Use Online and Offline Backups

January 2021 — Tip of the Month

Online backups are great because they are stored in a remote location. Offline backups are great because they are easy to access. But both have their drawbacks.

If you ever need to do a full system restore, an online backup can take a long time — possibly several days to download. For this reason, online backup companies like BackBlaze, typically provide an option to send you your data on a physical drive. But this method can also several days, which is far from ideal in an emergency situation.

Offline backups, stored locally, are easy to access. You can also make incremental backups with multiple hard drives. But local backups are susceptible to damage and theft. If your house is robbed or has a fire, your backup may disappear.

So the best way to back up your data is two ways — both online and offline. If (when) you need to restore files from a backup, it's best to have both options available.

- Per Christensson