Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) across the world have embraced cloud computing in a significant way with more than 60% of SMB data now residing in the public cloud. But the sheer volume of data and the incredible velocity at which it’s being generated make it a critical need for businesses to safeguard against data disruptions.

Backups are a crucial element of every business’ data protection strategy. DigitalOcean Backups are automatically created disk images of Droplets, essentially copies of your DigitalOcean virtual machines that can be used to recover from the risk of data loss. Turning backups on for Droplets enables system-level backups which provides a way for users to revert to an older state or create new Droplets. We’re pleased to share that we have made powerful enhancements to DigitalOcean Backups that will enable SMBs to build better and more robust business continuity plans.

Frequent and fast Droplet backups with the flexibility you need

Here are some key features of enhanced backups that can help you protect your business data:

• Daily backups: Back up your Droplets every day to get the maximum protection for your critical workloads. DigitalOcean will automatically retain the most recent seven backup copies for you. We also offer weekly Droplet backups that are retained for four weeks.
• Fast backup and recovery powered by modern storage infrastructure: Experience up to 6.5x faster backups* via our new backup storage infrastructure that leverages incremental backup technology to back up only data that has changed.

• Configurable backup windows: Pick any four-hour window for your backups to be taken. You can recover your Droplet from your backup copy, along with any files, applications, or databases running on top of it.

Daily Droplet backups add an extra layer of data protection

Daily backups of your Droplet data are good for your business and good for your customers. Here’s why:

1. Align your data protection with the rhythm of your business. Data often follows business dynamics. As businesses grow, new transactions are added every day, new people join the business, more customers buy from the company, and that key business information is added to an ever-growing pool. Data protection has to match how your business actually runs, which is why flexible, daily backups are so useful for so many companies.

2. Stay ahead of data loss from security breaches. In a recent survey we conducted, 22% of SMBs mentioned data loss or data theft as their top concern about security. From credential stealing to phishing and many other forms of attacks, the fastest way to recover from a security incident is to have the latest backups handy so you can get your business back on its feet quickly.

3. Don’t let accidental deletion and user error deter you: From misconfigurations to confusingly similar Droplet names that get deleted accidentally or data lost during internal migrations, data disruptions can occur as part of day-to-day activities—but with daily backups, that risk is heavily mitigated.

4. Adhere to compliance needs better. With backups performed every day, it’s easier for growing digital businesses to stay in compliance with regulatory requirements for data protection.

5. Innovate without worries. SMBs are increasingly trying to get their products and services to market faster or innovate their existing solutions quicker. That means their applications, code base, configurations, and tech stack are evolving continuously—which opens the door for accidental data loss to become a huge headache. But not when you have daily backups as a safety net.

“The introduction of daily backups for DigitalOcean’s Droplet virtual machines is an important step for comprehensive data protection, enabling DigitalOcean on its path to becoming the cloud of choice for startups, ISVs & SMBs. This key enhancement positions DigitalOcean to not only deliver stronger data protection, but empowers businesses to recover from disruptions swiftly and provide more consistent and improved experiences for their customers.” - Dave McCarthy, Research Vice President, Cloud and Edge Infrastructure Services, IDC

Built for simplicity

DigitalOcean Backups are easy to set up, monitor, and manage from our cloud console.

Designed for customer success

Here’s how DigitalOcean Backups is helping our customers succeed:

“As a small business, DigitalOcean Backups just works and lets me sleep peacefully at night." - Stewart Flood, Founder, IVO Net LLC

“Daily backups help us keep a running repository of our data in our LMS so that anytime should we need to go back because of a failed LMS update, we will only ever have to go back 24 hours at the most, which is hugely beneficial considering that an LMS has data that’s changing and shifting on a daily basis.” - Steve Hampton, IT Client Support Specialist, Toccoa Falls College,

DigitalOcean Backups are perfect for businesses running their workloads on Droplets, but may not have extensive resources to implement sophisticated data backup strategies. It provides an easily configurable and automated solution to help ensure protection and availability of business-critical data.

Protect your data, protect your business

Daily Droplet backups is now available in SGP1, as well as NYC1, AMS3, NYC3, and SFO3, with availability in other data centers coming very soon. Daily Droplet backups are priced at 30% of the Droplet cost. Read more about backup pricing or contact our sales team.

Add daily backups to your Droplet workloads today to help protect your data!

*Actual backup speed gains and performance may vary depending on a variety of factors such as system configuration, I/O load, operating environment, and type of workloads.