Backup your USB Flash Drive Online

We love customer feedback! As our service continues to grow, we get more and more feature requests. We always have a list of these feature requests on hand so that we know what to work on next. A while back, the most requested feature was for file archiving support. We know that many of you wanted to be able to have multiple, older copies of your files on hand in case you needed to revert back to them later. Shortly after we added that feature, we found that it actually came in handy for us as well! We were modifying a source code file to add a certain functionality to our software but after a couple of days we began to realize that there was a better way to approach this. What we needed to do was revert back to an older copy of that file so that we could implement the newer method. Fortunately, we had an older archive of our source code file on hand and were able to revert back to it. What a great feature request that was.

Until today, our number one feature request has been to add backup support for external drives. Well, we’ve heard you loud and clear!

Our latest release of SecureBackup adds backup support for all drive types, including USB flash drives, external hard drives, floppy drives, RAM disks, CD/DVD/Optical discs, and even unknown drive types. As long as the Windows operating system can see your drive, then you will be able to back it up with SecureBackup.

As I always say, we look forward to providing our customers with the best possible service. The ability to backup your USB drive or other device is the next logical step towards achieving that goal.

With all of the advantages that online backup provides, there are some things to keep in mind when choosing an online backup service:

• Data Security
• Reliability
• Ease-of-Use
• Acquiring a Free Trial

Data Security
Data security is the most important thing to look for in an online backup service. If your data is not secure, then there is really no point in having a backup in the first place. There are two main aspects of security that are important in the world of online backup.

The first is backup server security. Imagine the chaos and worry if a hacker broke into your backup server and deleted your backups. In order to prevent something awful like this from happening, look for an online backup service that provides secure TLS/SSL server connections. This keeps your password secure and also prevents a “man-in-the-middle” attack which allows a hacker to corrupt your data.

The second security issue to be aware of is backup file encryption. Some businesses have highly sensitive data which must be protected. For example, doctor’s offices are required to maintain patient privacy; their main concerns are with HIPAA compliancy. Other businesses, such as software developers, want to protect their trade secrets; they don’t want their source code falling into the wrong hands. AES file encryption provides protection against these risks, so be sure the online backup service offers this important feature. AES encryption is superior to other forms of encryption; it is the new standard adopted and deployed by the U.S. Government to protect classified information. It keeps confidential information, confidential.

Reliability
There are a number of things that can go wrong with backing up your data, especially when it takes place over an Internet connection. For example, an Internet connection could fail in the middle of a backup resulting in a faulty copy of the data stored on the backup server. To avoid this scenario, a good backup service will ensure that the data is verified not only before it is transmitted over the Internet but afterwards as well.

If data is not verified after it has been uploaded to the backup server, you may not know about a problem until you try to restore it. This would defeat the whole point of having a backup in the first place. Ensuring that the backup service provides full file verification will save you time, aggravation, and money in the long term.

In addition to full file verification methods, you want to ensure that your online backup service provides RAID redundancy. A RAID redundant backup server prevents data loss when a hard drive on a particular server fails. Look for a service that provides RAID-1, RAID-5, or RAID-6 redundant servers to help prevent this from happening and to protect your backups.

Ease-of-Use
Ease-of-use is a given when choosing an online backup service. After all, the backup software is your interface to protecting your valuable data and you need to be comfortable using it. If the service offers backup software with a “set-it-and-forget-it” interface, you will be able to run your backups automatically and never have to worry about them again. Typically, you want to be able to schedule your backups to run at night when nobody is in the office.

You don’t want software that automatically chooses the files for your backup set. You also don’t want software that places restrictions on the types of files that you are allowed to backup. Being able to select specific files and folders to backup is important for your business. Selecting these files and folders should not require anything more than clicking on a few checkboxes within the software.

Another important aspect concerning what makes an online backup service easy-to-use has to do with restoring your data in the event of data-loss. Connecting to your backup server and restoring your data should be fast and simple. The last thing anyone wants to deal with is spending time restoring data with a slow and unresponsive server.

