Are Automated Backups Really Necessary?

For anyone working in any kind of office setting, the debate as to what information should be stored to cloud backups has probably been raised more than once, especially as more and more companies begin to use the cloud as a method of storing information. The advantages to backing up information are massive, and can prevent catastrophic data loss in the case of a system failure, or minor mistakes on the part of an individual. Obviously, keeping some form of backup is essential to ensuring the continued productivity of any company, but it raises the question, should said backups be automated, or manual. Let’s examine some of the pros and cons for each.

Probably the number one reason to use an automated backup is to ensure that no data accidently gets lost, this could easily occur in the case of a manual backup. If a system is automated to backup at certain time intervals, or even upon any changes, then no further human input is necessary, and you can rest easy knowing that all your data is stored on a non-localized server. That said, there are some disadvantages to this sort of backup. For one, you will probably end up storing a lot of data that you might not necessarily need to have, necessitating larger storage, which, if you are using a cloud service, can result in larger costs. If the automation is on a time schedule, then there is also the possibility of losing information if a crash occurs before it has been backed up.

In the case of manual cloud backups the situation is essentially reversed. The problem becomes not that you are using too much storage space, but that you might be neglecting to store important information. Manual backup operations rely on the discretion of individuals, and can therefore lead to gaps in your backed-up information. This means that if somebody forgets to back something up, or thinks something is important enough to do so, you will be out of luck if you lose that data in the future. The main advantage of a manual backup is that it allows you to pick and choose what goes onto the cloud, preventing large of amounts of storage use, and allowing you to only back up the essentials of your system.

As we can see, there are some definite advantages to choosing manual backup, but they come paired with a large amount of risk. For most companies, it always best er’ on the side of caution, as a slightly larger budget for backup can save you a headache, or even a disaster, in the future. For individuals, this need is obviously less pressing. Ultimately, it is up to the company or individual to decide which style of backup they prefer. The important thing is that some sort of backup is being used, as to not do so would be a massive risk. To find out more about our cloud technologies go to our website by clicking here.