Backup to Amazon S3 Software: Cloud Storage Technologies Finest

Comments: 0

We are happy to announce that the upcoming Handy Backup 7 will have a new plug-in for Amazon S3 Backup!

By storing backups to Amazon S3 you exploit the Simple Storage Service by Amazon, which is an advanced online backup storage based on cloud technologies. In addition to common cloud-service advantages (like high volume capacity and rather fast access to data for multiple users) this service provides users with a number of exclusive benefits making backup to Amazon a rather popular option for data protection.

Advantages of Backing up to Amazon Storage

Here is a list of features commonly recognized as the most attractive ones of backup to Amazon.

• Bucket technology. Every file backed up with Amazon S3 software is stored to a bucket – a sort of a virtual container, with a unique name and key. A user is welcome to add an unlimited number of files to a bucket (the one may contain up to 5 TB). Every file in a bucket has its’ own URL and can be accessed by it.

This system is a lot akin to the domain hierarchy system, allowing users to feel comfortable with navigation even through a huge amount of files backed up to Amazon S3 storage. Also, a geographical region might be set for every bucket in order to reduce costs or regulate address requirements.

• Versioning. With this feature Amazon saves all versions of data ever backed up to the storage. If you perform incremental backup to Amazon S3, this feature will allow you to restore overwritten data.
• Clear and fair price setting. There are no minimal fees and fixed prices for storage: you pay only for the service you really use. There are three expense items of using Amazon S3 for backup: storage volume, storage requests, and data transfer volume (in or out).

So, if you have a detailed plan of backup to Amazon storage (data volume, periodicity of backup to Amazon, and percent data loss probability), you can count every expense item and learn how much you will spend on Amazon online backup storage up, within a 1 cent accuracy.

• Clear and flexible privacy settings. Private and public access to bucket might be configured, and access rights can be granted to specific users.

Optimal Backup Strategy: Is Backup to Amazon S3 What Your Data Needs?

As an ancient Chinese word of wisdom has it, the best backup strategy ever should be based on two principles: optimization and diversification.

Amazon S3 Optimal Backup Strategy: Optimization Principle

The optimization principle assumes that you should pay only for the service you really need. Backup to Amazon S3 Software is profitable, but not cheap: it provides users with advanced facilities of data management, so it is reasonably more expensive than other, probably less functional online backup solutions.

Amazon S3 is designed to be a highly protected storage system which tends to exclude 99% of possible risks for data (data loss from natural disasters, information theft, deliberate data injury, and other), even though it is large data (up to 5 TB).

Sounds attractive, but the actual statistics has it that enterprises trend to go for a remote backup storage services like Amazon’s more decidedly than small businesses and individual users. For backing up home PC or small business workstations, it occasionally turns out to be more profitable to use more cost-efficient online backup storages.

Amazon S3 Optimal Backup Strategy: Diversification Principle

The diversification (or «Basket and Eggs») principle prescribes you not to store data in a single storage place. There are many backup storage types (USB-devices, local and external HD, FTP servers, etc.), and each one has its’ own pros and cons.

Backup to Amazon S3 software granting a backup to cloud has at least one serious problem: speed of data transfer depends on your network bandwidth. With a common speed of Internet connection around 2 Mbps, first incremental backup to Amazon S3 or restore of big data (say, around a TB) can take up to several weeks.

Local storage makes it possible to transfer data faster, but has its flaws too (risks of mechanical damage, a rather high human error factor, etc.). So the best backup storage choice is several storage places supplementing each other.

Backup to Amazon with Handy Backup 7

Handy Backup is powerful and flexible backup software designed for backup of mobile devices, PCs, and Windows-based networks. The software presents a number of handy options for remote data storage: backup to FTP/SFTP and Online Backup Cloud. Starting with Handy Backup 7, there are also backup to FTPS and, significantly, backup to Amazon S3 for Windows.

More remote data storage features by Handy Backup in addition to Amazon S3 benefits are as follows:

• Incremental backup: only changed or modified from last backup files are backed up, so the backup time is reduced.
• Backup as a Windows service: you don’t need to be logged in for a backup to proceed.
• Backup in a background mode: system resource consumption saving.
• Handy access: backups in a browser and the software interface.
• Backup statistics: your backup size, dates of their creation, and other important info. For handy control of free storage space on the online backup server.
• Reports: backup stats via email notifications, backup journals, and log files.

With Handy Backup 7 you will see how smart backup to Amazon S3 software can be!