If you're running a business, odds are that information such as accounts, financial information, customers, suppliers, banking, invoices, purchase orders, correspondence, etc. will be sitting on a few hard disks on various computers. The loss of a significant amount of data would be a total disaster that would have a major impact on your life or the business's future.  Ask yourself the following questions:

 

Why do I need to backup?
Computer data is one of the most valuable and, at the same time, most delicate of resources. Your computer data can represent your entire business. Even if your data is only part of your business, it still represents an investment and can be costly to reproduce.

Unfortunately, data is very easy to lose: fire, vandalism, software virus, software glitch, power surge, hard disk crash, theft are just a few of the threat to your data every day of your working life and weekends as well!

The most common cause of data loss is much more prosaic - you! Even the most astute computer user can easily delete a file by mistake.  It's even easier to make changes that you alter regret.
Backup is not just necessary to protect against unforeseen disaster (such as those listed above) - it is also necessary to allow inevitable changes of mind as projects progress.


Will I remember to backup?
One of the biggest problems with any backup is simply remembering to do it.  How many times have you needed to restore a backup only to discover that you or your staff forgot to make one or just flat out don't have one?  With remote backup, you do nothing.  We define a schedule with you and the backups are done automatically.   There are no tapes to change or store or lose.


Why is data so important?
Simply stated - your data is your business. Among the business-critical items commonly stored on computers are: customer names and addresses, purchase and sales ledgers, prospect lists, competitor analyses, designs, contracts, cash flow, web site, email history, to-do-list, staff contracts, payroll, financial forecasts, asset management, proposals, personnel records, bookmarks, to name but a few...
Most business data represents an investment and its loss will incur cost to recover; the loss of any business-critical data is potentially far worse - threatening the very existence of the business itself.


Why is data so fragile?
The very nature of computer data makes it fragile - computer data is represented by a combination of zeros and ones (it is held in RAM or on hard disk in binary format) and the accidental loss of any single 'bit' (any zero or one) will render the entire document useless! You can lose bits from all the causes mentioned above as well as simply finger trouble - accidentally hit the delete key and a day's work is gone - in an instant...
Consider a large database file of, say, 100 megabytes in size; this comprises approximately one gigabyte (one thousand megabytes) bits - lose just one of these bits and the entire file is destroyed.


Isn't my data backed up automatically?
Some software does take automatic backups of your data (Quicken for example) BUT it only backs up this data to your local hard drive. Any worthwhile backup must be stored off-site and automatic facilities in application software does not do this - so be warned, you might think your data is backed up but losing your hard disk will lose the backup as well as the original.  Companies with IT departments usually have procedures in place to backup business-critical data - BUT some IT departments limit their responsibility to data stored on servers. This is fine for data you keep on s departmental server, but what about the items on your C: drive and the multiple business-critical items on your laptop?


I backup to disk - isn't that enough?
NO - backup to your local disk is not enough since any loss (such as theft or disk crash) will lose the backup as well as the original. A local backup protects you from accidental changes but that is all. For any backup to be worthwhile, it must be stored in an off-site location.


Why should I backup with Batten Technology Group?
The main advantage...you have access to your data 24 hours a day.  You can retrieve your backed up files as often and whenever you want.  Your files are stored on our FTP server which means that all you need is an internet connection and you are a click away from backup and retrieval of your data.


How long are my backups available?
This depends on how many days you configure your system to keep around. The down side is, the more backups you keep around, the more disk space you use.


Can I receive a copy of my backups?
Yes.  If desired, we can archive and mail your backups on CD-ROM.  See costs at bottom of page.


What will offsite backups cost me?
The cost of internet backup is based on your disk space usage.  To backup your accounting data takes far less disk space than backing up your entire drive.  Backing up every night does NOT cost any more than backing up weekly, but it does use more disk space. Basically, the more disk space you use, the higher the cost. 

Rates:
The following is the list of rates for internet backup.

One time Setup fee (Includes software, license, and complete setup)

$30.00 + installation time

100 meg of disk space

$19.95 per month

200 meg of disk space

$29.95 per month

300 meg of disk space

$39.95 per month

Over 300 meg of disk space

Call for price

CD Archived and mailed

$11.95 each

NOTE: Discounts of 5% apply to quarterly and six month payment and a 10% discount applies to yearly payments.

Example:
If you would like backups of your accounting files totaling 10 MB's (compressed) every night keeping 4 days worth of history and a CD archive disk mailed to you weekly, your following cost would be (The one time setup fee would applies to first month only):

$19.95 - Backup of accounting files (4 days x 10 MB = 40MB)
$39.80 - Weekly CD archive and mailed (4 weeks per month x $9.95)
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$59.75 - Monthly cost


Requirements:
The following is the list of requirements for offiste backup.

  • Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4+, 2000, or XP

  • 32 Meg Hard drive space

  • 32 Meg Ram

  • Internet Connection