Internet Backup Solutions - A Short History

How did we get here and where are we going next?

When personal computers emerged on the market late 1970s and early 1980s, users would often keep important files on cassette tapes, which were connected to computers via a serial interface. This was often a slow way to backup the data, but at the time, it was the only data backup system available to most people.

A short time later, floppy disks emerged that could hold 360,000 bytes of information, hardly anything by the standards today. Floppy drive density increased to 1.44 MB over time, and by the mid to late 1980’s, hard drives were generally available. Back in the mid 1980’s, a 40 MB hard drive was hundreds and hundreds of dollars, of course, memory was incredibly expensive then as well. It was not uncommon for a fully equipped personal computer system to cost around $5,000 USD at that time.

Consumer tape backup drives that could hold more data were also becoming mainstays in the late 1980s and 1990s. Tape drives then held 20 or 40 MB of data at the most. When the capability to write files to CD came about, many users started making backups to Compact Discs or CD’s as an easy way to take data with them. In the very late 1990s and early 2000s a new form of backup tape format called Digital Audio Tape (DAT) became available. Typically, the tape size was referred to as 4mm, and they held 5GB of data and they were very high speed. The high end, single tape DAT drives ranged from $4,000 to $10,000 USD and were invaluable to many small and medium sized business owners to protect their data and make it easy to take offsite for storage, and to retrieve it when necessary.

In the last 12 years, the advent of 2.5 inch and smaller hard drives, USB flash drives, and now, USB and Firewire connected external hard drives; it’s making it easier and easier to take data with us wherever we go.

The reliance on portable media that holds a terabyte of more of data has drawbacks. While it’s great to have it while we are on the go, these gigantic hard drives are being used as the primary data storage device, and they are not usually being backed up. It is still a good idea to make a local backup of your files, using whatever method you like. As anyone who has suffered a data loss due to a hard drive crash, and you’ll likely hear that they never backed it up. Think for a moment what would happen if you lost all of your data due to fire, theft, accidental erasure or mechanical failure. How much would you pay to get it back?

As early as the mid 1990s when the Internet was first gaining users, some people were storing there data online, though back then, it was not done as easily as it is done today. The process was complex and the communication lines were not usually that fast. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, several companies started to market space on the Internet that anyone could use to store files that would pay for access to the systems. This all came about because broadband access to the Internet became more available and people realized that it made sense to store files off site for a number of reasons.

In the 1990s the term “Application Service Providers” or ASP, referred to a company offering a product or service via the Internet or private network. In the mid 2000s that term became “Software As A Service” or SAAS. Now, in the late 2000s, the term is called “Cloud Computing”. Today, one look at Google and the way they deliver such valuable services such as e-mail (with storage) and online applications and you can see how many people are adopting the “Keep their data in the cloud” mentality.

For a period of time however, most users will want to keep their data on their home computers or at least, accessible to them while they are not connected to the Internet. It’s that wide mindset that folks who provide Internet backup solutions are banking on.

As time marches on, the cost of providing these types of services continues to drop, so more services like these will continue to join the market, and those that are available will be very feature rich and easy to use.

Some of the newest features that are appearing are online file sharing, in addition to the disk back or online file backup services. On the back end, the companies offering these services are leveraging new technologies such as data deduplication and compression in order to get the most out of their infrastructure investments. At some point in time, the data deduplication feature will be common on our desktop, notebook and Netbook computers. For reference, deduplication is simply the ability of the storage system to eliminate extra copies of the same file, thus saving space.

The cost of about $5.00 USD a month for an Personal Computer Internet Backup Solution is hard to beat today. That’s inexpensive insurance for data, and it’s an investment that’s well worth the cost for the peace of mind it provides.