Raid Redundant Online Backup Servers

I’m happy to announce, today, that we brought our new RAID redundant backup servers online. It’s been a long time in the making and I’ll be honest, it’s taken much longer than we had originally anticipated. However, we wanted to make sure that everything was not only working correctly, but working well. One of the things that we wanted to be sure about was making sure that we could monitor all aspects of the server from the fan speeds and internal temperatures to the hard drives and making sure that we could be alerted of any problems as early as possible. Most of the time, a potentially failing hard drive can be detected before it actually fails giving us time to replace it. But of course with a RAID redundant server, even a completely failed drive is not an issue and no data would be lost.

I also wanted to mention that all existing SecureBackup customers will be upgraded to the new servers and all of their existing data will be switched over to the new servers as well. This is going to be performed over the next couple of weeks.

We want to provide the best service possible and we know how important it is to provide a safe and secure backup environment for your precious data. We will be releasing a press release shortly regarding our new RAID backup servers.

We hope that with our continued efforts to improve our services that everyone will be happy to recommend SecureBackup.com to their friends, family, and business acquaintances.

New RAID-5 Backup Servers

We have almost completed development of our new RAID-5 backup servers and plan on deploying them soon. I wanted to touch on a few key points about our new servers and also explain a little bit about how they work and why they are better than most other RAID solutions.

We were originally planning on using RAID-1 for our servers because we liked the idea of having two drives mirroring each other in case one of them failed. However, after further investigation, we found that in order to have a lot of backup space available on each server, it was quite complex to set it up this way. In other words, we found that we needed to have multiple RAID configurations in each server.

The solution we came up with was to use RAID-5 instead but with a hot spare. The hot spare is just an additional drive that remains on standby in case one of the working drives fail.

To help explain the added redundancy, I will first explain what RAID-5 is. A RAID-5 server has an array of hard drives which looks like one giant hard drive. If one of the hard drives fails, no data is lost and the other drives compensate until you replace the drive. But with our hot spare drive, the new drive automatically, and immediately, come online and take over for the failing drive.

The beauty of this solution is that even if the backup server has a drive failure, a new one automatically comes online and takes it place. If then a second hard drive fails before we replace the old one, the backup server still continues to function without data-loss.

We know that we have taken the extra step in protecting your data with our new servers and are confident that it will be as reliable as it gets and probably even more so than our competition.

We are looking forward to deploying our new servers soon!

SecureBackup 3.1 - File Archiving Support

We are happy to announce the release of SecureBackup 3.1 which adds a new file archiving capability to our online file storage service. This new feature allows you to set a desired level of retention for your backup files and works on a per-backup-job basis. In other words, for each backup job you create, you can now tell SecureBackup to automatically retain anywhere from zero to nine older copies of your backup files. When SecureBackup detects a change in your file, it will automatically create an archive of the older copy and begin to backup the newer file immediately.

Each archive file is marked with a “{archive-TIMESTAMP}” extension and is also highlighted with an orange background within the “Restore Files” window of the SecureBackup software. This way you can easily see that they are archives of the original. The TIMESTAMP takes the form of the year as 4 digits, followed by 2 digits each for the month, day, hour, and minute of the original backup date. The filename of the archive will have the date and time appended right onto the filename so that you can easily distinguish when that file was originally backed up.

A file storage solution that allows for multiple levels of archives comes in handy. For example, when you accidentally delete data within a document you are working on, it would be nice to be able to restore an older file version that you have archived of which contains the data you accidentally deleted. I’m sure many of us have accidently destroyed something we were working on and wished we had an older copy lying around!

Storing older versions of files is now a completely automated and painless process with the SecureBackup software but it does require that you are using SecureBackup PRO. The SecureBackup HOME edition does not provide this feature. The more archives that you retain, the more backup space you will need. Using archive levels was therefore considered as a feature for customers who are paying for a dedicated amount of space such as those who are using SecureBackup PRO.

With SecureBackup PRO, you can now retain multiple copies of your backup files with ease. The new file archiving feature allows you to backup up to nine older copies of your files. And as always, the SecureBackup software is free and there is no additional charge to existing customers to upgrade to SecureBackup 3.1.

New Online Backup Servers

There is a new and exciting thing happening here at SecureBackup LLC and I wanted to share it with everyone.

