Data Backup to Email Accounts

I have come across many small business people feeling safe to zip there important data and upload to their email accounts. According to them there are certain benefits rather than taking backup on a CD, USB stick or any other offline media.

Some of them have been listed below

·         Accessibility of data from any location with access to internet

·         Safe as hosted on external server

·         Cost effective no investment required

I would say they have thought one step ahead of people who are still using any of the offline data media to do backup but their data backed up is not safe, reliable and secure.

Backing up data to your email accounts does not give you guaranteed security. The following are features which are missing or not available for such backup.

1.      Manual Backups

Backups should be automatic else it defeats the purpose of backup. The backup process should be easy, convenient and fast. Transferring backup to email accounts is manual process, where in you have to zip files and upload, you may even miss your valuable files to be backed up.

2.      Unsecured data

Your valuable data that you have backed up has no security. There is no commitment as to your data shall be safe and shall be recovered in case of any natural disasters. Technically, your data should be encrypted before it leaves your computer and encryption technology used should be the same level as used by financial institutions.

3.      No support, nowhere to go

If you are unable to locate your uploaded files, there is no support provided. If you forgot password of your account you are locked. You can try to request for reset or alternate email address to recover [if you have set one up], but those are cumbersome processes and you may end up losing your data.

4.      Limited data backup

File uploads are limited. Some provide upto 25MB or some offer little bit more than that. But when you want to backup couple of GB’s of data that shall not work.

5.      File Versioning

No file versioning. Multiple file versions is where in you get option to save more than one copy of the same file. This can be useful in case if you have entered incorrect information in the updated data and want to restore older version of the same file.

6.      No Easy Data Restores

In case if you have to restore your data, you have to look for all the files you have uploaded. Imagine, if you have multiple files to restore its not easy. In case, of disaster your data should be available on a press of button.

I would say, if you are uploading your data better look for online backup service providers. The most important factor shall be Support provided by these providers. The Software provided by them covers almost all the important features for fast, simple and easily manageable data backups.