Understanding Backup SolutionsYou probably know that your Web hosting provider offers a solution to reliably back-up and protect your data from any potential natural or mechanical disasters, but you might not be aware of the different kinds of backup methods that are available to your Web hosting providers.nnThe two types of backup most Web hosts use are tape-based and disk-based solutions.nnAlthough critics claim that tape restores frequently fail and advocates of disk-based backup solutions commonly point out the negatives of tape-based solutions, tape is still widely used for backup and data protection, and has its advantages.nnOne of the biggest advantages of tape backup is that it’s easy to transport to another location for safe storage and can easily be stored in fireproof safes or bank vaults. Tape backups are also considered technologically simple and user friendly and many Web hosts believe it offers great reliability in that data can be recovered at any point through other machines, if a system has been destroyed. Multiple sets and backups can also easily be created and they offer the option of unlimited media size through libraries of backup content.nnThe other common backup solution is disk-based backup. Although tape may seem less expensive than disk-based solutions, the tradeoff is performance. As the amount of data organizations have and need to back up grows, the amount of time it takes to back up all that data to tape has become increasingly inconvenient and tracking individual files can take a long time. A hard disk is read similarly to a CD, so the drive heads can move immediately to the location on the disk where the desired data is stored and writing information to disk is up to three times faster than tape.nnDisks are also considered more durable than tape, they last longer and they hold up under more frequent overwriting. Because they are contained inside sealed cases, there is also less chance of the media being affected by the external environment. And they never require retensioning or head cleaning.nnCompanies that offer disk-based backup solutions, often continuous and fully automated, include Righteous Software, Evault and LiveVault. Although disk-based backup solutions are thought to be a little pricey ranging from $400 to $1000 per server, certain companies, like Righteous Software, have been able to get the cost down to approximately $50 to $100 per server.
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