Online Backup Service
Online Backup Service
Online Backup is a service operated by software that is installed (usually) on your computer and store files via secure Internet connection on a remote server. This new tool available to users of the Network provides for the storage of any type of data in a completely automatic.
Index
How does it work?
The classic procedure is as follows (but may vary according to service provider): Once you have downloaded online backup software (the client), it will start the installation wizard. When the installation is complete, you can choose whether you want to back up your entire computer, or just some folders. From this moment, the software monitors the files in a completely automatic way to save and protect every time all the documents that are changed or created.
There are softwares that run continuously monitoring and rescue operation (real time) others who are scheduled to operate every 24 or 12 hours. Advantages of Online Backup over traditional archiving are many, here are some examples:
A) The files are transferred and stored safely, some software uses a 128-bit encryption, equal to or greater than that of banks.
B) They are physically in different places than where they are the originals. In this way are also protected in case of theft or fire.
C) It has a large storage space generally expandable with an additional cost when you need it.
D) You can access their data, credentials confidential at any time from any location connected to the Internet, some service providers also provide access from mobile.
What are the technical features that should have an online backup service?
Anywhere access: You can access protected files from online backup system at any time, directly from the client installed on your computer, or from any PC connected to the Internet and by phone through the website of the service operator. Multi-computer (more than one computer account), only some services only allow a user to protect your account with multiple computers.
Most of them follow the concept: an account on a computer. With this system you can make backups of your computer such as home and that of work and access to data with a single interface regardless of where the files were saved.
Permanent storage is important to pay particular attention to the duration of storage. Some services, in fact, providing protection for a time which can be described as virtually infinite (ie for the duration of the subscription), other services, however, store and protect data only for a few days (usually 30 days). This means that if for any reason you have lost your data, you have only 30 days to retrieve them online then your data will definitely be lost.
Real-time backup: If the user creates a new document or edits an existing file, the client immediately and automatically saves the change on the remote server. Not all services have this feature, and some services only save every 12 or 24 hours.
Completely automatic: Once you choose what to save, the client starts with the computer, works quietly and continuously in the background to protect data without user intervention and only if the computer resources (bandwidth, RAM, CPU) are not are used by other processes more important. You can choose to store the new file at any time until the completion of the space available.
Sharing (sharing): Online Backup is in effect an extension of the well-known systems ‘file sharing’, or the online services that let users publish their files to make them available to friends and colleagues or to have a hard virtual disk on the Internet. The Online Backup is however an important difference. The data is already on the Internet, they are uploaded as they do other things and can be shared instantly with one click.
With some online backup service does not matter, because, as the file size has to be shared, the client automatically sends an e-mail to the intended recipient containing the URL address at which you can find the file. At this point, those who receive the e-mail click on the link given and download the file without problems. For other systems, however, there is a limit on the size of the file to upload and the process is more cumbersome.
Performance: the best online backup service does not slow down the computer on which they are installed. Generally monitor how system resources are being used and adapt to user needs. In this way the performance of computers are not compromised.
Search engine: some online backup software have an internal search engine that allows a rapid search and management of your files. Some have a semantic search system that allows a more thorough research and analysis even within documents and hence a more precise result.
Scalable On-Demand: in almost all the services you can increase the space available by paying a sum based on the number of required additional Gigabyte. Many software house selling space of No Fixed Packet Gigabyte, while others are more flexible and take into consideration customer requirements that fall outside their standard packages.
Versioning is a system that keeps track of all changes made on a particular file for a virtually infinite time. Each time the file is saved, the system stores only the incremental part of the same and creates a new version. So, if you want to restore an old document that was overwritten accidentally, you can go back and access to all versions of the file. The system does not delete saved files unless the user has to decide. Only a minority of suppliers have this important feature.
How Online Backup protects privacy?
All providers of online backup service is attentive and comply strictly with the rules in force concerning privacy. The staff of the software house that handle this type of service, adheres to a code of ethics for its privacy and utilizes the most advanced security technologies (often higher than those provided in the regulations) to ensure that user files are stored in safest way possible. Normally, all communications with the server take place over a SSL encrypted channel, the same used by banks, and storing files on the servers is encrypted with the highest international standards.
Some online backup services ensure the anonymity of the user that do not require any personal information to register for the service. In other cases, each file is divided into many parts (packets) that are distributed across multiple servers and rebuilt only when the file is requested. It’s as if you pass the document into a shredder and put the strips of paper in different places, only when the document is necessary, it is returned intact from the system. In this way, even if an attacker steal an one or more servers providing the company and succeeded in deciphering the powerful security code could not aggregate the data in its possession and therefore could not read any information.
Study: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons.
