Unless you have been living in a cave, almost everyone has heard of the cloud and some of you may already be using it. Examples such a Flickr and Google Docs spring to mind, but there is one area where cloud computing is very good for – online backup. With the widespread adoption of fast broadband, online backup has become
increasingly popular.

So what is online backup exactly? Online backup essentially sends your files and folders offsite to a secure server over the Internet. Everyone knows they
should backup, but why is online backup better?

Online backups have many advantages over traditional backup methods. Firstly the data is sent offsite, protecting data from physical threats such as fire, flood and viruses.

Online backups are completely automatic – you do not need to remember to backup every Friday – the software will do it for you – every day without fail.

Typically an online backup service keeps around 30 days of backups so you can easily roll back to a specific point in time – something that is very difficult to do with tape backup.

Online backup companies such as http://www.backupvault.co.uk/ ensure that your data is encrypted before it leaves your computer and is held encrypted on their servers to complete privacy.

Restoring data is also very easy. Just a couple of mouse clicks and a file can be restored and sent back to your computer.

As the data is stored in the cloud the amount of storage is essentially infinite – so an online backup solution will grow as your storage requirements increase. There is also no hardware or media to buy.

With broadband speeds increasing year on year, online backup is a technology that is here to stay.