With advancements in cloud computing, disaster recovery (DR) has become more efficient and affordable than ever. But many business owners still cling to some DR myths that can safely be debunked. Here are three of those myths, and the sooner you stop believing them, the better.
Myth 1: Tape backups are the best DR solution
Tape backups are physical objects that deteriorate over time. Try listening to a cassette tape from the ’90s. Its sound may be distorted already or does not work at all. Similarly, your tape backups will start to fail as the years go by. At first, only a few files will be affected, but you may gradually lose all your data.
Unlike tape backups, cloud-based backups are safe from deterioration. They are also stored in multiple secured locations that are protected from natural disasters. This means your data backups are as safe as they can be.
Moreover, cloud-based backups save you time in several ways. Data is automatically backed up online, so you do not need to manually copy information onto your tapes.
Myth 2: The RTOs you want are too expensive
Essential to any DR plan are recovery time objectives (RTOs), or the ideal length of time needed to get everything up and running again to avoid serious losses. Before the cloud, a “swift” recovery time would take days and cost up to six figures.
Cloud and virtualization solutions have made this much more affordable and faster than ever before. Most DR providers can back up your critical data in an hour or two. And if you ever need to recover data, most services can do so in less than a day and at competitive rates.