Important of off-site backup
Any good computer system administrator knows the importance of backup. The best method of backup is off-site backup so eggs are put into different basket. If whole site is destroyed such as fire or earth quake, one can recover critical files from off-site backup. But cost and accessibility to backup were huge hurdles for small business. Google Drive removes these hurdles. Google gives up 15 GB for free. If one needs more, Google charges $1.99/month for up to 100 GB; $9.99/month for up to 1,000GB. See Google Storage plans for pricing information. These three options can full fill most small businesses’ need.
Steps to create an automatic backup with Google Drive
- Set up Google Drive on local file server. Example, Steps to set up Google Drive on a Windows XP machine
- Create individual backup program to move backup files to local Google Drive automatically. Example, File backup with 7Zip and batch file.
- Create a master backup batch file, which calls all individual backup programs:
REM Put all backup batch files here to run by Scheduled Task
CALL D:\Bin\G_Pictures_Backup.bat - Use Windows Scheduled Tasks interface to run master backup batch file periodically.
This is it. Initial backup to Google Drive takes about a week to complete for 60 GB of data. Administrator can monitor the progress by logging into Google Drive’s web interface.