Data Backup Service: How to choose the best online backup service

Use an online backup service makes good sense: it gives security and comfort, because you know there is someone taking care of your data. Unfortunately, choosing one is not so simple. While thousands of these services are focused on individual users, only some services are designed to handle the needs of micro and small enterprises.

When searching for an online backup service, a small business should note those who do not work only with Windows systems and services that enable backing up multiple PCs and multiple users. Three of these services stand out in these items: AmeriVault, IBackup and Mozy Pro

Other services, such as ElephantDrive Pro, Jungle Disk, Tilana and Zmanda, do not limit the storage space. And some, like the iStorage Professional Edition Iomega OnlineBackup Vault.com and Storage Guardian, support an unlimited number of users.

Other features to consider when the choice is to support phone calls, the server operating system, network support and mapped network drive and an administrative control based on the web for you to manage all backups of their employees.

And Backup My Info also offers extensive support for a wide variety of OS servers, with native support for SQL and Exchange servers.

Although many of the online backup service aimed at end consumers tend to be somewhat generous with the amount of space provided for storage, some services offer a good amount free for individual users.

Microsoft, for example, began offering 25GB of free storage for users of Windows with its Live SkyDrive service. Already impressive ADrive offers 50GB free.

But in general, these services tend to offer 1GB or less, but at least you can test them for a while to see how they work and make sense of its limitations and an idea of what it would cost you per month to use such a service.

You should also pay attention to how long the service keeps your backup file and if it distinguishes various versions of the same file saved in the folder. So once again it is valid to have a first experience with the service and analyze these aspects using a free version. Another benefit of doing this is to be able to check the steps to recover an accidentally deleted file.

An interesting variant of a type of online backup service comes from a company of Ohio, the United States, called 3X Systems. Your backup process includes a hardware tool. You create your initial backup on your LAN and then move the tool to a remote location – something like your link of the broadband network or to another location – where you do most of the backups.

This type of action makes good sense for small and medium enterprises, as the first backup usually takes a few days, even when data is being transferred over an Internet connection pretty fast.