Last week’s power outage in the Los Angeles area left us frustrated. Two of the companies we use for web hosting were both down – even though both cost quite a bit, owing partly to their extensive battery backup systems. However, in both cases, their battery backup systems failed!

Which is not such a huge deal. Later in the afternoon, the sites came back on just fine, and after a few filesystem checks, we were up and running. But we got to thinking. Most of the websites we host are on MediaTemple, which offers backups of their systems for a reasonable fee. But what if something terrible happened to MediaTemple? Is it wise to trust them to handle both the hosting and the backups?

That’s where Strongspace comes in. Strongspace is a service offered by the good folks at TextDrive, specifically for the purpose of storing regular backups in a safe and secure environment. Turns out it’s much safer, more convenient, and more useful than the service that MediaTemple themselves offer! In fact, for the price we were paying to keep our hosted sites backed up, we are now able to keep all of the client work on the computers in our office backed up as well.

If you are a person who is reluctant to do backups, I urge you to think seriously about it. Particularly when such a secure and useful service as Strongspace is available for $8/month. Our firm insistence on regular backups may have saved our business once already!