There is nothing like that Uh OH moment is it? You know, the feeling you get when the lights flicker, your computer system crashes and you wonder if your backup system is working. You begin to panic. Do you have a backup of the last month’s sales data… or your accounting transactions? Or your payroll system? Or your entire CRM system? Or your… (you get the idea).
No matter what size business you manage or what business you are in, regularly backing up data is critical. Without it, it could take thousands of dollars to recoup the information, or worse, you could lose your business. (One study reports it takes 19 days and $17,000 to retype 20 megabytes of sales data; retrieval of accounting data was even more costly.*)
Today, businesses typically use an in-house system that backs up to some type of media (e.g. USB Drives, NAS, tape) or a cloud-based backup system. It is becoming increasingly popular to use a hybrid of onsite and cloud-based backup solutions. Consider the amount of data you have to backup and how crucial it is to your business before determining which option is best for you. No matter which you choose, TEST YOUR BACKUP MONTHLY! You never want your first restore to be in an emergency.
Traditional or In-house Backup Systems
This type of backup strategy places server data to media (i.e. USB Hard Drive) located onsite. If you use this system, we recommend you backup nightly and use a well-known and well-supported software program like Symantec System State Recovery. This is not an area you want to look for a free or custom solution. Consider using a software that creates an image of your server. This will allow you to restore a single file, but more importantly in the event of a server failure, that image can be used to get you back up and running in a matter of hours versus days.
Your backup storage should be rotated offsite regularly should a catastrophe strike your office. How critical your data is to your business will determine how often the media is rotated (daily vs. weekly). Consider hiring a company to come in and pick up your “old” media and drop off the most current to ensure it’s actually going offsite.
Cloud Backup Systems
As we mentioned in our article “Should we move to the cloud?”, cloud computing is a catch-all term for services like hosted email and hosted applications where you don’t need to know the physical location of the servers. The servers are not in your office; they reside in a datacenter across the country. They are “in the cloud” because you connect to them via the Internet.
Consider backing up super critical data, like accounting information, business applications and/or HR files to a cloud-based solution. In a cloud-based backup system, your data is encrypted before it leaves your network server, then it is sent over the Internet where the previous 30 days’ worth of backups “sit”. You choose how often your data is backed up. For cloud-based backup we recommend Mozy Pro.
Cloud backup systems have many advantages. Cost is based on how much data is backed up and can become expensive if you have a large amount of data. Need more information? Call 804.553.2456 or email [email protected] today. We can help you determine what will work best for you.
*Source: Protect-data.com
Protect your business!
One study reports hardware malfunctions cause businesses the most pain with data loss due to human error next. Make sure you test your backup your system monthly to avoid these Uh OH moments.
Description: DataLoss