Which cloud backup software to choose?

By Anaraya Albornoz

Published: 28 April 2025

The purpose of cloud backup is to allow data to be recovered in the event of events that prevent it from being accessible, such as loss or damage.

Backup solutions are designed to create a copy of the information on your computer system. Data loss can be due to a variety of causes, so there are different solutions to deal with different causes.

To find out more about data recovery, cloud storage and service providers, read on in this article.

See all software Backup

What is cloud backup?

Cloud backup applies to both active data (files that employees work on on a daily basis) and inactive data (fixed data).

The backup is inactive, i.e. it does not need to be edited. It is a copy of the information that is in production. In other words, if the backup is lost after a manipulation, voluntary or not, the company would not be adversely affected in its day-to-day business, as it retains the active data.

In general, the useful life of a backup is at least one year. Beyond this period, we are talking about storage.

Why automatic backup?

The loss of your company's information can be a catastrophe for your organisation. If you have no means of saving and restoring your data, you could suffer the consequences of this loss. This could be annoying and distressing for you and your team. A backup allows you to store and create backups automatically and securely.

What are the causes that can lead to the loss of your data?

The causes can be:

Natural causes: a fire or flood can damage or completely wipe out all your computer data and hard drives.
Human causes: this has undoubtedly happened to many people. An unfortunate manipulation, a recording in a place we can't find, emptying the trash bin containing an important file... human error is common and unpredictable. It is better to be able to deal quickly with these circumstances by using a backup solution.
Causes of material failure: natural wear and tear or poor quality hardware can cause your NAS server or computer to play a dirty trick on you.

What is cloud backup software?

Data backup software guarantees the perpetuity of your data and the ability to recover all your company's information.

It is practically indispensable for your IT system, as it prevents your accounting, customer files, budgets and invoices from disappearing completely. It preserves your company's memory and is an effective answer to an urgent need.

What are the backup software solutions?

To mitigate a possible failure of your computer system, choose an effective backup software.

Internal backup: this involves making a copy of your data on another storage device such as a computer, a USB stick, an external hard disk (compressing the files in .zip format to optimise space) or on another server (using an FTP server to transfer the files). But this solution remains problematic if you want to deal with a flood or fire problem.
Offsite backup: this involves saving your data in the cloud. Your disk image is located on a remote server. The data is, of course, protected by encryption to ensure the integrity of your company's information.
It is easily accessible from any computer and can be easily retrieved with just a few clicks. The other advantage of a backup software in SaaS mode is that it does not depend on the type of operating system (Windows XP, Vista...) and has no compatibility problems.

Types of backups

Backup software offers several types of automatic backup and you can define them at the time of installation or later.

1. The full backup

The backup synchronisation programme will make a full backup of all your data each time. This is a more complete copy of your data, but it is also heavier and therefore requires more storage space. However, it allows you to find a change based on the date it was made and may correspond to an archiving solution.

2. Incremental backup (incremental backup)

The backup software records only the changes that have been made since the last time a backup was made. The backup is faster and does not require as much storage space. However, this type of backup generates some errors a little more often.

3. Differential backup (differential backup)

Records only the files that have changed since the last full backup was made. We can forget the puzzle of incremental backup. It is more reliable, but longer.

4. The delta backup

This is a backup of certain predefined items and some other information. It is very fast, but cannot be effective for a company that frequently modifies its files.

Better security services in the cloud

In the professional context, the challenges associated with data backup do not tolerate any kind of amateurism. Moreover, their needs in terms of volume and number of users require specific solutions. Online backup, with its advantages in terms of accessibility, sharing and security, is a perfect solution for businesses. However, to operate in a secure and trouble-free IT environment, it is necessary to address stakeholders who are committed to both service and data reversibility.

1. Acronis

Acronis is not only a backup service, but a more general data protection service. Although it offers many functionalities, it is characterised by its user-friendliness. The programme's functions are therefore backup, synchronisation, sharing, disaster recovery and file authentication. Native integration with tools such as Odin, Plesk, HostBIll, etc.

2. GoodSync

GoodSync also enjoys a worldwide reputation. It is extremely flexible and adaptable to various platforms and solutions. In fact, it is compatible with the main desktop and mobile operating systems (Linux, Windows, Mac, Android OS) and with the main clouds on the market. Among its most outstanding features: bandwidth availability, automatic backup, real-time and bulk data transfer and much more.

3. Openbackup

Openbackup emphasises the smoothness of backup processes so as not to disrupt or compromise the work of employees. The software ensures that bandwidth is not saturated by doing its work in the background. The website thus guarantees high availability for all its items.

4. ShareFile

ShareFile by Citrix automatically performs incremental backups with version control. These cover all content associated with fixed workstations. The provider commits to a data loss insurance and an SLA of more than 99.5%.

5. Uranium

Uranium is a solid and reliable backup service that has developed a reputation over the years and has had the opportunity to grow. It is a complete solution that can back up a multitude of files (from classic folders to virtual machines) to different types of storage such as hard disk, NAS, server and cloud. Made in Italy, it is now available in 100 countries and 13 languages.