retrieve at any time.