{"id":3081,"date":"2014-05-16T22:00:09","date_gmt":"2014-05-16T22:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/?p=3081"},"modified":"2019-11-20T00:16:54","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T00:16:54","slug":"does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud","title":{"rendered":"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"cloud\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Online backup options are steadily increasing in variety and dropping in price.\u00a0 Accordingly, the concept of offloading data storage headaches to a Cloud provider can be an alluring prospect to businesses. But while online backup may seem like the long awaited answer to our prayers, there may still be some irksome practicalities preventing a joyous burial of tape and disk.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t read us wrong. \u00a0BackupAssist facilitates reliable backup<\/a> to your favorite Cloud provider just as easily as to HDD or tape.\u00a0 We have no stake in this.\u00a0 We\u2019re not trying to douse your flame if you\u2019re an online backup true believer, but here\u2019s some food for thought.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s that saying about eggs and a basket?<\/h2>\n

As many companies have discovered in the last couple of years, placing all your company\u2019s backup data in the hands of one external party can potentially be a dangerous game.<\/p>\n

This became an all too painful reality for Nirvanix customers last year when they were unceremoniously informed they had all of two weeks<\/a> to remove data or lose it.\u00a0 These weren\u2019t teenagers storing Beiber tunes either, clients reportedly included<\/a> National Geographic and Fox News.\u00a0 By October 2013, Nirvanix was deader than proverbial analogies and online backup had taken yet another hit in a turbulent history.<\/p>\n

Okay, admittedly if you\u2019re storing your online backups with Cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft or Google then the gone-out-of-business scenario probably isn\u2019t too great a concern.\u00a0 But don\u2019t think for a second that just because a company is doing your shopping with drones<\/a>, creating driverless cars<\/a> or slowly turning us into cyborg hipsters<\/a>\u00a0 it means their online backup technology is infallible.<\/p>\n

\"Online<\/a><\/p>\n

Even the big players in online backup can be buggy<\/h2>\n

Amazon, Microsoft and Google all experienced outages<\/a> in 2013.\u00a0 This year it\u2019s so far so good for these three (although DropBox went down<\/a> in March), but track-records suggest it\u2019s only a matter of time.\u00a0 Perhaps the most worrying example<\/a> of online backup\u2019s shady past happened back in 2011 when Amazon\u2019s EC2 crashed and destroyed clients\u2019 data.\u00a0 While the amount of data lost was small relative to the overall amount stored, the fact that data loss can happen at all should give some pause for concern.\u00a0 Particularly if that lost data happens to fall under HIPAA or similar legal requirements.<\/p>\n

And what happens if your Cloud provider\u2019s data center is flooded, catches fire<\/a>, blows up, gets sucked into an inter-dimensional wormhole, etc? Yes, yes, yes.\u00a0 We know that redundancy is<\/i> possible with online backup too, but often it can require deeper pockets.<\/p>\n

Okay, so there are positives too<\/h2>\n

Yeah, there are advantages to online backup as well.\u00a0 For one, the simmering price war<\/a> between the biggest Cloud providers means that the cost of online backup is likely to keep dropping.\u00a0 What else?<\/p>\n

\u201cCloud computing is often far more secure than traditional computing\u2026 Google and Amazon can attract and retain cyber-security personnel of a higher quality…<\/i>\u201d \u2013 Vivek Kundra<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s right; the Cloud is secure.\u00a0 Granted it\u2019s not as secure as a box of tapes in a waterproof safe guarded by sharks at the bottom of the ocean\u2026but probably secure enough for all practical purposes (at least once data\u2019s encrypted by a backup program like Rsync<\/a>).\u00a0 Truth is the big Cloud providers have a lot at stake ensuring that your data is secure and they pour considerable resources into making it so.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s also the clear advantage that an online backup adds the flexibility of being able to backup data from out of the office or between different offices with the same storage destination.<\/p>\n

All in all, there are both pros and cons to using Cloud.\u00a0 The bottom line is: do your research and carefully examine the benefits to your specific situation.\u00a0 The potential of online backup is growing by the day, but problems and outages are still par for the course. \u00a0Cloud providers may have some work ahead before they can convincingly replace tape or disk.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s just a matter of time.<\/p>\n

