Remote back-up of data

koru

Can anyone recommend a service that provides daily, automatic, secure, on-line back-up of data from my computer? (For disaster recovery purposes.)

I am just a one-man band business, so it needs to be reasonably priced.

Anyone seen any useful articles about what to look out for?

shammyjack

Why not just use the webspace that most ISps include with your account ?

Set up a password protected folder on there and upload and download using FTP.

shammy

koru

Thanks. I did think about doing that, but I am nervous about security, as some of the data is highly confidential. A simple password doesn't seem much protection, so I wondered if some of the specific services are more secure.

JimArnold

How big is the data ? 2Gb pen drives are cheap and you can save it to one of them and take it home in your pocket.

Alternatively encrypt the data before storing it online on your webspace

koru

Thanks, Jim. I work at home, so the pendrive isn't a complete solution. I did try using my iPod as a daily back up that I keep in another room, but I found I kept forgetting to connect it.

I'll investigate encryption.

rach29

Google for Natdata Ltd. They do this for me.

ukbill69

BT does one for like £10 per month, well I know they did a while back.

Savvy_Sue

Have you asked / looked on the Techie board? I do remember reading a comparison article of the various services, suspect it was in Computing Which (our free trial).

koru

Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions.

BT looks OK, except that it only works with Windows. I'm a mac user.

Natdata is also windows only, plus only covers Essex, but I managed to track down a few national services that are mac-compatible. Their software automatically encrypts the data before transmission, so it is protected in the same way as online banking.

In case anyone else is looking for something similar, here are the ones I found:

https://www.datatrieve.co.uk
https://www.perfectbackup.co.uk
https://www.ibackup.com
https://www.macbackups.com

I haven't yet chosen between them. If anyone has tried any of them, please let me know what you think.