Preserving Your Valuable Information

Without reliable backups your entire system could be lost in one foul swoop.

With properly planned and organized backups you’ll rarely lose an important file; have to re-type or recreate data or reinstall all your software from scratch; but most importantly, you’ll never have to say “oh no” and kick yourself after deleting something important.

Good backups won’t let you down and if your system becomes unstable or corrupted, they will allow you to easily restore a single file, or restore your entire system and bounce back to a pre-problem state.

But today, with software quickly gobbling up our hard drive space, the best backup solution is one that is customized for your individual needs. A backup system that doesn’t fit your style of working, or that takes too long, or is too expensive, or gives you any reason to avoid using it, is pretty well worthless. Create a backup system that you’ll use!

Answering who, what, where, when and why will help you to create a backup system ideal for you! You already know the “why” so let’s move onto the “who”.

Who
Assign the backup responsibility to a specific person. We often see smaller companies forgetting to assign this responsibility and only when things go wrong is it often addressed.

What
For disaster recovery purposes, attempt to backup the entire contents of all drives. When purchasing a new server or upgrading an existing server, be sure to consider a backup drive that will grow with you and meet your needs for the next 3-5 years.

If backup space is limited, a unique location, such as “MY DOCUMENTS”, should be specified on all workstations. If all documents, data & email were stored in this folder, it can then be redirected to the server for regular backups or to prevent data loss.

Where
All backups should be created and stored on media that can be removed from your facility. We recommend that you keep the latest backup(s) of your data in your local facility, then store an additional copy or even the previous backup in a remote location, (e.g. another building, offsite or even at home). You will need to cycle these tapes as necessary before and after each backup is done.

Any strategy that you adopt should be documented and a detailed log should accompany the backed up media. Your log should include; a list of data, the backup date and which media was used. If you take the time to create a detailed log, your backups will be much easier to work with should a recovery be necessary.

When

Data can be destroyed by system malfunction, accidents, disaster, or intentional means. A good backup cycle will allow data to be readily recovered as necessary. Systems that have mission critical data need to be backed up on a daily basis to minimize the exposure to loss of mission critical data.

A good backup cycle includes a daily, weekly, and monthly rotation (aka grandfather, father, son). This will provide the capability of going back to a set period of time, and recovering reasonably up-to-date data.
Backup routines can easily be automated with the right combination of hardware & software. For most companies these routines can be setup to run overnight during off-hours. For companies running 24x7, an open file agent can be used to allow for backups to be completed at any time.

How

a) Tape Backups: Tape backups are very popular. The tapes hold several gigabytes' worth of data, which means you could conduct a completely unattended backup of a large hard drive. Just plop a tape into the tape drive, start the backup process, and if set up correctly, you could walk away from the computer and let the backup complete on its own.

If you want to perform backups with tape, you need to use a backup program that is compatible with tape. For example, PowerQuest's Drive Image, and Avantrix Backup Plus, are not compatible with tape. However, many excellent backup programs, such as Veritas Backup Exec & Dantz Retrospect, are compatible with tape. Most tape units come with their own backup software.

b) Recordable CD's: Recordable and Rewritable CD's, otherwise known as CD-R and CD-RW, let you make your own CD-ROM disks, which you can use to store valuable data, or backup your hard drive. CD-R discs are sturdy, reliable, and extremely affordable.

One CD-R disk can hold up to 700 MB of data, and they are extremely inexpensive. This makes it extremely easy, and highly cost-efficient, to store or distribute large quantities of data, such as scanned images or sound files. You can even create your own audio CD's if you'd like.

CD-R disks store data, so you cannot erase data on them or record over them, like you can with Iomega Zip disks or floppy disks. So, if you make a mistake while recording a CD-R, you can't correct it. (You can, however, use software to test the disks before actually making them.)

However, with CD-RW disks, you can reuse them over and over. They hold either 650 or 700 MB of data, depending on the recording method you use and are a highly cost-effective investment

The actual CD-R and CD-RW units themselves are now very affordable. A super-fast, high-quality unit can cost under $100.00 these days.

In order to automate this process an additional software suite may be required.

c) Recordable DVD’s: DVDs can easily store as many as 7 CDs, you could back up 4.7GB to a single DVD. Using DVDs instead of CDs will speed up large backups considerably and will also greatly simplify storage.

A DVD-Writer can be purchased for under $300.00. In order to automate this process an additional software suite may be required.

d) Web-based Storage: With web-based storage, you can upload files you want to store, and they are housed permanently on these sites. Using one of these sites can be advantageous if you plan on being on the road. If you need a file, and forgot to bring it with you on a floppy or some other form of backup, you can simply access your storage space via the web and retrieve it.

These on-line storage sites are not intended for full backups. After all, you'd need to have Internet access to go to these sites, and that means your operating system and web browser would already have to be installed on your computer to do that. Therefore, on-line storage sites are designed more to be an extra means by which you can store valuable data.

e) Second Hard Drive: You can backup to a second hard drive on your computer. However, we do not advise backing up solely to a second hard drive. We believe that removable media stored in a secondary location is extremely important otherwise you’re limiting your protection.

For added peace of mind simply choose a backup system that will work best for you and commit to backing up your system on a regular basis.

We can never avoid all threats. Hackers, viruses, natural disasters or even theft can randomly hit us all. It’s so important to have an up-to-date backup system that will capture your critical information.

With properly planned and organized backups you’ll rarely lose.

Forvan Technology Services Inc would be pleased to help you create a backup strategy that can protect you. Please review our services or contact us today!