How to Choose a Home PC Backup Method

Is your backup data safer online than it is on traditional media storage? Two experts weigh in on the pros and cons of two common backup methods

It’s not only mission-critical business information that should be backed up. The data on your home PC needs to be backed up as well. But how should you choose between the traditional method of saving files on storage media yourself and a newer method of storing your data offsite with an online service provider? We talked to two experts about the security, management and cost benefits of both methods.

Factor 1: Security
From a disaster recovery perspective, the risks of keeping backup data and original data in the same place are obvious. “Any event that is going to take out your PC or server, like a fire, is also going to take out your backup,” says Adam Couture, principal research analyst at Gartner. Having that data at a remote location ensures that it remains safe, even if the original data is lost.

Another benefit: encryption. Gary Chen, senior analyst at the Yankee Group, says encryption is mandatory with online backups. Encryption of USB keys, external hard drives and other methods of backup is an option, but it’s not something that many people choose to enable, he says, which leaves stolen or misplaced external media vulnerable.

Factor 2: Ease of Management
Online data backup is also easier to maintain than a traditional backup because it’s fully automated, says Couture. While traditional methods can be easy to manage if you’re diligent, you have to be motivated to stay on top of things. “There isn’t a sound strategy for what to back up and when to back it up,” he says.

The online process is built around a software program that runs on a particular schedule (once a day or once a week, depending on your needs). The data you want to back up (which could be classified by folder or file type, again, according to your needs) is collected, compressed and encrypted, and then automatically transferred back to the remote servers of the provider, eliminating the need for intervention.

Backing up online, however, does require you to have a constant and reliable Internet connection at all times, and it can be stressful on bandwidth. Typically, an initial backup is conducted when you sign up for the service and is followed by incremental backups from then on. Chen says that if the initial data transfer proves to be unmanageable for the connection, some providers will allow you to send them a backup on a portable storage device. They will store the original data on their server, and from then on perform incremental backups, which are less bandwidth-intensive, remotely.