- January 31, 2018
-
Georg Dauterman
- 3 min
Are workstation backups necessary in 2018? In this day and age you would think it would be a simple, binary, choice: YES! Protect ALL the data wherever it may live. NO! IMPORTANT data should live in protected places like a server or cloud files sharing solution. But, in reality no one answer fits all scenarios.
Think about your machine; is all of your data safely backed up on a server or cloud-based service? What happens if you left it in an Uber? What if all of your files were encrypted by malware? Could you confidently take your machine and use it as a chock to stop your car from rolling while changing a tire, knowing that your data is safely stored in another location?
If your answer is not a resounding “who needs a tire changed?!” then you should consider backing up your workstation, especially if it’s a laptop. Laptops, and mobile devices in general, are much more vulnerable to loss, accidental damage, and utilization in automobile repair.
There are endless easy and low-cost ways to protect your files. Apple’s MacOS has Time Machine and Windows 10 Backup has made leaps and bounds over the version that shipped with Windows XP. There are also automated cloud-based backups from Mozy, Carbonite, and BackBlaze. These are great products, as they continuously protect your computer’s data by storing it to a remote, offsite, managed cloud. In the event of a total loss, your data can be recovered to a replacement computer. Some products even allow you to access individual files via a Web portal.
No matter what solution you choose to deploy, always evaluate it against your current and future needs. A system that works for you in an office environment may prove to be insufficient for your mobile fleet. In all cases, backing up your files is never a bad choice UNLESS you are not relying on it being monitored and maintained.
Making the Right Choice
One of the key considerations to make when selecting a workstation backup solution is who will manage and monitor the backup. As the number of protected systems increase, the complexity and chance for failure rise exponentially. Managing your personal Time Machine or Mozy account is radically different from monitoring thousands of workstations. Even a modest increase in the numbers of systems completely changes the required management approach to ensure that the backup is operational and ready when you need it.
Here at Valiant, we rely heavily on automation to be confident that the systems under our management are protected and ready to be restored if the need arises. Our Systems Architecture, Shared Services, and Service Desk departments evaluated a dizzying number of solutions. We chose our solution based on these key questions:
- Will the software backup data, reliably, under various conditions?
- Does it have a high CPU, disk, or bandwidth cost attached?
- Is the software stable and properly supported by the manufacturer?
- Does the solution include strong reporting and alerting features?
- Is the product priced correctly?
The criteria above are paramount when selecting a solution that you can rely on. After an exhaustive search, we’ve found a solution that we are so confident in that our name is a part of it.
Valiant Endpoint Backup is a cloud-based file & folder workstation backup service that can be deployed, configured and managed centrally. It allows you to customize which folders are backed up, monitor backup progress, and access the Endpoint Backup via an online portal where you can review backup versions, as well as restore data from your backup.
It’s cloud-based, Valiant-monitored, and comes with unlimited storage. Let us protect your data so you can focus on your business.
