Posts Tagged ‘Backup Service’

Backup Power for Your Small Business

Monday, July 6th, 2009

Walter Stevens is a contributor at Free-backup.info — the home of the popular Amazon S3 based online backup service — Back2zip. This article available at http://free-backup.info/backup-power-for-your-small-business.html

What is Backup Power?

Backup power is a power supply which will run the power for your computers or business office in the case of a power outage. This can include a generator, which will actually generate power for your company or an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) which works essentially as a large battery that will keep your office online for a certain length of time, then shut down in stages to maintain the most vital elements of your business during a prolonged power outage.

Why do I Need Backup Power for my Small Business?

Power is vital to any small business, and damage can be great if you lose power for days, or even only hours. Having backup power means that you will be able to stay online no matter what happens to the power, and this can save your business greatly.

One of the greatest power outages to hit the North American continent hit the Northeast, causing power outages across the Northeastern United States as well as much of Southwestern Canada. This power outage lasted for days, and resulted in the loss of billions of dollars for small businesses. This is a big problem, and one that can easily be solved through the use of backup power supplies. However, 60% of small businesses do not use any sort of backup power for their business use.

If you are trying to keep your business ahead of the herd, you do not want to be one of the 3 in 5 businesses that will go down in a power outage, then you would be wise to purchase a backup power supply for your small business.

How Does Backup Power Work for my Small Business?

There are two primary types of backup power for computers. The first is a generator which will actually generate backup power for you. This mean that no longer how long the power is out, you will constantly be having new power generated to operate your business. Normally there will be a trigger switch which will connect you to backup generator power in the case of a power outage in your area. Having a generator can literally save your business in the case of a major power outage, such as that of 2003.

The other type of backup power supply is similar, but rather than actually generating power, this large battery will only hold power in reserve. The amount of power that this will give to your business depends upon the size of the backup battery. These systems are referred to as UPS systems, as mentioned above. While they do not offer as much as a generator, they can still greatly assist you business in times of need.

There are many different companies which offer backup power solutions for your small business. Emerson, American Power Conversion, or Energy Technologies Inc. These companies offer many different backup power solutions for your small business. While it is admittedly a large investment to purchase a backup power supply for your business or office, it can make a world of difference in the event of a major power outage in your area.

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X-Drive and Internet Backup

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

Walter Stevens is a contributor at Free-backup.info — the home of the popular Amazon S3 based online backup service — Back2zip. This article available at http://free-backup.info/x-drive-and-internet-backup.html

What is Internet Backup?

Internet backup involves the backing up of your files online. Unlike traditional forms of backup, which require you to have a physical medium on which to store your backup files, such as a floppy disk, CD-R or key drive, internet backup is done completely online. You upload your files to an online server, then can download them again at any time that you desire. It functions as an extra drive on your computer without actually being on your computer, freeing up your computer space and allowing you to backup your files without worrying about diskettes, CDs or removable drives.

X-Drive and Internet Backup

The x-drive is an excellent product in the world of internet backup. It serves as an online drive that can be used for storage, backup or the transmission of files. It is similar to having another drive installed on your computer, but you can access it from any computer in the world with an internet connection and requires you to physically move nothing, unlike CD-ROMs or floppy disks.

X-drive is found at www.x-drive.com. The drive can hold 5 gigabytes of data. At the current time there is only one size x-drive, but this could change in the future. 5 gigabytes is quite a bit of storage, and can hold a lot of your files.

Backup is a very important thing in this computer age. Great damage can be caused by a power surge, system crash or even a computer virus, resulting in the loss of your computer files. Having backups of your files is an excellent way to secure your data and make sure that no matter what harm may befall your computer, you will always have access to your important files.

Using a form of internet backup such as the x-drive is a powerful way to backup your files. Physical media such as CD-ROMs or floppy disks can become damaged themselves, and you can find yourself unable to access your data even from your backups. With online storage, you know you will always be able to access your files, and you can move your files wherever you go or whenever you change computers quickly and easily.

How do I Get an X-Drive for my Internet Backup?

In order to purchase your x-drive, you must go to the internet address of the x-drive found at www.x-drive.com. The drive gives you 5 gigabytes of storage, which is quite a bit of storage, more than you will find on any physical backup medium. It is one of the more powerful tools for internet backup, and is fairly inexpensive costing only 10 dollars a month.

For those new to internet backup or the x-drive, they also offer a free 15 day trial so that you might test their system and see if you feel that it works for you. This is an excellent offer, and can greatly assist you in your computing efforts. It is always smart to backup your computer, and the x-drive can make your backup go easier and smoother than you ever imagined.

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Disaster is Natural, Recovery is Superhuman!

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Lison Joseph is a contributor at Free-backup.info — the home of the popular Amazon S3 based online backup service — Back2zip. This article available at http://free-backup.info/disaster-is-natural-recovery-is-superhuman.html

Disaster is Natural, Recovery is Superhuman!