We are planning on providing all customers with RAID redundant online backup servers. We are going to accomplish this by building, maintaining, and co-locating our own backup servers at a data center in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Currently we are leasing dedicated servers from a data center in Houston, TX. While this has been a great solution so far, it has somewhat limited us in terms of our online backup service offerings. We know we can offer a better service by building and maintaining our own servers.

We have been very pleased with the initial test results of our new online backup servers. Because of the fact that we can now choose our own server parts, we will soon be able to better monitor the health of our servers, anticipate and prevent problems, as well as provide RAID redundancy.

Monitoring servers is an important task in the world of online backup server administration. By monitoring things such as fan speeds, CPU temperatures, and hard drive errors, you can anticipate potential problems down the road and take corrective action to prevent it. Our new server grade motherboards provide built-in support for monitoring certain aspects of system health.

We will be able to determine if a hard drive is failing and can replace it before it happens. And because we will be building RAID redundant backup servers, if one drive actually fails, the data will still be secured on a secondary drive.

One of the methods that we will be using for monitoring hard drives is called S.M.A.R.T. monitoring. With S.M.A.R.T. monitoring we will be able to better predict potential drive failure and can take corrective action immediately. S.M.A.R.T. monitoring isn’t a bullet proof solution and a hard drive can fail without warning but it is a good first line of defense.

In addition to S.M.A.R.T. monitoring, we will also be able to monitor the health of our drives with our new RAID configurations. We are planning on using RAID-1 mirroring for our new servers. This will not only alert us of a failing drive, but will provide redundancy if that drive actually fails.

RAID-1 is our method of choice. While RAID-5 is great for storing multi-terabytes of data, the best choice for online backup with multiple GB of data is still RAID-1.

We look forward to deploying our new online backup servers and offering RAID redundancy to all SecureBackup customers. We will issue an official press release when we roll out the new servers.

We have recently distributed the SecureBackup™ online backup software to several websites for review purposes and have been very pleased with the results. The SecureBackup™ software consistently received the highest rating of 5 out of 5 stars.

SecureBackup™ Wins Multiple 5-Star Awards!

As you can see, we have numerous awards that we could place on our website to proudly display our winning status but it would take up quite a bit of space. Therefore, we have decided to place our entire collection of award winning images on this page.

The most notable award that we received came from Tucows. Tucows is one of the largest software download sites on the web and is recognized as an authority on software reviews. They did a very thorough review of our backup software and awarded SecureBackup™ with their highest rating!

We are pleased to have received such great ratings. SecureBackup™ was designed to not only be easy to use, but also to be the most secure online backup solution available on the market today.

View a demo of SecureBackup™ or sign-up right now and start backing up your files today!

New SecureBackup Website

We have just released a new website and hope you like it. We will be continuing to add content not only to the website but also to the Online Backup blog. We are quite pleased with the overall design and made it a point to put the words “Secure Online Backup Service” on every web page as this was not apparently clear in our old design. We also provide a link to the demo of our secure online backup service on every page of our new website. If there’s one thing we are consistently asked it’s “how does your backup solution work?” or “do you provide an automatic online backup solution?” These are the kinds of questions that we wanted to address in our overall site design by providing links to content pages and to the SecureBackup demo.

The old SecureBackup website also suffered from a lack of information regarding the SecureBackup PRO and HOME editions. We wanted to differentiate our offerings for both our home and business pro data backup solutions. We also wanted our website logo to be consistent with our software and service and were able to accomplish that as well.

A large majority of our visitors are using the Firefox web browser so we wanted to make sure that the SecureBackup website supported both Firefox and Internet Explorer. There will be more to come in terms of website improvements but we think that our overall design is much better and more accurately reflects the backup services that we provide.

Online Backup Service

SecureBackup, a premier online backup firm, recently announced discounts for clients that wish to be billed on a recurring annual basis.

Canastota, NY — April 9, 2009 — Premier online backup firm, SecureBackup LLC, recently announced that it will be offering discounts for clients that wish to be billed on a recurring annual basis. The company now provides twelve months of service for the price of eleven when prepaid annually. SecureBackup offers data backup options including SecureBackup HOME for personal use as well as SecureBackup PRO for business applications. The new discount applies to both the HOME and PRO editions of SecureBackup.

