Online Data Backup FAQ's

- What companies does NEDS serve?

- Can your solution do bit-level backups?

- Why don't I get an external hard drive and use that for backups?

- I already back up to tapes, why should I change?

- How much does it cost?

- Can I keep more than one full backup at a time?

- I only have cable Internet, will that cause any issues?

- What Operating Systems does your solution work with?

- Do you resell someone else's backup solution?

- Does your solution compress the data being backed up?

- What is the smallest vault size available?

- What do you define as "Critical Data"

Any company that uses computers. Chances are that if you are using a computer to run your business, you have precious data that needs to be backed up. It's important to have someone professional and someone you trust hold your data to make sure nothing goes wrong with it.

Can your solution do bit-level backups?

The NEDS Online Data Backup solution is capable of doing bit-level backups.

Why don't I get an external hard drive and use that for backups?

External hard drives are a very inexpensive way to backup your data, however you run into the same issues that you see with tapes. The data is still kept on-site, so if something happens to your office, both your original data and backups are lost. In addition, external hard drives are not redundant, and are very unreliable.

I already back up to tapes, why should I change?

We have found that tape backups are traditionally more expensive in the long run than offsite backups. When you factor in the time spent administering the backups by staff, the cost of the equipment needed (tape drive, tapes, maintenance, etc.), and the fact that tapes a have a relatively high rate of failure it's easy to see why offsite backup is more effective.

In addition to cost, the human error factor is worth noting. If the person in charge of changing the tapes is out sick, on vacation, or just forgets to change the tapes out, your backup will be off and you will not be fully protected. With the NEDS Online Backup Solution, you never have to worry about administering the backup. Once the backup set is configured, you never have to touch it again. It will automatically and religiously backup your data at the time you selected. Both you (if you choose) and NEDS will receive an email notice every morning alerting you of the status of your backup. If there is a problem with a backup set we will work with you to correct that problem to ensure you are fully protected.

How much does it cost?

We'd love to answer that question for you, however we prefer not to advertise our pricing. From our research, we have found that the industry standard for Online Data Backup for businesses is between $12-14 per GB.

If you would like pricing information please call us at (781) 419-4200 or email us. You can also fill out the brief form in the Contact Us page and a NEDS representative will contact you shortly.

Can I keep more than one full backup at a time?

Absolutely. In fact, we usually recommend keeping at least two full backup sets at one time just to be safe. This will increase your initial vault size, but not by much due to the solution's compression.

I only have cable Internet, will that cause any issues?

Only if you have a substantial amount of data that needs to be backed up. We can work with you to find a suitable solution. Some of our customers that have limited bandwidth use the NEDS backup solution by breaking up their data into different backup sets that run on separate nights throughout the week in order to get a full backup every week. Others have simply chosen to upgrade their bandwidth to a T1 from NEDS. Whatever your situation is, let us know. We're more than happy to discuss how we can make it work.

What Operating Systems does your solution work with?

The NEDS backup solution is compatible with Microsoft Windows, and the Red Hat and Fedora versions of Linux. It has worked with Mac OS as well, although we do not support that operating system.

Our backup solution is 100% owned by NEDS.

Yes. the NEDS backup solution compresses on an average of 38%. The compression ratio fluctuates based upon what kind of file is being backed up though. For example, files such as PDF's and CAD files cannot be compressed very well if at all while text and document files can be compressed very well; often over 60%.

The smallest vault size that we offer is 5GB. From there vault sizes can go up in increments of 5GB.

What do you define as "Critical Data"

We define "critical data" as anything that would have a negative effect on your business if it were lost. Examples of critical data are usually customer data, sales & marketing data, and accounting information. We do not want you paying to back up files that can be easily replaced such as program files and operating system files.