Hackers. Hurricanes. Fires. Floods. Plagues of boils. These nightmare scenarios are one degree less terrifying if you back up your data. Backing up everything that can’t run away is fundamental to business security. Because you’re awesome, you already know that a robust backup strategy has your, erm, back, all the way from “Oh crap, did I just delete that file forever?” to full-on disaster recovery. But what you might be puzzling over is whether it’s best to use cloud backup vs. local backup. Or maybe both. Let’s skinny dip together in the glorious waters of local and cloud backup to find out.
First, Let’s Review the Principles of Backing Up, Because Why Not?
If you haven’t heard of the industry standard 3-2-1 backup strategy, you haven’t lived. And you may be surprised that it’s actually expressed in easy-to-understand terms instead of geek speak. The 3-2-1 strategy says that, for perfect backups every time, you’ll need:
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Three copies of your data (one working copy and two backup copies) on two different types of media (e.g., disk and network-attached storage), and, for disaster recovery, one copy must be off-site (e.g., in the cloud, in off-site storage, or in your random junk drawer). |
That sounds pretty awesome, and it is. But, since the cloud has evolved, it has gotten a bit muddier, with 3-1-2, 3-2-2, and 3-2-3 number spaghetti being offered by cloud backup providers.
Quit with the hyperventilation; here’s an over-simplistic comparison of cloud and local backup to guide you to the best backup strategy for your setup. And, you can always call our backup fanatic Mitch, because that’s all they ever want to talk about. Sad, but true.
Cloud Backup vs. Local Backup: Who Wins?
Local Backup
Local backup means backing up parts of your IT ecosystem – the data, files, applications, systems, and configurations – to local hardware on-site, such as hard disk drives, solid-state drives, or even tapes. The process is usually managed by backup software and the backup copies stay close to the source data. You might deploy the 3-2-1 principle by storing one copy on an off-site device too. Go you!
The Good Stuff: Local Backup Advantages
If you’re backing up locally, you can hold your head high, because there are advantages:
- You have direct control over your data. You know exactly where it is – it’s on that HDD in the emergency beer cupboard, not on some random server in Bucharest – and you have immediate access to it.
- It can be quicker to recover large volumes of data. Because you have direct access and complete control, you can recover anything you’ve lost super-quickly. And you don’t need the internet to do so.
- Local backup devices are evolving. Storage capacity and disk speeds are improving. It’s happening, dudes.
The Bad Stuff: Local Backup Disadvantages
As with life, there are downsides to local backup:
- It’s not easy to scale. You’ll need more storage and more square footage to scale easily.
- You’ll need to manage daily backups yourself or pay someone to do it for you. That usually means the salary and employer costs of an in-house IT person as well as recruitment hassles if/when they leave.
- If there’s a disaster on-site and you don’t have an off-site backup, you’ll lose it all. Sad face.
Cloud Backup
Cloud backup is copying your data, applications, and systems over a network to an off-site, cloud-based server located somewhere in the world that probably isn’t in your zip code. It’s usually done via an online cloud backup service, which does most of the hard work for you. You’ll usually back up and restore data using an online dashboard. Your backups will sit on a public backup server like Microsoft Azure or AWS, unless you have the funding to create a private cloud fairytale universe of your own.
Note that cloud backup is not the same as cloud storage. Backup is your separate copy of data kept in reserve in case of disaster. Storage is your data files stored in the cloud but accessed, worked on, and shared by your people. But the stuff in storage does get backed up. Yay.
The Good Stuff: Cloud Backup Advantages
There’s a ton:
- You probably work in the cloud already. Maybe you’re onboarding like crazy or managing that fleet of devices.
- Cloud backups are super-easy to scale. Suddenly have a million chunks of extra data to back up? Not a problem – the cloud will scale with you.
- You can get hold of your backups from anywhere that has internet access.
- End-to-end security is usually built into cloud backup services. If it’s not, don’t touch it.
- Your cloud backup provider will do the grunt work for you. You won’t need extra staff, extra skill, or much extra time.
- It’s often fitted with useful features such as deduplication (auto-removal of identical copies to save on storage cost), file versioning, cloud-to-cloud backup, and other delights.
- If a local disaster happens, you’re covered.
The Bad Stuff: Cloud Backup Disadvantages
Don’t get us wrong, we love the cloud. We do a lot of cloud things for our clients but, because we’re almost embarrassingly honest, we need to tell ya the downsides:
- Remember the scalability? If you have a massive volume of data, backing it up won’t be cheap.
- If you need to reinstate lots of data, it’ll happen, but it can take longer than you’d like.
- If your internet is patchy, so are your chances of backing up effectively.
- Your data is managed by someone who is not you. Giving a third party control has risks involved, no matter how much you love them.
So, what’s the way forward for you? Well, you won’t like this, but the right answer is, “It depends.” It depends on the size of your backupable (it’s a word) IT, what you want to spend, your attitude to risk, whether you have in-house IT expertise, and stuff like that.
Hybrid Model, Anyone?
Extremism is for losers, and that’s why it can be the right thing to go with a happy medium – a hybrid model of backup. What’s best for you to adopt depends on your business, but here are some takeaways:
- Local backup is great for long-term archiving: for historic stuff that you don’t use or need much now, but want to keep on record.
- If you’re backup cloud-based, local backup services are an excellent number 1 in a 3-2-1 backup strategy. They are spatially and logically separate from the cloud, and you can back up SaaS data too.
In a just world, backups should never get you down. It can get super-confusing so, if you’d like to chew over the pros and cons of cloud backup vs. local backup for your uniquely beautiful business, we are literally waiting for your call. Please hurry, as we need a bathroom break.
Ignition is Silicon Valley’s best (and friendliest) IT security, compliance, and support team. Contact us today–chatting about cloud backup vs. local backup is our favorite thing to do!