Acquiring a Free Trial
No matter which online backup service you choose, you want to take it for a test drive before committing. Often, there is little in common between online backup services; you want to be confident in subscribing to the best online backup service for your particular business needs. When you find a service that meets your requirements, take full advantage of a free trial offer if there is one offered. Keep in mind it is all about ease-of-use and quality of service. An online backup service that provides a free trial indicates that they are confident in their services and that they are willing to prove it to you for free.

Be responsible. Provide your business with a true sense of security. Answer the question “Got protection?” with a confident, resounding “Yes!” When it comes to protecting your business from a data-loss disaster, you need to consider the advantages that a secure online backup service provides.

Backing up your data online is the easiest way to protect your company’s irreplaceable assets. Unfortunately, some businesses don’t realize the importance of backing up their data until it’s too late. The statistics are quite alarming. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and the National Archives in Washington, 60% of companies that lose their data close down within 6 months and 93% close their doors within 5 years.

Fortunately, backing up your data doesn’t have to be as complex as it once was. When you back up your data online, all you need is an Internet connection and backup software. Keeping track of full, differential, or incremental backups is no longer necessary. And, manually storing your backup media offsite to protect against fire, theft, and natural disasters, is no longer a concern.

According to recent surveys, more and more businesses are choosing an online backup solution for their data protection needs for a multitude of reasons! There are several advantages, including:

• Critical business data is automatically stored offsite.
• No need for additional hardware and storage media.
• There are no backup device or media failures to worry about.
• You don’t need to maintain or rotate backups.
• All you need is an Internet connection and backup software.

With an online backup solution, you will be relieved from worrying about purchasing, installing, and maintaining any additional hardware. You won’t need to worry about the shelf-life of your backup media. You may not even need someone from the IT department to help you get started. All you need to do is ensure that your computer or office network has an Internet connection. Then it’s simply a matter of installing the online backup software. After this, you can start backing up your data immediately and confidently.

The inherent beauty of an online backup solution is that your data will be automatically protected from fire, theft, vandalism, flood, and other types of natural disasters. This is due to the fact that your data is already stored on a remote backup server. In the past, businesses hoping to protect their data from physical disasters may have used tape backup devices. They would store their tapes in safe-deposit boxes which are located offsite, typically, at a bank. This does keep data stored offsite but requires the inconvenience of transporting the tapes to that offsite location. In addition, these types of backups must be rotated to replace older backups with new ones. With an online backup service, however, your business will have the convenience of readily available backup data that is already safely stored offsite.

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.

The SBA (Small Business Administration) encourages business owners to prepare for the possibility of a major disaster and offers the following tips:

• Start the disaster plan by identifying what your operation needs to do to protect itself in the face of a natural disaster. Even if you don’t own the building where you do business, take steps to protect your assets.

• Determine what production machinery, computers and other essential equipment is needed to keep your business open. Store extra supplies offsite, and make a plan for a temporary location if your company is forced to relocate after the disaster. Be ready for utility disruptions with a portable generator.

• Find escape routes from the business and establish meeting places. Make sure everyone understands the emergency plan before the storm hits. Designate a contact person to communicate with other employees, customers and vendors.

• Review your insurance coverage to make sure you understand what is not covered. Most policies don’t cover flood damage.

• The National Flood Insurance Program provides coverage to property owners. Go to the NFIP Web site at www.floodsmart.gov.

• Consider business interruption insurance. It covers operating expenses, like utilities, and compensates you for the income lost after a temporary closure.

• Make back-up copies of all tax, accounting, payroll and production records and customer data on computer hard drives, and store the records at an offsite location at least 100 miles away. Important documents should be saved in fireproof safe deposit boxes.

• To protect your property from wind damage, install impact-resistant windows and door systems, or plywood shutters. Hire a professional to evaluate your roof to make sure it can weather a major storm.

• Develop a post-disaster communications strategy. Keep current phone numbers for your suppliers, employees, customers, utility companies, local media, and emergency agencies. Appoint a spokesperson to get the word out that your company is still open and on the road to recovery, to dispel rumors of business failure.

• More preparedness tips for businesses, homeowners and renters are available on the SBA’s Web site at www.sba.gov/disaster_recov/prepared/getready.html. The Institute for Business and Home Safety (www.ibhs.org ) also has information on protecting your home or business. The federal government’s preparedness Web site www.ready.gov is another helpful resource.