Did you know that research (Contingency Planning Research & Strategic Research Corporation) has found that 43% of companies that suffer large-scale data loss due to disasters never re-open and 29% close within two years? I don't know about you, but that's startling news... especially since this data is nothing more than just a bunch of 1's and 0's. But all those 1's and 0's are the lifeblood of today's modern business. Let's face it, today's major data loss is yesterday's record keeping paper fire.
A simple way to prevent major downtime, or even bankruptcy, is through data backups. There are two different types of backups. Local and remote. Let's talk about local backups.
First, I'm going to tell you flat out that backing up remotely (cloud backup) is better in almost every way than backing up locally. But there are advantages to backing up local.
Backing up locally is something that can offer some benefits over remote backups. Your able to backup to media, such as DVDs or an eternal hard drive. In addition to having a way to back up media off your computer, a benefit is that you can then use your backup media for other purposes, such as easily transferring to another computer or sharing media with clients or colleagues. It's also a great way to create a sort of "revision" system in case some of your data changes, you can go back to old backups containing an older version of a file to access it (not always the case with remote backups).
Architect Real World Example
An architect had me setup a local backup system for him, and my recommended method of backup for him was to data DVDs. Almost a year went by since I taught him how to do weekly backup of his files himself. A client he had been working with on a project for the past few months came to him and said his company had changed its mind on some changes to a project and they needed the project to incorporate parts back into the project. The problem was that the project files changed so much since then, that it would set the project so far back that the deadline would be missed and the architect wouldn't get paid for his firm's months of work.
"It saved him month's worth of work."
The solution? Because I had shown the architect how to date, name and backup files in a certain way, he was able to drive down to the offsite location, find the DVD dated around the time his client needed data from the project and incorporate those changes into the current version of the project. It saved him month's worth of work. That's something that isn't available with a "update and replace" remote backup system.
Disaster Risk
Working with local backups, however, isn't as safe as using a remote backup system. You can backup your data to an external hard drive, or to DVDs, and that will prevent you from losing data if your hard drive dies. But, if you have some kind of disaster, such as burglary or a fire, and you keep your backups in the same location, your backups can be gone just like your computer.
Because of this unfortunately fact of digital life, I recommend that my clients keep their backups off site, such as moving DVD backups home, to a second office location or even to mail them out either once per week or once per month at the latest. Disaster can strike at your off site location and destroy your backup, but the odds of something happening to the data from your computer at the same time are extremely rare.
So backing up using an off site system is generally considered safe. Well, as safe as your latest backup that you've sent to your off site location. Problem is, though, especially for businesses, is about the data lost in between backups or in between sending a backup to an offsite location. Even if you are backing up your data offsite, there has to be a delay from the moment data is created to the moment that your data is backed up or put offsite. During those times, losing that recently created data can be just as devastating to you as losing older data.
Public Records Real World Example
A client of mine requested my services for social media consultation. They had me teach their employees exactly what Twitter was, how to use it to promote the company and, most importantly, how not to waste time or energy with Twitter. After my consultation and training was done, I spoke to my client about their backup system. I mentioned that I saw their main computer using an old school (meaning outdated) tape backup for their backup system. I asked if this was their only backup method, which they said it was, setup and maintained by a big IT firm they use. I mentioned the cons of not having either a local offsite backup or remote backup, illustrating thief or fire disaster destroying their data, but they trusted their IT firm and left it at that.
Three months later, I receive a phone call from them. They mentioned there had been a disaster, but this wasn't from fire or anything as dramatic as that. This came from a faulty surge protector and, being in Florida, got hit by a surge during a rain storm. Without getting too detailed, their tape backup stopped backup data unknowingly and when their hard drive completely died a month later, they discovered a month's worth of records were now lost. Their IT firm informed them there was no way for them to retrieve the data because the hard drive wouldn't even power on.
" It took them weeks to get only some of their data back and it costs them $2,300."
They were contacting me to see if I could recover the data. I had to inform them that the only way to retrieve those lost records on the hard drive was to send the dead hard drive out to a data recovery company that, in a vacume sealed, dust free room wearing "bunny suits", would take their hard drive apart and try to recover their data. It took them weeks to get only some of their data back and it costs them $2,300.
From that point on, they abandoned their tape backup system (and their IT firm) and went with my recommendations of remote backup, Mozy, a "cloud service", and also opted for a local backup solution of backing up data once a week to a DVD (encrypting the files for security) and storing them offsite. Now their data is backed up automatically to the cloud.
Two (Hard Drive) Heads Are Better Than One
For my clients, I recommend going both routes. Doing a local backup (offsite optional) and doing a remote (cloud) backup so that you aren't putting all your eggs (or data) in one basket. But this backup process should be easy and simple to use, because after all, you need to focus on what you use your computer for and not about backing up your data. Get in touch with me and tell me about your needs. I can work with you on how to safeguard your data while keeping this process as simple as possible for you.