It’s going to be one of those days today. You decide to come in early to catch up on your emails and other correspondence but when you boot up your computer, you are greeted with a serenade of ominous whining noises from your tower and the screen of your new LCD stares back at you with nothing but complete blackness. The dreaded computer crash has occurred!
It looks like you may have just lost your system disk to an inevitable hardware failure. It is a fact that every system disk (hard drive) has a normal lifespan, as do all of the other parts within your PC. What most people do not realize about their seemingly ageless PC or MAC is that it is always a question of when something will fail, not if something will fail.
OK, your system is relatively new and you feel comfortable that everything is going to work well for the foreseeable future. But did you foresee the actions of that temp employee that you had in yesterday who accidentally deleted the file with last month's receivables data? Or how about that power surge, lightning strike or some other “can’t-happen-to-you” disaster that is, without question, going to occur in your office some day? Are you prepared for any of those scenarios?
Yes, you reply out loud, becuase you are doing back-ups regularly which makes you well prepared for any disaster, right? Not really. When exactly was the last time you tested your backup system to see if it really worked? If the answer is never, you could be finding out about data loss and failed backups the hard way.
A well planned and automated backup strategy as well as scheduled testing of restores will save you both time and money when your computer or server fails or in the event that files are accidentally deleted.
Eventually, almost everyone faces a data disaster. The question is, are you ready? Unless all of your electronic files are expendable, you should be making backup copies of your most important data on a regular basis. Not to be a pessimist, but you should imagine the worst case scenario and do backups based on that premise. If you need information that is up to date as of an hour ago, then you should think about doing multiple backups per day. If you can live with yesterday’s information then a once a day backup should be sufficient. Whatever you requirements are, just remember that regular backups are as important as your data because it is going to cost you a lot of time and money when something goes horribly wrong and there is no backup available.
Lost computer files and hardware failures have cost many businesses weeks, months or even years of work. Hardware can fail, become damaged or even stolen. Files can be accidentally deleted or computer viruses can make them vanish. Having backup files available in the event of trouble could be the difference between your business staying open or having to shut down.
As to what files you need to backup regularly, critical files typically include banking and other financial records, inventory lists, electronic catalogs, customer data and marketing materials. There is nominal importance to backing up program files, such as office applications; so long as you have the originals CD’s available for reinstallation.
There are several ways to backup your data ranging from burning your files to a CD, to disk mirroring and automated tape backup systems. What is best for your business is really dictated by the amount of backup information required and how important those backups are toward keeping your business operational.
Depending on the amount and type of data you need to save, you may be comfortable with just a simple method of backing up such as floppies, zip drives or Cd’s. Keep in mind however, those type of backup media are fragile and could become damaged by heat, humidly or even dust. Businesses with mission critical data should consider a combination of disk mirroring, where files are written to two duplicate disks (hard drives) simultaneously, along with an automated tape backup system. This combination provides a very high degree of data integrity and will facilitate getting things back to normal as quickly and economically as possible.
And although a Zip disk costs much less than a tape drive, a single tape cartridge can hold as much as hundreds of Zip disks or thousands of floppies. And with a tape backup, there is less to physically store or transport from one site to another, further eliminating any possibility misplacement or theft of your backup media when they are not being used. Regardless of the methodology you choose, it is important to remember that no business is too new or too small to not require a well thought out backup plan.
And lastly, one very important aspect to consider when developing your backup plans is what degree of user intervention are you willing to tolerate? Are you willing to put the responsibility of your backups completing successfully in the hands of an airhead secretary by hoping that she remembers to insert the proper tape or disk everyday? Most business executives are not willing to take that risk and instead decide to implement a robotic tape library that will automatically changes tape everyday based on a predetermined schedule. Although that is an extreme solution as far as most companies are concerned, it can be completely justified financially when you consider just how much money your data is actually worth to your company.
Here are the top five essentials in developing your backup plan:
- Select the method or methods you will use to backup your data.
- Decide which files or data are critical to keeping your business operating.
- Perform a full backup at least once a week and backup any critical data daily to a removable device.
- Store your backups offsite - far enough away so a disaster won't strike both locations. You can also keep a full backup copy onsite.
- Test your ability to restore your files at least quarterly. In other words, make sure the backup systems really work. An easy way to accomplish this is to schedule frequent test restores of important files or folders and see if it actually works. Don't wait until it's too late to find that the restore process doesn't work.
Backing up your system can be boring and a time consuming task, especially if it is not automated. But like buying insurance, you risk jeopardizing your entire business without a proper backup solution in place that is regularly tested for reliability. The productivity and potential financial losses caused by a catastrophic system failure that lacks a good backup cannot be underestimated.
Jaydien Network Solution
Email Us: info@jaydien.com
Call Us: 877.561.6734
35 Beaverson Blvd, Suite 3A
Brick, NJ 08723
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment