Offsite Backup Software
Offsite backup software is a term that refers to backup programs that have the extra feature of being able to transfer backups to an offsite server and then retrieve them whenever a file or a system needs to be restored.
In order to achieve its goals, the offsite backup software will create a backup and upload it to the offsite server or location, this can be donde through the open Internet or through encapsulated connections such as VPNs. Sometimes the resulting backup is just too big to handle a single transfer so in order to make things easier, the program splits the big file into several smaller files, and then transfers them.
If the offsite server receives a split backup, it joins it back to one single file or backup, so that it’s readable and understandable by the restore system. Some providers will chose to apply some encryption to the stored files as well as to all connections so that there are no prying eyes that could read or sniff your precious files.
It you’ll be uploading to a server of your own, then make sure that you are able to mount the remote server as if it were a local filesystem (also known as virtual filesystem) but that data security is also ensured while doing so, otherwise you’ll have some hard times transferring huge backups to your offsite server.
On the other hand, if you’re using an online backup service provider, you can use the software that they’ll provide as it’s already hard coded to connect to their servers in a secure way and to transfer backups as efficiently as possible.
Offsite backups bring peace of mind as even if all your equipment gets stolen, you can still recover your files from the offsite location, however it has to be done properly in order to ensure a successful restore after a disaster.
To sum things up, you need an offsite backup software in order to have backups stored at a remote location, as doing it manually can take ages to complete and isn’t an easy task, it’s not wise to try to save some bucks and waste countless hours trying to accomplish what could be done within a few minutes.