The answer is yes. It will always be yes.
We will probably be hearing phrases like ‘backup your data regularly to make sure important files don’t get lost’ for quite some time into the future – in many different contexts also, whether its your mobile phone, personal computer or data on your server.
There’s a difference between making sure your data is secure and making sure your data is backed up. The former is about keeping your data protected from prying eyes whereas the latter is about preparing for that worst case scenario we all dread.
This year alone we’ve seen a number of high profile cases where cyber attacks have grounded major corporations (the WannaCry ransomware virus affected more than 200,000 organisations in 150 countries).
Having a robust working backup – you’ll be surprised at the number of times a backup has failed – in place will help get your own business back up and running in the shortest time possible if and when something went wrong.
But how much data should be backed up with a good solution, you ask?
- You should be able to retrieve data that doesn’t need full server restoration
- Should allow you to restore entire disk volumes and bare metal restores accurately and quickly
- Temporary access to data and applications from the backup solution should be available
- The backup should be situated in a separate location to your ‘HQ’ that’s also easily accessible
This is the minimum you should be aiming for if you want a decent level of ‘worst case scenario protection’ for your business. Of course, there are more advanced features you could add on top of this such as automation and incremental backups which just makes life a bit easier in terms of managing it all.
Should you be considering a professional data backup solution?
Security – if you’re concerned about your data being kept in an external location away from your own eyes, you can take comfort in the knowledge that everything will be purpose-built to keep all your data safe.
Cost – the fact of the matter is that a professional solution to anything will always be more expensive than the ‘do it yourself’ approach. However, you’ll need to put a value on the use of your time to do this and whether you can afford to be without proper backup measures.
Reliability – the world is an unpredictable place. Hardware can fail. The backup can fail. And that’s why a professional solution will have backups of the backups.
However, if you’re not sure about what level of recovery protection you need or just want a bit of friendly advice around all this backup malarkey, feel free to get in touch and we’d be more than happy to help!
Backup your data regularly to make sure important files don’t get lost.
