Cloud Backup, The Good the Bad & the Ugly

In my 10 plus years of providing online backup services the one thing I have found  is that our industry has not done a very good job of managing customers expectations or in plain English, “tell the truth”. I often hear advertisements for online backup companies stating their service is the be all and end all, as a information backup solution and its very inexpensive.

The truth is online or cloud backup in most cases is a important component of the solution, not the whole solution. The major reason being is that any major file restore of more than 30 gb (often less) cannot be done in a timely manner over the internet. To restore a 30 gb plus drive over the internet typically takes many days or even weeks. If a server crashes this time frame is simply unacceptable for a company to be able to restore its information.

The solution is additional onsite redundant storage that should be provided and managed by online service provider. This of course adds to the cost however it is critically important for timely effective information backup.

With many online (cloud ) information backup companies it can take days to have a service ticket addressed to even start a online restore process, so Buyer Beware of Low Cost Cloud Backup Services.