UNDERSTANDING BACKUP - WHAT IS BACKUP ?

What is Backup?

If you have any computing or digital device, backup is essential.Now lets understand what backup really is. Backup is a copy of important files that are made to protect the data from being lost.The term is important and 'syncing' and 'backup' are not the same.In a backup data is duplicated and the duplicated data can be saved in any other media device.

Why you should Backup?

Whether you are a student or a business person, backup is a critical need. Data backup protects our devices from many disasters. No devices are foolproof to theft and there is always a risk of hardware or software loss. you can also loose an important file after the full system scan you made for a virus attack. Sometimes voltage spike can damage your laptop or you can delete some file mistakenly. Today the world is going digital and people create large amount of digital data. If you don't

you soon will. Even our Modi Sarkar is advocate of e-Governance. Thus, Backing up your data is very important. 

Ways of backup:-

Traditional methods:- 

Traditional methods of backup

These are the most used methods of backup which require less technical assistance than the later method explained in this post. Physical media has become very sophisticated. Devices such as flash drives, pen drives, CDs, DVDs and external Hard Drives are better than traditional floppy disks but these are still traditional for backing up your data.The traditional method of backup has advantages like:-

1. They are easy to use and require minimal technical assistance.

2. They don't require an internet connection to set backups.
3. They have the benefits of local presence.

How ever these methods of backup has some major problem that are absent in cloud storage the  They might look but they are not modern for backups as cloud storage is considered modern way of backing up.The traditional method of backup has disadvantages like:-

This could happen to you

1. Risk of failure or damage.

2. Risk of theft.

3. Risk of misplacement.

4. You need to carry it everywhere manually.

Modern method or Cloud storage:- 

Cloud storage can be used on any platform

In past few years cloud storage has gained popularity. Cloud storage does not mean to store your data in clouds but it is a collection of hard drives known as servers which remain online every time and allow you to retrieve your data from anywhere with the help of internet. Most people use cloud storage in some form. For ex- The data you save on Facebook. Some people upload there files on there e-mail addresses. Ex- Files saved as attachments in Gmail. Some people use newer methods being provided by cloud storage providers (CSP). For ex- Data uploaded on Google Drive. Google Drive is a CSP. CSP provides its users some cloud space for free and if the user wants to have more cloud space it charges money. They hold their servers for the sole process of cloud storage. The data can be accessed with internet. You can also download the application of your CSP and sync it to your important folders. On smartphones you can automatically upload pictures clicked to your Os provider's CSP. For ex- Google Drive for Android, OneDrive for windows and iCloud for Apple.

Backup is not just for companies.

With emerging technology and cheaper cloud storage today individuals who are feared of losing their data and want to protect it from anything from an earthquake to coffee spills can also use cloud storage for backup. Advantages of cloud storage are:-

1. They are not vulnerable to accidental deletion, virus, misplacement or theft.

2. You can backup your data in more using than one service to lower the chances of data loss through natural disaster, power outage or server crash.

3. On some CSP you can also read documents in your browser whether MS-Office is not installed in your PC or you don't want to download the file. For ex- Google drive supports MS- Office files. 

Today our lives are intertwined with technology and backing up the data has become requirement of life and cloud storage providing exciting options to fulfill the needs of every user. Thus, cloud storage is not only the modern method of backup but the most robust and efficient one.