It is common knowledge that a disaster can strike anywhere, anytime, but the important question is are we prepared for a quick recovery in the eventuality of a disaster. Though most business houses, even the small ones, are meticulous when it comes to thinking ahead of their times and devising future strategies to take the company ahead, a common mistake is ignoring the possibility of a disaster crippling the firm. Critical data loss could well be the fatal prescription for a company that is otherwise doing well.

Disasters could mean anything, especially in the context of information technology and communication. It does not necessarily mean a natural disaster like flood or earthquake. More often than not disaster means the break down of communication channels or the technical infrastructure that supports the high value traffic/transactions of virtual entity like an online shop.

Think in advance for a swift disaster recovery

Several surveys in the US have shown that disaster often spells doom for the affected industries because nobody had a credible disaster recovery plan in place! It is not rare to see enterprises closing shop within a year or two after the disasters strike because they were unable to manage a sustainable disaster recovery. Loss of critical data regarding the transactions of the company is usually the reason for the inability to sustain.

Though everybody in the field seems to understand that backup is the only cost effective solution for any kind of disaster, very few are able to implement a strategy that works in times of a crisis as is shows by absence of successful recovery rates!

Hence, it is of paramount importance to have a well thought-out disaster recovery plan in place to address a range of disasters that could strike the company any time. Often times, recovery means survival in business terms.

So, what constitutes a successful disaster recovery plan?

A remarkable disaster recovery means getting the act together and resuming the production activity with minimum downtime. Prolonged periods of downtime mean higher loss of revenue. For high volume/value portals like Amazon or Ebay, downtime of a mere hour could mean revenue losses to the tune of several thousand dollars. The revenue loss would be higher if the downtime is during the peak traffic time.

A successful recovery plan envisages minimum or no loss of critical data as well as resumption of production activity with the least possible or no downtime. Though this might sound like unattainable objectives, with simple planning and meticulous preparation, these aims can be achieved without any difficulty and is possible even for small business houses.

Therefore, if you have not thought about disaster recovery plan for you company yet, then know that it is always better late than never! Get your act together now and form a disaster recovery team to work on a viable solution for your company. You do not necessarily have to hire an outside firm to do this for you. It is very much OK to form a team of all the heads of departments of your firm to work out a plan.

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Delete or Undelete: That is the Question

Sunday, June 21st, 2009

Walter Stevens is a contributor at Free-backup.info — the home of the popular Amazon S3 based online backup service — Back2zip. This article available at http://free-backup.info/delete-or-undelete-that-is-the-question.html

What is Undelete?

Undelete is exactly what it sounds like: undoing a deletion of a file on your computer. While you might not realize it, you have most likely undeleted files before. Any time that you restore files from the recycle bin, you are undeleting files that you have previously deleted. Undelete is a very powerful tool, as it allows you to regain files that you had accidentally or purposefully deleted and then realized that you needed once more.

How Does Undelete Work?

When you delete a file, it is not immediately removed from your computer. If you are a user of the Windows operating system, then the files that you delete will be moved to the Recycle Bin. These files are no longer in actual use by your machine, but they are there to be undeleted if you need them returned. However, if you delete them from the recycle bin then it will be much more difficult if not impossible to recover them.

However, it is often the case that files deleted from your machine are still available on your machine, in some form or another. The essence of undelete is to allow you to explore your machine and find files that while you cannot find them through the normal functioning of Windows are still available on your hard disk. This is a very powerful data recovery tool, and can greatly help you in your business, whether at home or in the office.

Some undelete programs will work essentially as a large recycle bin. They will hold all of the data deleted from your disk, including ones too large for recycle bin to hold or files which would normally not be sent to the recycle bin, such as files removed in an un-installation of a program. If you then need to recover these files they will be there for you to undelete. These programs generally also have a secure delete function, so that if you are sure you no longer need a file you will be able to erase it from your computer and know that it is nowhere in your hard disk.

Other undelete programs simply seek out files that you have previously deleted and restore them to you. A program like the above must be installed prior to the deletion of the files, or else you will be unable to use it to undelete your files. However, these programs will search out areas of your disk which you might not be able to find in the normal operation of your system, and find files that you had thought were gone forever and return them to a pace where you can access them and work with them again.

How do I Get Undelete Software?

There are many different undelete programs on the market. One of the best places to find undelete programs is www.download.com, which also provides downloads for many other utilities as well. Many undelete programs are freeware, and you will be able to find them on download.com. If you cannot find one which you think is right for you that is freeware, you will be able to download trial versions of paid products and discover which is the best fit for you before you put down money on the purchase of a program which does not fit your needs.

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Carbonite Review – An Honest Look at the Carbonite Backup Service

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Carbonite backup is one the many online backup storage services available in the market today which are designed to provide alternative backup protection in the event of computer failures or natural catastrophes. This Carbonite review takes a closer look at the service and evaluates its features to see how it keeps up with the demands of the times.

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