Backup Software

Backup software: purchase guide

What is Backup Software?

Definition: Backup Software

Online backup solutions back up the data (active and inactive) of your information system and allow you to recover them in the event of an incident that can make them inaccessible: malicious attack, hardware crash, human error, natural disaster, etc.

Online backup software includes:

• Backup: real-time backup of all user data
• Restoration and Business Resumption Plan (BRP): restoration of all or part of the data, when needed.
• Security: the transferred data is scanned by an antivirus software, before being encrypted and compressed

In general, the lifespan of a backup is less than one year. Beyond that, it is considered storage.

How Does Backup Work?

Backup software makes copies of data (disk image) of an information system, compress them, encrypt them and store them in a secure storage space.

The backup applies to the following data:

• Active data: files that employees use daily
• Inactive data (frozen data): database, customer files, e-mails, invoices, accounting, etc.

You access backup software online and can perform a backup of your system on a physical device (hard disk, ssd, personal server, etc.) or on a cloud.

In the event of loss, theft, computer failure, attack, etc., you can restore your data from the backup or recover missing (or damaged) files.

What are the main features of backup software?

Before listing the features of backup software, it is essential to explain the types of backup that exists.

The Different Types of Backup

Backup software offers several types of backup that you can define at the time of installation:

• Full backup: The automatic backup synchronization software makes a full copy of all your data every time. This is the most complete backup of your information. It requires a very large storage space and allows you to find a modified version depending on the date it was made.
• Incremental backup: The incremental backup software records changes made since the last recording while keeping the different versions of a file.
• Differential backup: It only includes modified files and deletes subsequent versions. 
• Delta backup: This is the backup of predefined elements and some information. 

The duration of these different backups is decreasing.

Back up your Data Internally

Internal backup allows you to make a copy (or several copies) of your information on another storage device: computer, USB key, external hard disk (via zip compression to optimize space) or on another server (via an ftp server to transfer files).

Your data is encrypted and inaccessible in case of loss of the backup media.

Backup your Data in a Cloud

Outsourced backup allows you to save your data in a cloud: Google Drive, Amazon S3, Microsoft Azure, Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.

The image of your disk is recorded on a remote server.

Your data is secure:

• Physically against force majeure in your host's data center
• Electronically through encryption that ensures the integrity of your company's information. 

Your data is accessible from any computer, you can easily recover it in a few clicks.

Backup tools can be programmed to automatically make a copy of the data after a predefined period of time.

Who Uses Backup Software?

The loss of your company's information can be a disaster for your organization if you have no way to save and restore data. A backup solution such as Groobax, Cobian backup, Crashplan, Acronis, Vmware or Syncback, can anticipate these issues.

Internally, these solutions are mainly used by IT departments that install the solutions, plan the frequency of backups and/or perform them manually.

Why are the benefits of using Backup Software?

Backup software guarantees keeping copies of your data and the ability to retrieve all the information related to your company. However, they have some disadvantages.

Advantages

• Prevention against the loss of key data: accounting, customer files, quotes, invoices, etc.
• Hardware failure protection: computers and NAS servers
• Protection against force majeure: fire, flooding
• Protection against human error: deletion of sensitive files, etc.
• Protection against computer attacks and other malware. You can format your system without risk
• The backup is inactive, it is not subject to editing. If it is lost, the company is not impacted in its daily life

Disadvantages

• Restoring a complete system from an outsourced backup requires a quality internal connection
• Maintaining an intranet may require a large server and may be risky in the face of computer attacks, human error, other disasters (fire, flood), or simply hardware overload.
• There may be backup errors

How to Choose a Backup Software?

Try to compare the offers to see which one will be the most interesting to save your company's data. An online backup software solution can be a good thing if you choose a reliable publisher that can guarantee the integrity of your information. Choose according to:

• The ergonomics of the software. The interface must be simple to set up and you must be able to start configuring and recovering your data easily.
• The quality/price ratio. Compare the offers of different backup providers. Some publishers have free but limited software.
• Storage disk space needed to clone your data.
• Technical service that can help you deal with the loss of your information and explain how to back up and access data encryption.
• The speed of data transfer so as not to slow down the computer system.