With eight years of experience in the IT services industry, the professionals at SecureBackup understand the importance of providing alternative payment options as well as discounts to clients. With a commitment to offering reliable backup software, combined with exceptional customer support, SecureBackup is dedicated to offering the best value in offsite data storage.

“Despite the global economic downturn, many businesses continue to see the importance of protecting their data and we want to help them to do that in an affordable way,” says Steve Eschweiler of SecureBackup (http://www.securebackup.com).

SecureBackup offers Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS 197) A.E.S. file encryption, password encryption that meets National Security Agency (NSA) guidelines, and HIPAA compliance. In addition, SecureBackup provides file compression, multi-threading, and smart file synchronization features which improve backup performance.

“We are confident that our service and features are not only of the highest quality, but that we can offer it at a price that anyone can afford,” concludes Eschweiler.

About SecureBackup LLC: Secure online storage firm, SecureBackup LLC, (http://www.securebackup.com) provides online backup services to a variety of clients throughout the world. Engineered with security, reliability, and ease-of-use in mind, SecureBackup has many features to offer clients at competitive prices.

Media Contact:
Steve Eschweiler
SecureBackup LLC
9 Grago Blvd
Canastota, NY 13032-1005
1-800-351-8816
http://www.securebackup.com

SecureBackup Client

SecureBackup, a premier online backup firm, recently unveiled its new website where computer users can select from a variety of secure online storage options based on their individual storage needs.

CANASTOTA, NY – Premier online backup firm, SecureBackup LLC, recently announced that it launched a new website to better serve its customers. The website features a variety of secure online storage options, including SecureBackup HOME for personal use as well as SecureBackup PRO for business applications.

With more than eight years of production web server experience, the professionals at SecureBackup understand the importance of providing safe and secure online backup services. With a commitment to offering outstanding backup services, combined with exceptional customer support, SecureBackup has been engineered from the ground up with security in mind. A highly secure data backup solution, SecureBackup does not suffer from server-side eavesdropping attacks. Additionally, all files with SecureBackup are protected using United States government strength AES file encryption techniques.

“We are thrilled with the launch of our new website. Now an even greater number of customers can benefit from the superior online backup services SecureBackup provides. Whether it’s a fire, flood, a computer crash, or other disaster, our customers have peace of mind knowing their data is securely stored and can be easily retrieved when needed,” says Steve Eschweiler of SecureBackup (http://www.securebackup.com).

SecureBackup has many proprietary technologies and measures in place to maintain customer security. At SecureBackup, passwords are never entered online, decrypted online, or stored online. Because the entire encryption and decryption process occurs on its clients’ computers and not on SecureBackup servers, the firm ensures that all measures have been taken to fully protect the information being stored. Additionally, since the process is automated, SecureBackup customers can rest assured that their valuable information is being stored and backed up frequently and securely.

SecureBackup offers a variety of secure online storage options to meet every customer’s specific backup needs. The firm’s SecureBackup HOME package is appropriate for personal use and offers unlimited online backup. With the HOME package, files are backed up directly from the customer’s hard drive, allowing for easy storage of family photos, videos, and other personal files.

For business professionals, SecureBackup PRO is also available, offering 50 GB to 6 TB of safe and secure online storage. Ideal for small business or home office backup, the PRO package also offers customers professionally managed, dedicated backup servers for storing the most sensitive business information.

“People fail to make regular backups simply because it often requires a considerable amount of time and effort. At SecureBackup, we offer automatic online backup with a user-friendly ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ interface to help make this process as painless as possible,” concludes Eschweiler.

About SecureBackup LLC: Secure online storage firm, SecureBackup LLC, (http://www.securebackup.com) provides superior backup storage services to a variety of clients throughout the country. Engineered with security in mind, SecureBackup has many proprietary technologies and measures in place to ensure the safety and security of all files. For personal use, the firm offers SecureBackup HOME, giving customers unlimited storage space for storing family photos, videos and other files. Perfect for the home office or small business, the firm also provides SecureBackup PRO, offering 50 GB to 6 TB of secure online storage.

Media Contact:
Steve Eschweiler
SecureBackup LLC
9 Grago Blvd
Canastota, NY 13032-1005
1-800-351-8816
http://www.securebackup.com