Backup software that supports FTP address as destination

[savas]

Backup software typically uses a local drive or a network drive as a destination; however some support FTP locations and sites as destinations. All you need to do is enter the FTP address, user name and password. But is it that simple?


There are many pitfalls when dealing with FTP servers, especially when you have no control over the server:

• Some FTP servers can't handle deep paths over a certain (variable) limit
  
• Some FTP servers can't handle certain characters
  
• Some FTP servers limit the maximum file size
  
• Some FTP services do not allow that you use their service for backups, due to large bandwidth use
  
• Depending on where the service is hosted, you may be charged for restores (downstream bandwidth) but not for uploads.
  
• What happens when the link breaks in the middle of a upload or download? Does the backup tool start from scratch?
  
• Does the tool allow multiple files to be processed simultaneously
  
• etc.
  

It's generally best to use a backup tool that is specialized on both ends of the communication. I recommend BackupChain for this type of backup because it includes a secure FTP server as well, that you can use at the receiving site. However, even if you already have an FTP server that you plan to use, BackupChain still handles all the peculiarities of FTP transfers on the client side.
BackupChain can be configured to work with a wide range of FTP servers out there and handles FTP very differently from regular backups, due to the major differences between long-distance and local transmissions of backup data.
One major advantage of having BackupChain's secure FTP server as the receiver, is that it permits server-side scanning of file server data. This is an enormous time saver because it eliminates 100% of all folder requests. The entire transmission then contains just uploads of new data. If you have ever backed up a huge file server data you will have noticed that 99% of the time is wasted just looking for file changes. With server-side scanning, all that time is cut from each backup cycle, and this probably means backups will be many hours shorter than with other solutions.

Hope this helps!