Precious personal and work data is stored in a computer’s hard disk, but no hard disk is perfect. Sometimes they die, and so does the information stored. Furthermore, viruses, human errors and even natural disasters or theft can take away your data without any chance of restoring. One reliable solution for the problem of data loss is backup software that makes reserve copies of your critical data automatically. There is a great variety of such data-safe program to choose from. But why do people still ignore this software?

In this article we’ll try to denote some possible reasons of ignoring backup software and to destroy some myths about backup preventing people from using it. We have summarized these notions in four common «myths» and will try to expose them.

• Myth 1: The risk of data loss is insignificant

Some people believe that data loss is not their problem.

Why don’t they care? Because they just know nothing about possible crucial hardware faults and destructive effect of such faults on the stored information.

Actually, there are high risks of data loss. According to the survey conducted by Verio (Global Premier Provider of Online Services), fifty-three percent of respondents have already experienced an actual loss of information that was stored on a PC. Six percent of PCs will suffer an episode of data loss in any given year. 31% of PC users have ever lost all of their files due to events beyond their control.

The reasons of losing data may vary greatly – power faults, short life of the hardware, viruses or hacker attacks… The fact is: you can irretrievably lose the information stored on your home or work computer (i.e. project data, email correspondence, personal information, irreparable and urgent documents) if the hard disk crashes.

Learn by others’ mistakes: thoughtless attitude toward data backup has fatal consequences. Most people and organizations come to understand this only after loosing their crucial data accidentally. With special backup software your data is more likely to be always on hand.

• Myth 2: Copying files manually is more effective

Some people are aware of the risk of data loss and try to deal with this problem without special backup software. These people protect the data on their own.

Common practice for such people is copying data to digital media occasionally. In other words, they copy their data without any backup software. Of course, it is better than nothing. But is it enough for guaranteed data protection? You can simply forget to make a backup before a hard disk fault, and your previous backup work will become sheer waste of time. Moreover, you can forget to copy some files which you may need most of all after data loss.

With special backup software you can use automated procedures for regular backup and synchronization under your own schedule. Backup software will do all the routine work on copying files for you, you only need to set what, when and where you wish to backup.

In other words, manual copying of files is not as reliable and comfortable as using special data backup software.

• Myth 3: Backup software sufficiently slows down computer performance

Some people think that backup jobs require too much hardware resources (space on a disk and CPU time) and it is tiresome to run them often. They suspect that backup software will impede using computer for work, entertainment or other purposes.

In fact, most backup programs are not resource-consuming. A typical backup program requires only operation system installed and about 5 Mb free disk space for program files. So, if your computer meets these requirements you have nothing to worry about. In other words, if you computer can have an operation system running, it will easily run a backup program.

Moreover, with a scheduler you can set your backup operations execution on the most convenient time. For example, during lunch time or when you sleep. Moreover, some backup programs can run in service mode. In service mode, the backup is independent from the currently logged in user. The benefit is that your backup tasks are processed even if somebody else is using the system at the moment or if nobody is logged in at all.

As you see, with a good backup program you can perform reserve copying operations in any time you wish. It means that you can have backups running when you are idle, and they will not interfere with your work.

• Myth 4: Using backup software is difficult, time-consuming and expensive

Imaginary difficulties of data backup procedures make users think about backup as a waste of time and money and as the result refuse it, hoping for the best.

We are busy at work, family and friends fill our days and leave us little time for boring things like computer maintenance. But backing up data is much easier than it seems.

Please forget fairy tales about baffling complexity of backup programs! Most of backup programs have Wizards with intuitive user interface which let you configure your backup task with ease.

A typical backup program can be installed within several minutes. Setting a backup task takes several minutes more. That’s all. Then the backup program will take care of your crucial data.

After all, the price of such a program (30-70$ for single license) is far less then the costs of data loss.

We have tried to expose some myths about backup and to mark some positive abilities that backup software gives us. Today’s backup software offers comfortable way to make reserve copies of your crucial data. As more people get familiar with automated backup solutions, they tend to become must-have software, along with e-mail clients, word processors and anti-virus programs.

WANSync offers asynchronous data replication over LAN or WAN of database and other files from a production server to one or more local or geographically distant replica servers. Our data replication software offers rapid data recovery, integrated continuous data protection as a guard against data corruption, and completely non-disruptive automatic testing of your disaster recovery system. Our data protection solution system sets the standard for ease of configuration and management.

When disaster strikes, because anything that puts a stop to your ability to do business is a disaster, it is critical that your response is urgent and effective. Whether a flood or a blackout, or the more probable virus attack or user error, your data recovery software must be able to quickly react with minimal data loss. Otherwise, you risk losing productivity, revenue, customers and opportunities, perhaps even the viability of your entire business.

WANSync data replication, data protection solution and data recovery software helps ensure that you are ready to respond.

WANSync is a cost-effective data replication solution that protects access to mission-critical application servers through a wide range of disruptions, from server failure to data corruption to the loss of an entire site.

