Modern Back Up & Recovery Is Here

Posted by Alec Hess

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We’re talking about your computer files here; not fixing a dumb comment you might make, or a driving mishap. If you use a computer, you need backup, so you can recover or restore lost or mistakenly deleted or altered files, images, correspondence, etc.  

It’s always vital for your business to be prepared in case its server goes down or a hard drive quits, or something else goes wrong. It’s as important as a phone or website. One hard drive failure can translate to delay, lost revenue, potential clients missed or lost, current customers angered and/or information gone or compromised.  

New Technology Within Reach: But today it’s easy to save vital info in multiple places so you’re always protected. Technically, backup and recovery is the process of protecting against digital data loss and reconstructing the data after any loss. It used to be that the best way to backup and recover digital info was to buy an extra hard drive or two and re-record everything from your hard drive onto it every day; sometimes every hour.

The newest innovation to backup and recovery is created by cloud computing, the ability to have a server in the “cloud” (or offsite) connected by the Internet that constantly records everything done on your computer(s) for later use or recovery. It has been increasingly adopted for backup and recovery by businesses, because of its ease of use and ability to restore your company info fast.  

You Have Options: In addition to using cloud based solutions, data can also be backed up in other ways, including hard disks, optical storage (CDs and DVDs) and solid state drives (flash drives, memory cards, SSD external hard drives). And there are tons of good software to help you make the job simple, automated, on any schedule you desire and foolproof. I guess you could use paper and pencil, too, but let’s not go there… To be really careful, your company may want to use the following plan.

Elements of a Fool Proof Backup Plan:

• List of scenarios: Different failure situations need to be analyzed and what systems will crash if this situation occurs.
• How much downtime can be tolerated without significant loss: Evaluate time each system can take being down. without experiencing fatal loss to the company.
• List of the most critical elements that need to be restored first: By comparing the downtime availability each system can take (from the step above), compile a list of the systems that need the most immediate attention in case of a system failure.
• Recovery Strategy: How data will be retrieved in each of the scenarios listed above.
• Who is doing what (when recovery is required): Responsibilities need to be delegated to ensure the most efficient recovery time.

Alec Hess is a marketer and small business expert as well as Principal of Full Voice Media and Vanguard Healthcare Products; and co-founder of BizSaves. His focus is on small business success and he has consulted, guided and advised many firms.
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More Great Articles For You:

Inc.com: Back Up Data Entrepreneur: Fifteen Backup Programs to Safeguard Your Data Forbes: Best Practices For Managing Big Data