Backup, backup, backup… Being told to backup does get a little tiring after a while, but the advice is about as solid as ‘don’t eat yellow snow’. Seriously, though, what do you have in place to protect and recover irreplaceable files from corruption, deletion or theft? We are always told to have a ‘plan b’, we would extend that to always have a backup plan (in both senses of the meaning). Over the last few years the damage to businesses in the UK due to flooding has been well reported and the cost is huge. In December 2015 there was around £5bn worth of damage. The building and stock may be insured but your data won’t be. You can insure data but a big difference between data backup and data insurance is that with insurance you don’t get the data back. The simplest way to ensure your data longevity is with an adequate data backup solution.
But how much backup is enough backup? How much do we really need? Here are the basic requirements of a robust data backup solution that is suitable for any business, large or small:
1. You should be able to retrieve data that doesn’t require full server restoration, such as individual files, folders and mailbox items that were deleted by accident.
2. For cases when the server has failed, lost data or has been corrupted you should have deeper recovery options available.
3. The solution should allow you to restore entire disk volumes and bare metal restores accurately and quickly in the event of a major server crash and fail. This could potentially save a lot of time compared to traditional backups when reinstalling the server’s operating system, data and settings.
4. When disasters cause the physical facility to be unusable, temporary access to data and applications from the backup solution should be available, while the office and server is ‘out of order’.
5. The backup should be situated in a separate location that is easily accessible, should a problem arise
These basic functions would give any business an adequate level of protection for their data. There are other more advanced features such as automation and incremental backups that would help with backup management. Many backup solutions may have this as standard on top of the basic features, but it’s always important to check what you are receiving.
Have peace of mind and backup your data!
