Are you backing up your data? If not, you should start immediately. There are different forms of backup consisting of both local and cloud backup. Local backup is when you copy your data to a flash drive or an external hard drive, an onsite server or even a network attached storage device. This method of backup is usually more expensive up front but in the long run it pays for itself – call it insurance for your data. The other method is cloud backup. With this method you have a backup agent on your machine that talks to a datacenter somewhere that’s not onsite. This datacenter can be anywhere in the world where there is backup solution provider. This method is typically a monthly cost, depending on the size of data you are backing.

To determine what backup solution to pick you should consider the importance of your data and if something was to go bad how fast will you need it. Best case scenario you combine both local backup and cloud backup to some capacity. For example, if you’re only backing up locally and your business was to catch on fire or even if someone broke in and took all your machines, how would you recover your important data? You can’t at that point.  However, if you backup all your data and machines in the cloud you’ll most likely be able to recover that information.

If you leverage both methods you can back up everything locally and pick the data that’s important to the operation of your business to backup to the cloud. You’ll save more money and still be covered if you need to recover something. Here at DRN we offer solutions both locally and in the cloud. If you have any questions on what you should be doing with your data give us a call at 701-344-5000.

Danielle Whitaker – Network Assistant