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9 Cloud Storage Services For Your Business

Start The Discussion | George Crump | April 09, 2009 06:05 AM

Storage can be expensive to manage and maintain, not to mention the constant need for more disk space. By using cloud computing for data storage, business owners can take advantage of more attractive pricing and minimize ongoing costs while integrating a host of new features available from different vendors.

9 Cloud Storage Services For Your Business

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Mozy Online Backup

Data protection is likely to be smaller businesses' first experience with cloud storage, and the choice of services that provide online data protection can be dizzying. The different solutions are tailored for the smallest businesses or home users up to multinational conglomerates. Mozy, for example, offers two versions of its product. MozyHome is designed for home users or very small business users. It provides a small agent that's installed on a laptop or desktop and backs up changed files. The only challenge is completing that first backup, which can be lengthy. After the initial backup, only the files that have been changed are sent to a Mozy Data Center. Users can select individual files or folders or the whole system to protect, and every two hours the application checks to see if there have been changes to any files; changed files are backed up over the Internet.

For larger businesses, Mozy has an option called MozyPro. While similar to the MozyHome application from a simplicity standpoint, it adds the ability to back up servers and network-mounted drives as well as offering modules for Exchange and SQL. MozyPro also adds administrative features that allow for improved monitoring and scheduling of backup jobs. Even with MozyPro, users can still restore their own files from the Mozy GUI.

Mozy will keep multiple versions of a file for 30 days, and if you decide you want your own copy of your backup it will send you a DVD of it for an additional fee. Both options are very cost effective, starting at less than $5 per month for MozyHome. The drawback is that they're relatively slow, which may affect your workflow while the backup is happening.

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