This article will describe and explain several terms as cloud storage, cloud backup and how are they used. The term Cloud Backup is referring to uploading your data to a site like Carbonite, Mozy, Amazon S3, Google Drive, Azure, Amazon, One Drive, Box or Dropbox, HiDrive. Fueled by affordable bandwidth and capacity optimization technologies, cloud-based backup became a popular alternative to portable media.
What is Cloud Storage
Cloud Storage is a storage solution for the Internet. Cloud Storage Service Provider will have a cluster of highly scalable servers with simple web services interface that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data, at any time, from anywhere on the web. In simple terms, Cloud Storage, from an end user perspective is an unlimited amount of online disk space that is secure, inexpensive, highly available (mostly) to store/backup/restore data from PCs, Laptops and Servers.
How are they used
There are currently two popular approaches to cloud backup: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and cloud storage services. As an alternative to on-premise software and secondary storage, backup SaaS is a Web-native application hosted and operated at a central location and accessed via a browser-based interface. It is typically characterized as having a multi-tenant architecture (i.e., a shared, scalable infrastructure that keeps data virtually separated) and a utility pricing model. Lightweight agents residing on the systems to be protected pass data at the primary site to the cloud.
Cloud storage services are a hybrid of on- and off-premise components. For backup, the IT organization has on-premise control of software and, optionally, hardware, coupled with leveraging off-premise services or infrastructure (massive data centers housing powerful computer, network and storage resources). Cloud backup services are charged back to the customer on a consumption basis based on capacity, bandwidth or seat.
Every cloud has a silver lining, and in the case of cloud-based backup, there are several benefits. Both cloud approaches are convenient because the information can be accessed from any Internet-connected device; information can be more easily shared; it has built-in security; and digital information is easier to manage, search, retrieve and transfer.
Since version 6, Backup4all has support for 42+ cloud backup destinations (i.e. Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon S3, Azure, Google Cloud Storage, Box, HiDrive and multiple S3 compatible clouds).