The Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Backup Services

Online backup services have become an important thing for businesses and personal computer users. Online storage in the form of Cloud Computing has become extremely popular in recent years for a number of reasons. Storing your work is extremely important when trying to make money online and this may be one option for you, especially if multiple users need access to documents.

Not the Only Storage Option

However, it is important to point out that there are some disadvantages to the use of online services to backup documents and files. There are many other ways to do this, including the use of flash drives and other portable storage. It is worth considering all of the pros and cons before deciding to use it for your business.

Backing Up Work and Personal Information

Surprisingly, most people at home do not both to backup their computer. This is seen as a difficult and expensive task. It means that thousands of people risk losing data, files and memories, which are either required for business, personal reasons or just wanted for sentimental value. The truth is that Cloud Computing is extremely easy to use.

Online storage facilities are extremely easy to use, whether you are technical minded or not. Everything that you need to do is laid out in simple instructions and there is no need to make excuses for why the backup has not been done. The process is also quick and means that there is access to your documents, no matter what happens to your computer or even your home.

Storing Away from Home or Work

The backups are stored in another place. The problem with backing up on flash media is that it means your backups are still in your home. If something happens to your home – maybe flood damage or a fire – it means that you will still run the risk of losing all of you data. The storage is in a separate location.

You will be able to access the data anywhere you want as long as you have an internet connection. This offers the chance to show people photos while on the move or do work easily while travelling. This is also extremely beneficial for businesses, since it means more people can work from home – they are more likely to enjoy their work and will still be able to work full time since they do not need to look for childcare.

Work from Home Easily

If you run your own business, you will benefit because you can also work from home for a day instead of going into the office every day. This will help you catch up on accounts while tracking the amount of work that is being done in the office. Of course, this does depend on the type of business that you have.

Storage through online services will also mean that more than one person can access a document at any one time, without being in the same locations. Different usernames and passwords are offered to each employee that will need to access the work and changes can be made on a regular basis. This is beneficial for businesses that have a lot of people working on the same project.

Minimal Costs for Online Storage

The cost for this form of storage is relatively low. There are even some that offer this for free and gain all of their money from advertising. It means that very little money needs to be spent on backups and everything is safe and secure. By backing up on other pieces of hardware, you will need to buy something and then look at newer options every couple of years as the hardware deteriorates.

While many can access the documents at one time, there is no limitation on the type of operating system they need to use. This is beneficial for many businesses that have people working from home – there are chances that the employees will run on a different operating system from home than they would in the workplace.

Relying on Others for Cloud Computing

Of course, there are disadvantages to online services for document backups. The first is that you will need to start relying on other companies. The storage will be through a third-party, who will control everything about the storage and the servers. If something goes wrong with one of the servers, you risk losing everything or just not being able to access your files temporarily. This can cause problems for businesses if they need the online versions to be able to show potential clients or customers.

The Need of an Internet Connection

You will also need to have an internet connection to be able to access them. A major problem is that Wi-Fi connections are not always possible and there are times that you will be travelling without any access. This means that you need files on your laptop or on another storage device. It makes the online storage a little pointless.

A dial up internet connection will not be enough to be able to access the documents either, which may be a problem for some home users. You will need to invest in high speed broadband to be able to access everything. This is required to load up everything and then make any changes each time. The most common issue for this is when travelling – Wi-Fi is not always the best for this.

Upload Speed for Online Cloud Storage

It does take up some time to upload everything onto the storage. In fact, there are some that will take a day or two to be able to complete the upload. This can be too long for home users, who will need to cut down on spending for their bills. It will also mean that businesses will have to wait for their documents and will possibly need to run through the weekend to complete – this means spending money on employees to help and on other business expenses.

There are chances that the company running the storage will go out of business or will be taken over by someone else. This creates problems with contracts, with cost and also with what will happen to the documents. There are chances that the documents will simply be deleted without much notice if the company goes out of business. Takeovers also means that there is the risk of customers losing loyalty benefits.

While the costs are relatively low, this is not always the case for businesses. The problem is that companies need to store a lot more information than home users, which means they will use more space. Online backup services often charge for the amount of storage that is used, which will mean that it can end up costing a lot for a business. Of course, you then need to look into the cost of the storage compared to the cost of losing all of your information and possibly business due to that.