How to Optimize Your Backup Speeds

Having a backup solution is always a smart idea. However, when that backup takes between weeks and months, there’s a problem. Often a user may not know what their backup speed is until they run it. To get rid of some of the guesswork, we’ve compiled some tips and explanations to help you get the fastest speed you can from your backup.

Two of the factors with the biggest effect on backup speeds are the amount of data being backed up, and the speed of your internet connection. Typically, based on the sheer amount of files being backed up, initial backups are likely to take the longest amount of time. This is the case for any backup of a large amount of data.

In addition to this, the global average of internet download speeds is twice the average speed of broadband upload speeds, according to the Speedtest Global Index. Broadband upload speeds are what backups are dependent on, and therefore, the reason backing up data can take a long amount of time.

When trying to get a faster backup, there’s little you can do about the speed offered by an online backup service. However, there are ways you can work around this issue. For one, you can look for a service with better infrastructure if unsatisfactory systems are causing the biggest impact on speed in your current backup service. Online backup solutions can better in terms of speed, but these services can also be more expensive.

Another option is to find an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider to integrate into your backup plan. This way, you have a strong infrastructure, as well as the ability to choose the location of your server.

Investing in local backup is also a strategy for backup speeds. When using this approach, you don’t have to transfer files over the internet, and therefore, do not have to worry about slow upload speeds. This method, however, is riskier than an online backup, as there is a higher possibility of your data being damaged. For that reason, it’s best to use an online backup in addition to a local one, in order to make your data more secure.

Finally, there is mirror-image backup. With this method, a snapshot of your whole hard drive, or group of files, is taken. This copy of your files is kept at its original size. No compression is used, so the time it takes to compress files, which slows down the backup process, is not needed.

Backing up data is necessary as a way to ensure that you will not experience data loss. The process does not have to take long, though. Options that work around slow internet speeds and large amounts of data are out there, and available for use.