Backup: why do it and how? Paulo Nuin, Dec 16th 2008 (Bio)Informatics Seminar Series
local/internal external on the “cloud”/third-party
costs money
saves money
internal/local an extra HDD tape drive CD-RW USB-key (larger size)
an extra HDD “cheapest” solution, fast most computers are set risk: moderate/high
tape drive inexpensive, slow requires special drives risk: moderate
CD-RW almost free, slow, laborious, inefficient, small already installed in most systems risk: high
USB-key expanding in size, but still small portable risk: low/moderate
external external HDD external computer fileserver
external hard disk relatively cheap, relatively fast home made or factory ready risk: moderate
external computer requires another system, fast (depends) not exactly expensive or cheap risk: moderate
fileserver expensive, fast, reliable did I mention it’s expensive? risk: low
on the “cloud”/third-party company provided community provided free solutions
company provided =paid Amazon S3 (simple storage service) charges storage, transfer, extremely reliable
community provided institution, department, etc usually free limited space?
free solutions limited space, usually slow did I mention free? can be upgraded or combined