I’ve spoken a number of times on this blog about various options for backing up your data online. But one mustn’t forget the more traditional backup mechanisms like backing up to tape, to optical disk, to hard disk, or even to an FTP site at a remote location. The key aim is to have an alternate copy of your data, should your primary copy fail, and it does’t matter how you do it, as long as it is done. The availability of this data in a usable format is of parmount importance in the case of a catastrophic failure.
I came across a backup package recently which I thought was worthy of note. Backup Platinum is a backup tool aimed at home and SME users. It has a number of features designed to simplify backing up your data, programs and OS so you can have a range of options from backing up your entire machine, to backing up just your data. It offers a number of options as to where you can backup your data, you can backup to DVD, CD-RW, USB, FTP or a remote location on a LAN. It also includes a scheduler so you can automate your backups; setting them up once and letting them backup your data once a day, or once a week.
Backup Platinum has one feature which I think is essential to any backup software: the ability to encrypt your data as it’s being archived. This is of paramount importance because in the event that your backups get intercepted by a third party, they will still not be able to read your data and retreive any confidential information. In my opinion, no backup software is complete without this facility.
There’s a free 30-day trial, so go ahead, try it out!