Offsite Backups

This page discusses a Mac-only service. If you are needing to back up a Windows based PC, well, good luck!

The Need

September 11 taught us the importance of offsite data backups. Any business without an offsite data backup plan is at risk of being destroyed if catastrophe strikes. Insurance cannot replace your client account information, your financial records, or your documents. Sixty percent of businesses destroyed by fire or other disaster either never re-open or fail within a year, even with good insurance coverage. The reason? The information critical to running the business was lost. Forever.

Current Approaches

There are many ways to make backups - print hard copies, burn data to CD, copy to a Zip disk, copy to a portable FireWire drive, various software solutions, etc. All of these involve time consuming, semi-manual procedures, an organized people system, and the repetitive physical transport of media to a remote location, in order to be effective.

Our Approach

Ideally, a backup system should require minimal effort while allowing each computer to be virtually reconstructed should it ever be destroyed. This means that a new computer can be configured in a way which is substantially similar to the computer which was lost. Operating systems can be reinstalled easily enough; software can be downloaded and reinstalled; settings and preferences can be reconfigured. In many cases, these tasks are already overdue, but the user has been too busy to get around to it.

What cannot be easily replaced are all the unique documents and information the user has created himself - word processing files, contact lists, calendars, some databases, email, etc. These are the files which must be backed up, and backed up often.

EasyBackup™

LinkedResources maintains servers for the sole purpose of providing a destination for offsite back-ups. A private and secure partition, with a name and size of your choosing, will be created for you. EasyBackup™ is a small Applescript application which, when run, will compress (using DropStuff™, from Aladdin Systems) groups of files which you have chosen (prioritized by daily, weekly, or monthly), time stamp them, and send them to your offsite partition. When configured, your backups can be accomplished with a single keystroke, taking far less effort than checking your email.

Setup includes running diagnostics on your systems, upgrading your OS version if necessary/possible, installing necessary third party add-ons (DropStuff™ 6.5.1, certain Scripting Additions, etc.), configuring your Launcher, installing and configuring EasyBackup™ itself, setting up the files/folders to be protected, collecting your software registration codes (see below), testing, and training. We'd love to charge a flat fee, but in all honesty, we come across so many wildly varying installations we have found this is not possible.

Software Registration Codes

Your software registration codes are like gold! They are not just the keys to your software - they are your software. Most software today can be downloaded from the Internet, so you really don't need to keep backups of the actual programs, but you do need your registration codes to actually reinstall and use your software, as well as to get support or replacement CDs. Keep your codes together in one place (a spreadsheet, a text file, whatever), and include that file in your weekly backups. As part of the setup process, we will collect all your codes and store them in yet another location, adding another layer of protection to your disaster recovery plans.

Pricing

Pricing is based on
  1. The size of your partition ($0.10 per Megabyte per month, minimum 1000MB ($100), in multiples of 1000 MB)
  2. A setup charge ($150 + $75/hr for on-site configuration beyond 2 hours)
  3. Additional features on a custom basis (optional)
Notice that the monthly charges are independent of the number of machines you are backing up.

Paying for one year in advance gets you 2 months free (ie. $1000 per year instead of $100 per month).

Setup charges are optional if you feel confident configuring your own machine and will register DropStuff yourself. Instructions will be posted to this site in the near future.

We also have a residential/personal/consumer rate of $30 per month (or $300 per year), 250MB partition, one machine only.

OK, I want the service! What do I do now?

Call or email. Here's the standard contact blurb.