Hurricane Backup

[jay_m]

I want to offer a special deal on backing up PC data in preparation for the coming Hurricane season here in TX. What are your opinions on how to go about backing up the data for this offer?

These are my thoughts. I do not want to offer online backup solutions, I would not be able to provide this service myself, so it would have to be third-party.

I have two different hardware solutions that I am considering. First one based on an external hard drive, either a custom enclosure or something like seagates external drives and docking stations. Second, a backup scenario based on a SD card.

1. As I see it the external hdd would be the more impressive, walk onsite with new hardware that would sit on customers desk and flash at them. It could always be up to date set to backup at logon/off. In the event of a hurricane, or other emergency they could grab it and go. Of course this would be more costly as well, increasing the overall price of the deal.

2. The SD card solution would be more economical but would require the user to backup their system on there own. They could keep the SD in a secure location, with the "Go" bag with important documents and pictures saved on it, but if they wanted it to be up to date they would have to plug it in and rebackup their important data. I could set it up to automatically update certain folders upon insert, but the onus would still be on them to plug it in periodically.

The SD card solution would give another benefit, because of the low cost of SD cards I could offer two cards, one which could be kept offsite, in a safe deposit box perhaps.

These are just the thoughts I have had since I saw the special on the morning news reminding us to be prepared for Hurricane season, which we usually aren't when it comes to our computer data.

I look forward to seeing what you guys think.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Something about "backup for disasters like a flood/hurricane"...and "a local device next to their computer" doesn't mix well with me.

Floods and stuff often come quickly..people are already scrambling about worrying about other things like themselves, kids, etc. Not to mention..grab something electronic..and have to haul it about as you're dealing with emergency shelter situations and what not..or wading down the street waist deep in water.

I know you said you don't want "offsite backup"...but, disasters like floods/hurricanes....that really is where offsite backup is the logical choice.

[Xander]

First off, I'm working at getting people off of the term "data backup" and onto "disaster recovery."

Second, teach them to back up twice. One local copy (ext HD, CDs) for convenience and another offsite (family member, online) for redundancy.
I ask people if they're backing up and they smile and point to a stack of CDs near their PC. "Good", I tell them, "but what if you have a fire in this room?" The smile fades.

If you're living where people shouldn't (disaster-prone areas like the Southern US or Bangladesh), keeping your backups a block away isn't that helpful.

[Cornerstone Technologies]

Originally Posted by jay_m

I want to offer a special deal on backing up PC data in preparation for the coming Hurricane season here in TX. What are your opinions on how to go about backing up the data for this offer?

These are my thoughts. I do not want to offer online backup solutions, I would not be able to provide this service myself, so it would have to be third-party.

I myself was worried this 'cloud' deal was going to hurt the backup solutions that I had been offering. Truth is, for a natural disaster, an off-site backup to the cloud is probably the best way to go. If the entire building is swept away, do you somehow thing that an external hard drive is going to remain? The nice thing about the cloud is that in most cases, it is not geographically linked to where a disaster might be occurring. Your hurricane in Texas is not going to affect some NOC in Bakersfield, which is ideal.

Originally Posted by jay_m

1. As I see it the external hdd would be the more impressive, walk onsite with new hardware that would sit on customers desk and flash at them. It could always be up to date set to backup at logon/off. In the event of a hurricane, or other emergency they could grab it and go. Of course this would be more costly as well, increasing the overall price of the deal.

This is a cheap option, though given the scenario you propose, this has all the potential to do the client no good. They have to worry about grabbing some device, and probably dropping it a few times if it is a true emergency. It might be an extra layer of protection, which I cant fault, but not something I would sell in this situation.

Originally Posted by jay_m

2. The SD card solution would be more economical but would require the user to backup their system on there own. They could keep the SD in a secure location, with the "Go" bag with important documents and pictures saved on it, but if they wanted it to be up to date they would have to plug it in and rebackup their important data. I could set it up to automatically update certain folders upon insert, but the onus would still be on them to plug it in periodically.

I think just reading your 'vision' turns me off on this idea because it is is pretty inconsistent with how you see your customers living with an automated backup in your first option, but having them do it on their own with this one. It doesnt make any sense. SD cards are small, and easier to misplace. I'm sorry, but the more I think about this and your description, I hate this idea in its entirety.

Originally Posted by jay_m

The SD card solution would give another benefit, because of the low cost of SD cards I could offer two cards, one which could be kept offsite, in a safe deposit box perhaps.

SD cards might be cheap, but what is the maximum size of an SD card? Currently there are 128GB ones for $150. Depending on the size of the clients backup, and number of machines, you would quickly run out of space. I have a contract with a medical office. They have 8TB of stuff. Your idea should be scalable.

Originally Posted by jay_m

These are just the thoughts I have had since I saw the special on the morning news reminding us to be prepared for Hurricane season, which we usually aren't when it comes to our computer data.

Something that might be worthy as far as marketing would be to find a way to latch on to these public service announcements and offer solutions for disaster preparation and recovery. Its probably a good angle, you just have to have a solid procedure that makes sense when the winds actually start flying.

