Data Backup: Your Last Line of Defense
What’s the most valuable possession your business owns?
No, it’s not that new high-tech printer or super widescreen monitor.
One of the most valuable assets of a business, any business, is the data contained within their computers and throughout their network. Not a week goes by when we don’t hear about someone’s computer crashing and losing all of their hard work that was stored on it. With so much of our work being saved on computers, it’s imperative to start implementing a plan. Anything from an accidental delete to a system crash due to a virus could possibly wreak havoc on your system.
Everyone from sole proprietor laptop users to multi-national organizations should be concerned about data backup. Just ten years ago, IT organizations implemented sophisticated backup systems in order to restore data from hardware failures, or in the uncommon circumstance of a physical disaster. Today, the need for a secure data protection policy is even more essential because hardware failure is no longer the general scenario from which to recover. The most common reason for restoring data is due to logical corruption; specifically, computer viruses and/or application failure.
In addition to backing up data manually on tape drives, CDs, USB flash drives, even removable hard drives, there are a variety of online companies that also specialize in backup services for small businesses and stand-alone PC’s. Remotely backing up your files is your best bet against data loss because it protects your data both in the case of a local event (such as a fire or flood) and without any physical clutter. For an annual fee, online services will continuously back up your data whenever it is added or modified. Iron Mountain (ironmountain.com) and Carbonite (carbonite.com) are online services that encrypt your data and store it at secure backup centers. Whenever your PC is connected to the internet, these services will work silently in the background. The New York Times comments that “[Carbonite] is the easiest online backup software to use – in fact, not to use, since it’s completely automatic.” These services are ideal for small companies, traveling businessmen and women, and those who rely heavily on their computers. With the ease of remote online backup services, there’s no reason not to take the extra precaution against data loss.
Here are a few ideas to avoid the nightmare of data loss and sleep soundly knowing that your records are safe:
- The more important the data that is stored on the computer the greater the need is for backing up this data.
- A backup is only as useful as its associated restore strategy.
- Automated backup and scheduling are a must, as manual backups can be affected by human error.
Whatever system you choose, remember that backing up your files is easier than you think. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Once you have a backup strategy in place, make sure to test your process and the integrity of the data on your backup.
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