Guides Data Recovery

The Seven Golden Rules Of Data Backups

Backups of company data are carried out for two main reasons. The first is to cater for those times when a document is inadvertently deleted or damaged and you wish to recover the original document; the second is as part of a disaster recovery plan in case something catastrophic happens to your computers (e.g., victims of a fire or theft).

Backups cost time, money and effort to implement, and they are of no value right up until the time you need them. This means they tend to be given a low priority, but ultimately they may easily represent the difference between your business surviving and failing. In this TipSheet, we look at the most common mistakes businesses make with backups.

1. Backup often

Re-entering data is tedious and frustrating. Backing up your company data once a week means that the most you should ever have to re-input is one week’s worth Backing up your company data once a day means the most you should ever have to re-input is one day’s worth. Frequent backups lessen the impact of data loss.

2. Don’t keep any volatile data on desktop PCs

In many organisations, documents are kept on the hard drive of desktop PCs. It is unlikely that this is backed up regularly, if at all. A PC can easily be replaced: last week’s quotations may not be so easy to replace. In particular, check that email is not stored on the local hard drive (this is very common in small to medium size businesses). All documents, spreadsheets, email, etc should be kept on a central server, which is in turn backed up regularly.

3. Automate the backup process

Backups are tedious to do. At 6:30pm, most people would prefer to set off home or join colleagues in the bar rather than stay in the office to find the correct tape and start a backup. Automating tedious tasks means they get done.

4. Monitor the backup process

While automating backups is a good idea, do check that they are running correctly. Make sure new files are being backed up; make sure the files of new users are being backed up. A quick check once a week could avert a much more serious problem later.

5. Keep backups offsite

If your business premises suffer a fire or flood, it is likely that backup media will be lost as well. Fireproof safes only protect media for a given time, typically one hour - if you use one, check the manufacturer’s specification. If you always keep your backup tape in the server then when it is stolen the thief will probably throw the tape away. It’s worth nothing to him, but it could represent bankruptcy to you.

6. Produce a “backup recovery” manual

A major disaster is not the time to try to remember how to recover data from your backup media. Have an idiot-proof, step-by-step procedure written - with a copy stored off-site - detailing how to reinstate your company data.

7. Test the recovery procedure periodically

Without warning, give the backup recovery manual to a member of staff and see how long it takes them to recover data. Many organisations never do this! No one involved with creating the manual or the backups themselves should be involved in the test. The results of the test should be analysed and the manual updated accordingly. A recovery test should be carried out at least twice a year. This proves both that the backups themselves are usable, and that your organisation understands how to use them if necessary.

About The Author

Keith Edmunds has been helping companies get the most from their IT investment for over twenty years. He is the Managing Director of Tiger Computing Ltd (http://www.tiger-computing.co.uk) and may be contacted at keith.edmunds@tiger-computing.co.uk

Tags: disaster planning, backups, data protection, disaster recovery, data backups, software, backup software

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Backups Required for Your Online Business

Your on-line business cannot afford a feeling like this in your stomach

Have you ever experienced that terrible feeling in the pit of your stomach? You know the one. The one you hope is just a mistake. Nah, that couldn’t really be happening to me. This only happens to the other guy. Not me.

Well it is happening to you. You just got a Windows blue screen. No, this is not your typical Application Error blue screen. This blue screen makes reference to “unable to find boot sector” or “failure writing to default drive” or some other ominous message then makes your body shutter, because you just lost your hard drive.

If you are like most people, you have little to no backup available. If you run an on-line business, this can be the “kiss of death” or at least a major financial set back.

This scenario happened to me recently. Well almost. I was lucky because my hard drive failed over a 2-day period so I was able to frantically start backing up data before the drive completely failed. I was sweating bullets before I got done. I did manage to recover about 85% of my data before the drive completely died.

Well, once I got a replacement drive in place, I vowed to not get in that situation again. I put a very simple (and cheap) backup process in place, which I recommend you do to - especially if you rely on your computer for income.

