Today is world data backup day…but you might want to consider setting a regular schedule for data backup more often than once a year!
Just last week I was working on my laptop when I smelled plastic burning, I just knew it was my laptop…and I rushed to do a data backup before it burst into flames. I felt like I was in a race against time, panicking over the thought of losing all my files, all our business documents, all my hard work. And I knew if I did, I would have no one to blame but myself because I didn’t do a data backup sooner.
As it turned out, it wasn’t my laptop burning but a faulty light bulb and I did get my files backed up in time. But it was a scary reminder…schedule to do data backup on a regular basis.
In what ways would your business be impacted if:
- Your offices were flooded.
- There was a fire in your building.
- An earthquake knocked over all your sensitive equipment.
- Someone breaks into your office and steals your company laptops.
- You lose a USB drive with company presentations on it.
- You accidentally delete your company personnel files.
- Your computer is infected with a virus making it impossible to access the files on it.
In all these ways your data could easily be compromised and inaccessible. How long would it be till you were operational again? The answer to that question may be another question – when was your last data backup? Do you have a data backup plan and schedule?
Some things to consider about backing up your data are whether to back up onsite or in the cloud or both. If you back up data onsite to another storage device, you would still run the risk of downtime in the event of a natural disaster, like fire or flood, or theft. If you back up on the cloud, you are relying on the cloud provider for security and to remain in business and operational. There are risks with either approach and that is why many companies are opting for a hybrid approach.
After you decide where you will store your backup data, you need to decide how often. According to TechRepulic,
Backup frequency, theoretically, should be a daily occurrence. Daily backups are considered “current” and will involve the least amount of recovery time since chances are the data is one day old at max.
But since that may not be feasible in real world situations, they suggest a 3-2-1 rule for data backup:
- 3 copies of data
- Stored on at least 2 devices
- With at least 1 copy offsite
Make the decision today to celebrate world data backup day – but do yourself and your business a favor, celebrate and backup often!
When you no longer need the data you have safely stored on data containing devices, contact us and we will make sure your data remains secure by properly destroying and recycling your unwanted devices.