[altrenda]

Famous story in Hollywood and often used in marketing materials for backup services.

Director Francis Ford Coppola had his laptop stolen with all his data, including the script he was working on.
Good news - he had everything backed up to an external drive.
Bad News - the thieves stole the external drive, that was connected to the laptop, as well.

http://www.hollywood.com/news/Coppol...rglary/4923741

Offsite backups are a must.

[jay_m]

Let me clarify one thing with the offer I am thinking of, I want to market this specifically to residential customers. I expect the amount of data could be small enough to fit onto a 32 - 64GB SD card, obviously if there is more than this it would not be the right option for the client.

I understand that in some emergency's ie fire, it would be impossible to "grab" a device and go. However a hurricane (typically) builds for weeks and there is ample time to be prepared ie put up shutters, gas the vehicle. In the case of the fire, some people have a fire safe to keep important documents in, the SD card would go here.

I want to offer a service that I can price attractively to people who would normally not even consider backing up. One reason I do not want to offer the cloud is that these services come with monthly fees. Most people do not want "another" monthly bill.

I think just reading your 'vision' turns me off on this idea because it is is pretty inconsistent with how you see your customers living with an automated backup in your first option, but having them do it on their own with this one. It doesnt make any sense. SD cards are small, and easier to misplace. I'm sorry, but the more I think about this and your description, I hate this idea in its entirety.

Thats just mean

I think most people have, or should have, a bag with important documents (licenses, SS cards, policies) they will take with them when getting out of town. This is where the SD card would be placed whenever they are evacuating. That would make the SD card more convienent than a large HDD.

[MotzTech]

Although I'm a fan of offsite backups, a good way to secure local backups in case of sudden disaster may be this. I have never used one, but it seems like a neat setup.


http://www.amazon.com/SentrySafe-QA0.../dp/B00166187Q

[colonydata]

Originally Posted by jay_m

I want to offer a special deal on backing up PC data in preparation for the coming Hurricane season here in TX. What are your opinions on how to go about backing up the data for this offer?

These are my thoughts. I do not want to offer online backup solutions, I would not be able to provide this service myself, so it would have to be third-party.

I have two different hardware solutions that I am considering. First one based on an external hard drive, either a custom enclosure or something like seagates external drives and docking stations. Second, a backup scenario based on a SD card.

1. As I see it the external hdd would be the more impressive, walk onsite with new hardware that would sit on customers desk and flash at them. It could always be up to date set to backup at logon/off. In the event of a hurricane, or other emergency they could grab it and go. Of course this would be more costly as well, increasing the overall price of the deal.

2. The SD card solution would be more economical but would require the user to backup their system on there own. They could keep the SD in a secure location, with the "Go" bag with important documents and pictures saved on it, but if they wanted it to be up to date they would have to plug it in and rebackup their important data. I could set it up to automatically update certain folders upon insert, but the onus would still be on them to plug it in periodically.

The SD card solution would give another benefit, because of the low cost of SD cards I could offer two cards, one which could be kept offsite, in a safe deposit box perhaps.

These are just the thoughts I have had since I saw the special on the morning news reminding us to be prepared for Hurricane season, which we usually aren't when it comes to our computer data.

I look forward to seeing what you guys think.

i hate to tell you but hurricane season is now. Tropical Storm Beryl paid us a visit this weekend, although i am disappointed as we got very little rain from it.

i think honestly focusing just on the assumptions made for a hurricane is narrow minded. You should be looking at providing a service/solution that covers your customers for the widest number of possibilities economically possible.

A hard drive or sd card and software for backup, from what i know would offer decent protection. but they dont really take into account the user. that might not remember to backup.

an example is i have a hard drive that i use as a time machine drive for my mac. about 2 months i was cleaning up and it got unplugged. for the last month it has been fussing at me about it hasnt been able to backup for a month -2 months etc. because i still havent gotten around to doing something as simple as find the power plug and put it back in. its stupid i know, although i also have jungledisk running. but the moral is if a IT professional is lazy about backups, your average user is more likely to as well.

also when the user runs a backup, what are they going to do when they get a file lock issue, dosnt know what to do about it and just ignores it, and they end up not having the PST file backed up?

with jungle disk if that happens, i get an email, and i can email my customer about it, or give them a courtesy call.

also for the widest range of disasters a dedicated offsite backup is the only way to go.

Originally Posted by jay_m

One reason I do not want to offer the cloud is that these services come with monthly fees. Most people do not want "another" monthly bill.

bill it yearly then, 3.99 a month gets you jungledisk whitelabel and 10gb of storage. then its .15 cents an additional gb per month. not hard to do that math. make a package where they get 30gb of storage per year that equals up to 100 dollars a year.

[jay_m]

Well it seems everyone is in agreement and I asked for you guys opinions so I should also listen. Cloud service is the way to go. I do like Colonydata's idea to bill yearly, it may be a large upfront cost for the client but I think people would be more hesitant about paying monthly.

I have not myself used any cloud services other than dropbox. Any other recommendations such as junglebox? Preferable something that I could charge for, not a referral service like carbonite.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Jungledisk about the most profitable.