Offsite backup is a necessity in today’s Internet. Backing up to a local disk is good, but it’s not enough by itself. Ransomware and physical disasters can hit a disk drive which is attached to a computer, making both of them useless at the same time.

Datto offers some of the most inventive and reliable backup technology in the business. Its geographically diverse data centers have over 200 petabytes of cloud backup storage. If we look at the factors that make up a strong, trustworthy backup service, Datto ranks well in all of them.

Range of services

Datto has backup services tailored for businesses of all sizes, using a hybrid cloud approach. It backs up both locally and to the Datto cloud.  Its ALTO 2, aimed at small businesses, uses a compact dedicated device to provide local backup and connect to the cloud service. It has a 1 terabyte capacity. Its larger relative, ALTO XL, can handle as much as 24 terabytes.

The SIRIS family offers backup of up to 60 terabytes with extremely high security. All encryption happens on the local device, combining the security of local backup with the safety of cloud backup.

Datto NAS is a Network Attached Storage system capable of holding up to 60 terabytes, with integrated local and cloud backup. It retains snapshots of documents in case it’s necessary to roll back to an older version.

Virtual SIRIS and Virtual ALTO are like the services already mentioned, but implemented in software without a separate physical device.

For cloud-to-cloud backup, Datto has Backupify. It backs up Office 365, Google Apps, Salesforce, and social media. The aim is to protect files against accidental or malicious deletion, not to guard against the unlikely meltdown of those services. Backupify was originally an independent business, which Datto acquired in 2014. This is a different flavor of backup from Datto’s main product line, and we won’t be discussing it further here.

Rapid recovery

If a system fails catastrophically, restoring it can be a tedious process. Datto’s ALTO and SIRIS enable fast recovery by backing up not just files but entire system images. In case of a disaster, they can create a virtual machine from the snapshot and have it running. ALTO and SIRIS offer hybrid virtualization; SIRIS also offers pure cloud virtualization. The result is almost no downtime, even in case of a disaster that knocks out the primary computer.

Verification

A backup isn’t much good if it doesn’t work. ALTO, Virtual SIRIS, and SIRIS 2 use “Screenshot Backup Verification” of system image backups. This consists of booting the system image as a virtual machine and taking a screenshot of the login screen. It notifies the administrator if the VM fails to boot.

Geographic distribution

A cloud backup service needs wide geographic distribution for maximum safety. Datto has data centers in Pennsylvania, Utah, Canada, the UK, and Australia. Customers have the option of selecting the physical location of their backup; sometimes this is necessary for legal reasons. It keeps its facilities guarded at all times, monitoring physical access with biometric scanning and logging of activity. Datto’s security practices follow the ISO 27000 and 27001 standards.

Data security

In addition to physical security, Datto follows high data security standards. It allows detailed access rules, so that customers can control access by IP address, geographic location, time, and other factors. All files are stored in strongly encrypted form.

Disaster recovery

Datto’s services are heavily oriented toward disaster recovery, which has stronger requirements than simple backup and restoration. Those who want a simple offsite file backup will find more straightforward approaches elsewhere. For those who need strong backup protection and can’t afford extended downtime in case of a disaster, Datto has a range of solutions for all business sizes.

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