First get an external USB hard drive that is at least as large as your computer’s hard drive. Preferably one that is 2 to 3 times larger than your computer’s hard drive. Depending on the size, they can run from about $75 to $300. If you watch the ads for your local computer stores you can find some great deals especially when a rebate is involved.

Next you need a simple backup up tool. I use a very cheap program called Ez-Back-It Up. I picked this program for several reasons: It was cheap, it would backup just changes, it didn’t use a proprietary format (Windows Explorer could access the backed up files), it was easily configurable, and it had a built in scheduler. What more would I need?

So I hooked the external drive to my computer, installed the backup software, and did a little configuration. Since I have most of my programs save data in the My Documents folder I only had to select a couple data directories to backup (My Documents, Favorites, and Outlook). I scheduled it to run every night at 4 AM and I now have regular backups. The most I can lose now is a day’s worth of data. If I need to, I could have the backup run several times a day and even cut this window down.

So in just a few minutes, I’ve created a system that will pretty much prevent that ugly feeling out of my stomach.

Gary R. Ferguson is a writer, publisher, and on-line marketer who publishes the Only One Page Newsletter available at http://www.onlyonepage.com and also the recently released ebook Hypnotic Auctions at http://www.hypnoticauctions.com

Tags: Backup Software, PC Backup, PC Protection

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Backup Software

Creating a backup for the data in a computer or any electronic storage device is very important. Most equipment, including personal computers, have a good chance of “crashing,” which is the failure of the hard disk on which the data is stored. When a hard disk crashes, all the data is inevitably lost.

This possible loss is the main reason for creating backups of the data that we have and that we are likely to use sometime in the future. The frequency of backup creation depends on the usage level of the system, the kinds of files stored, the frequency of changes made to the data, and the importance of the data. Some people store a lot of files on their computers and keep adding new ones continuously. Such people need a daily or even an hourly backup.

There are different kinds of backups: full backup (creates backup for every file and folder in the system); incremental backup (only the changes are copied); unattended backup (the backup can be programmed to take place at a certain time without the active participation of the user); archive or disk image (option to create backup for just files or the whole disk); differential backup (creates backup for only changed files and newer versions of the files); and snapshot backup.

Backups can be made into a whole lot of different devices: compact disks, DVDs, floppy disks, tapes, printouts, removable hard disks, online servers, and so on. Backups can also be made into fixed media like another part of the hard disk or to another computer on the same network. Each of these has different capacities, security limits, conveniences, and risks. It is advisable to back up into more than one media for reducing risk.

The main criteria to be considered while purchasing a backup software program are the ease of operation, ability to backup without continuous monitoring, ability to handle different backup formats like hard disks and CDs, ability to restore with minimum errors, easy accessibility to backup files, ability to have different compression levels for different kinds of files, ability to backup over FTP, USB drives and networks, and ability to verify whether the files have been saved well.

There are several kinds of backup software available today. Some of the best programs include the Genie Backup Manager, NTI BackupNow!, Novastor NovaBackup, Handy Backup, Double Image, ABC Backup, Absolute Backup, Active Backup Expert, Advanced Backup, AKG Backup, Argentum Software, Avail Solutions, BackRex Backup, Backup Buddy, Data Sheriff, Disk2disk and several others. There are also free downloadable backup software programs such as TaskZip, EZBack-it-up, SyncBack, IceMirror, Version, Freebyte, Back4Win, MOB, My Own Backup, Workgroup, Simply Safe, and many more. Most of these software packages come with many other advanced functions such as password protection, restoring damaged backups, filtering of files and storing them accordingly, compression capabilities and several others. Backup software can be downloaded for free from the Internet. Some advanced software programs have to be purchased.

Backup Software provides detailed information on Backup Software, CD ROM Backup Software, Free Backup Software, Computer Backup Software and more. Backup Software is affiliated with Network Status Monitoring Software.

Tags: Free Backup Software, CD ROM Backup Software, Computer Backup Software, Backup Software

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