Regardless of the size of your business, you need to have a data storage solution that protects your data and acts as a backup in case your primary storage fails. Just take a minute to imagine how you would go about trying to recover if you suddenly lost all of the information stored on your business computer, and you’ll quickly realize the necessity of data storage. Consider a wide range of options, including both on-site and remote storage, and pick the one that best meets your small business’ needs.

Pros and Cons of On-Site Storage

Keeping your data on-site may seem like the smart choice, given that you feel like you have the most control over data there. In addition, making backups is easy when you can do them directly rather than having to rely on your connection speed to transfer lots of data.

However, if your computer is destroyed in a fire, flood or electrical surge, there’s a good chance the external hard drive plugged into it will be  destroyed  as well. Likewise, a theft or data breach on site may also affect data stored in your backups. Lastly, on-site storage means you won’t be able to access data if you’re away from the office.

Pros and Cons of Remote Storage

Many companies choose to use remote storage for their backups because of the reassurance of knowing that there is another copy of information stored outside of the office. Being able to set up shop somewhere else and retrieve all of your data from the off-site storage allows you to pick up where you left off as smoothly as possible after a disaster.

However, off-site storage also has its disadvantages. It tends to be more expensive because you’re paying someone else to manage your data. In addition, your upload speed when creating backups is only as fast as your web connection, which may be  restrictive  if your business is very data based.

Choosing the Right Type of Drive

Once you know where you’re storing the data, which for some businesses includes both on-site and off-site backups, you need to decide what type of drive to use. Although traditional spinning hard drives are the least expensive option, they aren’t necessarily the best choice for your data.

Many companies these days are turning to solid-state storage instead because the drives have no moving parts, which make them better in several key ways. In particular, writing and accessing the data is much faster because the drive doesn’t have to move to store and retrieve data. Solid state drives also tend to be more scalable so you can  easily add more flash storage later  if you need it.

Getting Started With Your Backups

Dragging your feet isn’t a wise choice when it comes to data storage. Today could be the day disaster strikes, and your business will be better positioned to recover if you have data storage in place. So, start now with the data storage solution that makes the most sense for your business trajectory and needs. Then from the IT side of things, set up automatic backups so you don’t have to add backing up your data to the list of things you or your staff have to manage on an ongoing basis.

About The Guest Author: Dawn Altnam lives and works in the Midwest, and she enjoys following the business tech world. After furthering her education, she has spent some time researching her interests and blogs about Pure Storage often.