What is Online Backup?

Backing up your files is a method of storing files in a location separate from your computer. Should your computer crash or get infected, your important files will be preserved in a different location, allowing you to access them in their original form even after a crash. Being proactive about your file safety is incredibly important. Files like pictures, word documents, videos, e-mails, spreadsheets, and anything else you store locally on your computer, can easily be erased forever in a moment. Online backup stores your files on the internet, as opposed to traditional backup which typically uses disks or your computer's hard drive.

Advantages

• Online backup does not rely on hardware or equipment that can fail. CDs can be scratched, hard drives can break, and if these things happen to your backup many of your important documents may be corrupted or lost. Since online backup is stored elsewhere, a disaster at your home or office will not be able to take out both your computer and your backup information.
• Users are able to backup their files anywhere that has an internet connection. Files are backed up incrementally, so when you update a file, only the changes will need to be uploaded to your backup system.
• One of the perks of online backup is the ability to access your files from anywhere. Since files are stored in a central location, all you need is a computer and an internet connection to access them.
• Online backup services often update and upload files automatically whenever you are connected to the internet. This saves users time and effort, and helps in instances where you may forget to update your backup files with new or revised files.

Disadvantages

• The initial upload of your files is a lengthy process. Depending on the amount that you choose to backup, the process can literally take months to transfer over all of your important data. This is often a barrier for most people, as even the most patient user can get frustrated when waiting that long for files to transfer. If you access the internet on a dial-up connection, the rate of transfer will be exponentially slower and make this backup method completely impractical.
• File restoration will be a lengthy process as well. Downloading files back to your computer could take days, and while some online backup services will put it all on a disk and mail it to you, waiting for your own stored data can be annoying.
• As with anything posted on the internet, it is possible that your privacy may be compromised. Always check that the online backup you are using offers file encryption for transfers between you and the site, and make sure that the place where the data is stored is entirely secure as well.
• If you do not have an internet connection, or do not access the internet frequently, online backup is probably an impractical solution. By not accessing the internet, you deny the online backup system a way to incrementally update your files. Without access to any internet connection, you are without access to all of your backup files since internet access is a requirement for online backup.

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