Proper business data backup strategies and costs

Why most small firms get backup wrong We see a shocking 63% of UK businesses lose critical data each year, yet only a fraction have a tested restore plan. The numbers change the conversation – it isn’t "if" you need a backup, it’s "when" and "how quickly" you can get back online. What are the realistic backup options? We usually narrow the field to four practical routes: External USB hard drive – plug‑and‑play, 1–5 TB drives from £50 to £120. Network‑attached storage (NAS) – a small rack you mount in the office, £200‑£600 for the box plus £100‑£150 per 4 TB drive. Cloud backup services – monthly fees of £5‑£15 per TB, e.g. Backblaze B2, Microsoft 365 backup, or Google Workspace. Hybrid (local + cloud) – combine a NAS with an automated cloud sync. How do they stack up on price, speed and safety? We ran the numbers on a typical 10‑user office with 5 TB of active data. External drive : upfront £100, no recurring cost. Recovery is as fast as the USB 3.0 link (about 100 MB/s). But if ransomware encrypts the drive, you lose everything – it’s a single point of failure. NAS : £500 for hardware and two 4 TB drives (RAID‑1 mirrors). Ongoing power ~£10/month. Restores over gigabit Ethernet hit ~120 MB/s, and RAID protects against a single drive death. You still need an off‑site copy for fire or theft. Cloud only : £75‑£150 per month for 5 TB, no hardware to manage. Recovery depends on internet speed – a 50 Mbps line pulls ~6 MB/s, meaning a full restore can take many hours. However, the