Information is vital in your everyday work life. It drives business and communication. It lurks behind negotiation, powers marketing strategy, colors decisions, comprises the core organizational records, and calls people to action. A desire for more information is why you've come to this Web site.

With information stored virtually as data at a premium, not only for business uses but for compliance and legal reasons, every company must take steps to protect data, ensuring its availability no matter what may come. That's where backup comes in.

Backup Basics

Creating a backup of your files involves taking a snapshot of data as it exists at that particular moment in order to create a restore point. That copy of your data can then be accessed and reloaded in the event of a crisis, or simply preserved for archival purposes. Backups are stored on a different piece of hardware or even in a different physical location from the data they are designed to duplicate.

Given the value of information today, it's no surprise that data backup has blossomed into a multibillion-dollar industry. (Specific products and players in the industry are discussed in the What's Available section that follows.)

Proper preservation of data requires enacting a backup strategy, implementing a system, and quickly restoring data after a problem arises. Careful planning and proper foresight are vital.

Best practices have traditionally hailed tapes as the primary option for data backup. Tape systems--costing about $2/GB--offer the highest bang for the storage-space buck and can be easily removed and stored offsite. Most backup solutions at a base level involve multiple versions of tapes rotated through safe storage at multiple sites. Drawbacks to tape backup include slow restore times and occasional reliability concerns.

In recent years, disk-based systems have become more affordable and are increasingly becoming part of a multilayered backup strategy. Virtual tape libraries--averaging about $16/GB--use a disk-based process that mimics the behavior of tape systems. Like tapes, VTLs are easy to integrate and flexible in use, but offer faster restore times and increased potential for automation.

Disk-based backup can also be done with an ATA RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) configuration--costing about $9/GB--and with processes like mirrors, clones, and snaps. These types of disk-based backup offer the fastest restore times, sometimes reviving data instantaneously.

RAID systems backup data across at least two drives with varying levels of intricacy, performance, reliability, and protection. RAID-1 (high reliability) and RAID-5 (reliable and fast) are two of the most commonly used RAID levels.

MAID systems have recently created an intriguing alternative to RAID. Short for Massive Array of Idle Disks, MAID setups also use disk arrays, but, unlike RAID, only write to one drive at a time. While that drive is in use the rest of the disks remain idle, dramatically reducing power use (and usage costs).

In addition, backup responsibilities can now be delegated to outside vendors offering Web-based solutions, otherwise known as remote backup service, or RBS.

Once you figure out where to put your data, you'll need to figure out how to get it there, how often that occurs, and the amount of data being copied, which is where backup software comes in.

When properly configured, backup software can automate the process, requiring less-intensive monitoring (rather than time-consuming manual operation), thereby freeing IT personnel for other tasks.

Generally at least one backup is stored onsite to maximize recovery time, while at least one backup is stored--or vaulted--offsite to add one more layer of loss prevention.

Key Features

One of the fundamental choices involved in delineating a backup process is deciding how much of your data is contained in each backup snapshot.

There are three major degrees of data capture, which translate to three main types of backups.

• A full backup contains every single piece of data every time, regardless of whether or not a file or folder has been modified. Full backups take a long time to execute and require a lot of storage space. However, there's never any doubt about getting a wholly accurate restore. In addition, that restore can be done in one fell swoop. Since everything's included, there's no picking and choosing involved.

• An incremental backup copies only files that have changed since the most recent backup, be it a full backup or a prior incremental.

• A differential backup copies only files that have changed since the original full backup.

Most strategies start with periodic full backups, and then add more frequent incremental or differential backups to minimize storage requirements, as both require less space than a full backup. If a restore is necessary, the full backup is added first, with data filled in from the subsequent incremental or differential backups.

While incremental and differential backups save space, they can generate inaccuracies upon restore. Due to the nature of the data snapshots taken in these types of backups, files can be restored in multiple versions and/or multiple locations, even after they were purposely deleted. This can necessitate a manual clean-up that adds to the overall restore time.

What's Available

Whether you're setting up the technology in-house or hiring a service to handle backup for you, the available options are now more diverse than ever. Costs can vary significantly depending on your needs. The highest-end products can cost as much as a luxury car, with the lowest end about equal to a monthly payment. Many fall in the $1,000-$3,500 range.

• Industry leader EMC offers a full range of hardware and software solutions, including its popular, high-end Symmetrix system and an array of software tools: AlphaStore, EMC Legato NetWorker, Replication Manager, and EMC Dantz Retrospect (engineered specifically for small and medium-sized businesses). Retrospect uses a patented progressive backup system designed to maximize speed while eliminating flawed restores. Retrospect Small Business Server Edition, for example, begins at $499.

• Veritas Software is the preeminent vendor of backup software and in the past has occupied the top two spots on backup software bestseller lists. Veritas offers solutions for just about every conceivable need with price ranges to match, including the highly scalable NetBackup and the acclaimed Backup Exec.

• Synology appeals to SMB customers with its DS-101 DiskStation, a backup storage solution starting at under $250. 

• Data Domain made an award-winning breakthrough when the company unveiled its DD200 Restorer. Using proprietary global compression technology, the DD200 is an onsite disk-based solution that achieves file recovery times orders of magnitude faster than seen with tape automation, yet remains comparable in cost, coming in at about $1.95/GB. The Restorer can work in conjunction with the Data Domain Replicator and your existing backup software to ease bandwidth strain, enabling cost-effective backup and centralized vaulting across a WAN.

• Overland Storage offers award-winning options, including the disk-based REO Series and tape-based NEO Series. The NEO 8000 flagship boasts the industry's most capacity per square foot of any enterprise library.

• COPAN Systems uses a MAID configuration in its groundbreaking Revolution 200T, a disk-based virtual tape library with the tape-like price of $3.50/GB.

• Software possibilities include platform-specific programs like NovaBackup, designed to work with Windows NT/2000/XP/2003. Wider compatibility is offered by Syncsort Backup Express. IPReplicator from Linkpro Technologies works well across networks. If it's maximum scalability down the road that you're after, Yosemite Backup Advanced is platform and OS agnostic.

• Remote backup service providers archive data via the Web, handling all aspects of a backup operation, allowing smaller companies to reap the benefits of Fortune 500-level service. Specialized online RBS providers include LiveVault, EVault, and IBbackup. Plans begin under $30/month and stretch toward $800 a month according to scope.

• Traditional large-scale data-service providers like IBM, EDS, and HP are beginning to offer remote backup service as well. Overseas providers Wipro and TCS are among market leaders on a global level.

How to Choose

Achieving cost-effectiveness for data backup comes down to three main considerations.

1. How often do backups need to occur?
2. How much data do you need to backup?
3. How soon does your data need to get back online?

Determining your priorities will go a long way toward determining which solution fits your needs. Some other things you may want to consider:

• It Should Burn at Both Ends: Keep in mind the speed at which your backup system works on both ends of the process. Getting data quickly back online is crucial. Don't forget to consider how long it takes to create the backup in the first place.

• Remote Control: Centralizing your backup operation eliminates the need to vault backup tapes from remote locations, which can save hassle and eliminate dependence on remote parties. But, it also eats bandwidth, which can drive up cost.

• Put a Scan in the Plan: If you're using incremental or differential backups, the most efficient software should check for changes before creating a restore point, otherwise you may end up restoring redundant, removed, outdated, or even corrupted versions of the same file.

• Sweat the Small Stuff: Data floating around on company work stations and laptops can be just as valuable as information stored in your network's core. When formulating a backup plan for the hub of your data universe, don't neglect the data on its user-created edges.