Computers used to be a convenient aid to business. Now they’re a necessity, saving a great deal of time and money by allowing us to quickly communicate and handle large volumes of information. Think about all the critical business information your computer stores: customer lists, billing information, work orders, your financial accounts, and that list of people who still owe you money. What would you do if your computer crashed or was stolen or damaged in a fire?

The need to have backup copies of all your business files is obvious. A backup copy ensures your business will remain operational after a disaster instead of being out of commission for weeks while you try to reconstruct records.

There is no single solution to backing up information because individual situations are too different. You may have only one computer in a home office, while another business may have two trucks carrying laptops and a third computer back in the shop. Despite these differences, there are general points to consider.

Hard drives

The simplest solution is an external hard drive with a cost of about $100. Keep your business documents in a single folder on your computer, and at the end of every day, drag the folder onto the external hard drive. Click the button to replace all files, then unplug the palm-sized drive and take it home. If your shop and computer are destroyed by a tornado or fire, all your information is safe on the hard drive. If your house is damaged, information is secure on your office computer.

There are three problems with this method. First, backups must be done manually. Forget to make one, and your information is at risk. Second, you’ll still lose some information if your computer crashes. If your machine crashes just after lunch before you’ve done the daily backup, you’ll lose the billing information input during the morning. Third, if the business folder on your computer is large – for example if it contains a bunch of photos for brochures – that daily backup can take some time.

The next step up is dedicated backup software. You don’t have to remember to do the backups; they’re done for you automatically at set intervals. Also, backup software typically copies only files that have changed, so there’s little time involved.

Newer versions of Windows and Macintosh operating systems come with basic backup software built in. These and some third-party software options allow you to encrypt information. In other words, the information is scrambled and can be read only by people who know the password. The advantage is that a thief who breaks into your shop or house and steals your backup disk cannot plug it into another computer and read your information. Forget that encryption password, however, and your backup drive becomes a nice doorstop.

The problem with external drives is that you’re still vulnerable to loss of information even if you store the backup disk in a fireproof box. If a fire breaks out in your shop in the middle of the day, a backup drive connected to your computer will be lost. A tornado may take out your shop, your house, and also toss that fireproof box into the next county. You could settle this with two backup disks stored apart from each other. One day you use one disk, and the next day the other, and you are never more than a day behind.

The cloud

A better solution is storing your data very far away, for example on the east coast if you’re in the Midwest. This is the idea behind online backup services generally referred to as “the cloud.” The cloud is nothing more than a large array of computers located in a secure spot to which you connect via the Internet. In fact, if you use an online email service such as Gmail or Yahoo, you’re already using the cloud. Your messages are stored in a huge data center, and you call up messages on your computer or phone as needed.

Companies such as Mozy (www.mozy.com), Carbonite (www.carbonite.com), and IDrive (www.idrive.com) offer cloud storage. For the simplest home user they charge $5 to $10 a month for 125 or 150 gigabytes of data. Business plans cost more. In the case of Mozy, you can buy a license for each computer for $3.95 per month and also pay 50 cents per gigabyte of data. An IDrive business plan allows you to back up an unlimited number of computers with 500 gigabytes of storage for $49.95 monthly or $499.50 annually.

These companies typically offer custom backup software you install on your computer. The program finds files that have changed and uploads them to the remote storage center. To deter theft, make sure your information will be encrypted when sent to and stored on a company’s remote servers. Also, expect the initial backup to take quite a while as your data is uploaded over the Internet.

Online cloud storage has great benefits. You don’t have to worry about backup drive failure or replacement. This option offers another great perk: Information entered from a laptop or iPad in the truck can be available moments later to your office staff.

But the silver cloud has a dark lining. Among computer security experts, the consensus is information stored online will be compromised at some point. In the first few months of 2011, computer thieves stole personal information from Sony Corp. and Epsilon, a company that handles email marketing for firms like Citigroup and J.P. Morgan Chase.

Though online storage firms boast of their security, they are not immune to simple human error. Last year, the computer system was breached at RSA, a company that supplies the security codes to keep online bank transactions safe. Certain RSA employees apparently received an infected spreadsheet by email. Someone opened the spreadsheet, allowing malicious software to penetrate the company’s security system and let thieves in.

WEIGH THE OPTIONS

There are many backup options for your business files, and those options are likely to grow as technology advances. Think about your needs, what you store, and how much downtime your business could withstand from a major loss of data.

For specific information about online backup sites or software, consider well-regarded computer review sources like www.cnet.com or magazines such as PC and PC World.

Computers are wonderful and necessary, but they’re not failsafe. You may not pick the ideal backup solution right away, and your needs may change, but you should have something in place. You wouldn’t think of skimping on spare parts for your service trucks, and the information tucked out of sight inside your computer is just as critical to keeping your business running smoothly.