Keep that in mind when choosing.<\/p>\n

Which backup destination do you swear by? Is disk dodgy? Tape dead?
\nIf you think Cloud’s the way of the future then let us know!
\nTweet us your weapon of choice @BackupAssist, join the conversation with #clouddiskortape
\nor share this article via your favorite social channel.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Online backup options are steadily increasing in variety and dropping in price.\u00a0 Accordingly, the concept of offloading data storage headaches to a Cloud provider can be an alluring prospect to businesses. But while online backup may seem like the long awaited answer to our prayers, there may still be some irksome practicalities preventing a joyous … Read more Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":13831,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,760],"tags":[37,66,243,68,244],"class_list":["post-3081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interest","category-legacy","tag-cloud","tag-cloud-backup","tag-data-backup","tag-online-backup","tag-pros-and-cons"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes online backup have its head in the Cloud?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Online backup is gaining greater potential by the day, but has it yet earned the right to take over from tape or disk as the destination of choice? Pros & Cons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Online backup is gaining greater potential by the day, but has it yet earned the right to take over from tape or disk as the destination of choice? Pros & Cons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cyber Resilience Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-16T22:00:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-11-20T00:16:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"842\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"596\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Luke Parsons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Luke Parsons\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Luke Parsons\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/11c97915d32eff768b2f8739e7d37297\"},\"headline\":\"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-16T22:00:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-20T00:16:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud\"},\"wordCount\":742,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png\",\"keywords\":[\"cloud\",\"cloud backup\",\"data backup\",\"online backup\",\"pros and cons\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interest\",\"Z-Legacy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud\",\"name\":\"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-16T22:00:09+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-11-20T00:16:54+00:00\",\"description\":\"Online backup is gaining greater potential by the day, but has it yet earned the right to take over from tape or disk as the destination of choice? Pros & Cons\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png\",\"width\":842,\"height\":596},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Cyber Resilience Blog\",\"description\":\"Protect Your Cloud Data with BackupAssist\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Cyber Resilience Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/BA-Logo-Full-Logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/BA-Logo-Full-Logo.svg\",\"caption\":\"Cyber Resilience Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/11c97915d32eff768b2f8739e7d37297\",\"name\":\"Luke Parsons\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c6eec44e45e95d0501fd5b72357cc1d12b2b1208d93f8a4e0766c387aee0e2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c6eec44e45e95d0501fd5b72357cc1d12b2b1208d93f8a4e0766c387aee0e2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Luke Parsons\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/author\/luke-parsons\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?","description":"Online backup is gaining greater potential by the day, but has it yet earned the right to take over from tape or disk as the destination of choice? Pros & Cons","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?","og_description":"Online backup is gaining greater potential by the day, but has it yet earned the right to take over from tape or disk as the destination of choice? Pros & Cons","og_url":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud","og_site_name":"Cyber Resilience Blog","article_published_time":"2014-05-16T22:00:09+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-11-20T00:16:54+00:00","og_image":[{"width":842,"height":596,"url":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Luke Parsons","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Luke Parsons","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud"},"author":{"name":"Luke Parsons","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/11c97915d32eff768b2f8739e7d37297"},"headline":"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?","datePublished":"2014-05-16T22:00:09+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-20T00:16:54+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud"},"wordCount":742,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png","keywords":["cloud","cloud backup","data backup","online backup","pros and cons"],"articleSection":["Interest","Z-Legacy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud","url":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud","name":"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png","datePublished":"2014-05-16T22:00:09+00:00","dateModified":"2019-11-20T00:16:54+00:00","description":"Online backup is gaining greater potential by the day, but has it yet earned the right to take over from tape or disk as the destination of choice? Pros & Cons","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2008\/05\/tile-placeholder1-01.png","width":842,"height":596},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/does-online-backup-have-its-head-in-the-cloud#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Does online backup have its head in the Cloud?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/","name":"Cyber Resilience Blog","description":"Protect Your Cloud Data with BackupAssist","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Cyber Resilience Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/BA-Logo-Full-Logo.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2019\/09\/BA-Logo-Full-Logo.svg","caption":"Cyber Resilience Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/11c97915d32eff768b2f8739e7d37297","name":"Luke Parsons","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c6eec44e45e95d0501fd5b72357cc1d12b2b1208d93f8a4e0766c387aee0e2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2c6eec44e45e95d0501fd5b72357cc1d12b2b1208d93f8a4e0766c387aee0e2f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Luke Parsons"},"url":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/author\/luke-parsons"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3081"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14582,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3081\/revisions\/14582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backupassist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}