With all the disasters in recent news, more and more individuals and businesses are looking into remote backup services to protect their data. At the same time, more and more online backup providers are entering the market place. How do you choose? What should you be looking for?

To answer these questions, you first have to evaluate your risk and the level of loss you are trying to prevent. Most data loss comes from human error. You erase the wrong file. You overwrite a previous version of a file. If these are your typical scenarios, then you want a service that can provide a simple quick restoration process. Do you need to meet government requirements, such as those contained in HIPAA or Sarbanes-Oxley? If so, then your remote backup provider must also meet them. Is your primary concern, a natural disaster? Then, your provider should be located outside the disaster zone. Once you have listed your priorities, you can begin asking the provider some or all of the following questions:

1) What does online backup cost?

Some providers charge minimal amounts but force you to accept advertising. This means that their primary business is not online backup but marketing. They will be successful as long as their advertisers see a value in using them.

2) How much can I store?

Some remote backup services limit your storage capability and stop backing you up if you reach that limit.

3) What types of encryption are available?

Not all encryption methods meet government standards. If you need to comply with legislation such as HIPAA, be sure your remote backup provider uses approved encryption.

4) What levels of compression do you offer?

Compressed files reduce transmission times and storage utilization. Picture files, zip files, etc. are already compressed. You may not want your system tied-up recompressing these.

5) What levels of support do you offer? Can I talk with you over the phone? Can I get on site support?

Restoring data can be critical to your business. Can you get the help you need when you need it?

6) How do I know if my backup is successful?

Remote backups can fail. You need to know if your data is suddenly at risk.