Backup, Storage and Recovery Options For The Little Guy

Even today's smallest companies gather, maintain and rely upon large amounts of data and information, just like a lot of larger enterprises. Unfortunately, these smaller businesses simply haven't been able to afford the IT expertise or the technology to securely back up mission critical data, much less recovery it quickly in the event of a disaster. However, according to an article on the Web site EnterpriseSotageForum.com about the recent Storage Networking Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, that needs to change. The story is entitled: Are Big Storage Solutions Right for Small Businesses? "With storage needs growing at 50 to 100 percent per year in small businesses, there is a growing need for easy-to-deploy storage technology to improve the total cost per gigabyte of storage," writes the author, Drew Robb. "Small to medium-sized businesses typically use direct-attached storage (DAS)." The author describes DAS as the ad hoc of backing up critical files and data onto designated hard (or even disk) drives located on the premises.

"In some cases, transferring data might even require couriering a floppy disk to an associate in another room," reports Robb.

While this approach is somewhat reliable for smaller operations, experts within the story recommend businesses that manage roughly 50GB of data or more should consider upgrading to a dedicated data backup and recovery solution. The story, located here: http://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/sans/features/article.php/11188_3354781_1, offers some tips to smaller organizations that have reached the 50GB threshold and may be looking for more robust data backup and recovery options .