WANSync data replication provides:

• Asynchronous host-based software data replication that transfers changes to application data as they occur to a standby replica server located locally or over the WAN
• Continuous data protection solution based on XOsoft’s Rewind Technology for recovery from data corrupted by virus action or user or application error
• Application and data recovery software to automatically recover data from the replica
• Tailored support for Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, Oracle, and file servers, as well as other applications
• Replication of all file data and metadata, including ACLs
• Unique ease of installation with no application or user downtime, automated remote installation, and wizard-driven creation of new disaster recovery scenarios
• Assessment mode measures exact change rate during evaluation to aid in estimating bandwidth requirements

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SonicWALL CDP 4440i

The CDP 4440i is a robust 2U rack-mountable backup and recovery solution for branch offices and mid-size organizations. Offering a 1.2 TB compressed capacity with RAID 5 along with accelerated throughput and AES 256-bit encryption for offsite data security, along with all the features of the CDP 3440i, it provides continuous real-time data protection for unlimited servers, laptops, PCs, databases and business applications. IT Administrators benefit from central management and file-level visibility into every client machine connected to the SonicWALL CDP appliance, enabling enforcement of consistent backup policies and control features available to individual end users. 

SonicWALL CDP 3440i

The CDP 3440i offers enterprise-class data backup protection for small-to-medium organizations and remote offices.  The high-performance 1U rack-mountable solution is optimized for up to 75 users and unlimited servers. Offering 600 GB compressed capacity with RAID 1 along with accelerated throughput and AES 256-bit encryption for offsite data security; it provides continuous real-time data protection for servers, laptops and PCs using policy-based backup, central administration and open file backup. It supports most small business databases and applications such as Microsoft Exchange, SQL-Server, Quickbooks, PeachTree, Great Plains, etc. 

SonicWALL CDP 2440i

The CDP 2440i is ideal for small organizations and remote offices. Featuring a 300 GB compressed capacity along with standard throughput and AES 256-bit encryption for offsite data security, it provides continuous real-time data protection for servers, laptops and PCs. Differentiating this solution from many of its competitors is its seamless support of most small business databases and applications such as SQL-Server and Microsoft Exchange without the need to integrate additional software packages.

SonicWALL CDP 1440i

The CDP 1440i is a disk-based backup and recovery appliance that offers real-time end-to-end data protection for small organizations. It includes unique features such as instant data recovery and central administration.  The CDP 1440i supports servers, PCs and laptops for small business networks and is recommended for up to 15 users, 192 GB compressed capacity and AES 256-bit encryption for offsite data security.?

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In addition, Open File Manager supports coherent backup of corporate data while it remains in use and serves system administrators in their most critical mission – assuring secure, efficient, round-the-clock operation of their corporate infrastructure. With Open File Manager working alongside a company’s backup software, popular databases, applications and servers like Oracle SQL Server, Exchange Server and Lotus Notes can be in use and running while backup occurs. Because backups can be run at any time without the risk of skipped or corrupt files, the need for a specific “backup window” has now been “closed.”

Open File Manager seamlessly works with leading backup software, including Computer Associates BrightStor ARCserve, VERITAS Backup Exec and NetBackup, IBM Tivoli Storage Manager, Hewlett-Packard Data Protector, EMC/LEGATO NetWorker and many more.

Open File Manager supports data protection in high availability environments, enabling
your backup software to back up open and in-use files without taking users offline or interrupting systems use.

Open File Manager provides enhanced clustering capabilities for data protection in high
availability environments. It automatically detects volume mounts and dismounts. If failover occurs during a backup, Open File Manager will automatically un-synchronize and then re-synchronize, allowing the new volume to join the current backup, ensuring the highest standard for data protection.

Open File Manager enhances storage management frameworks such as Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS). Open File Manager has components that integrate with VSS to ensure that legacy and non-VSS compliant business applications are captured correctly.

Open File Manager has three license levels — Enterprise Server, Server, and Workstation — based on the operating system of the targeted machine.

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Backup and restore your important files with NovaBACKUP. Advanced design, powerful features and a simple interface make NovaBACKUP the ideal backup software for desktops, laptops, servers, and small networks anywhere in the world. Perfect for backing up office files like Excel spreadsheets and Outlook email files, photos, user settings, active directory settings, system state settings, and more.

NovaBACKUP 7.5 now contains a new Copy & Mirror function that takes advantage of scheduling recurring backups to capture incremental changes of critical files and folders. Once the data is safely stored to its backup destination the end user does not require additional proprietary restore software to view or share the contents of their storage device. The technology intuitively supports storage to just about any media device.

Backups created with the Disaster Recovery option enabled can speed recovery of your system after a hard drive crash or similar failure where your operating system is lost. Fully restore your system without installing any of the original software or operating system files! Just boot up using the recovery disk, recover the system backup, and Presto! Everything is back exactly like you like it!

NovaBACKUP now has integrated Open File Backup for Windows XP/2003. Of course, for other operating systems, or for protection of some legacy applications that might not be supported by NovaBACKUP’s standard Open File Backup option, NovaStor still offers our Advanced Open File Manager, which takes open file management to yet another level.

The NovaBACKUP Wizard is great for beginners. Users of any level can quickly perform backup and restore procedures with the help of a simple step-by-step guided process. Backup to tape, CD-R/RW, DVD, or disk has never been so easy.

NovaBACKUP is network aware! A single backup procedure can protect the data on your computer and other systems on your small business or home network. Backup any network drive your computer can access. NovaBACKUP includes full UNC support for Disk, CD-RW and DVD, and Tape.

The NovaBACKUP Professional Edition is designed specifically for Windows desktop operating systems, including Windows XP Home/Professional and Windows 2000 Professional versions. The NovaBACKUP Server Edition is designed for Windows 2003 and 2000 Server platforms, with support for Windows XP Professional. Whatever your backup needs are, we have the solution for you.

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