Backup Best Practices

Your business is relying more and more on computers all the time.  While the hardware and the software you use are important, it is your business’ specific data that is most important (i.e. Word/Excel documents, financial records, email communications, etc.).  We all know that sometimes computers fail or files are mistakenly deleted through human error, so having good backups of your crucial data is necessary for your business.  In addition company policies and government mandates may require specific guidelines for your backup strategy. 

To determine the best technology and methodology for your business continuity you need to answer some basic questions. 

What?

• What do you need to have backups of in case of a hardware failure, human error, or a disaster?
• If your office building where to burn up with all of your computer equipment inside, what data would you need to continue to stay in business?
• If there are documents, email, or other data that you rely on and couldn’t be without that is what you need to back up. 

Where?

• Where do you keep your backups?  (i.e. in the same building, in a fire-proof safe, off-site, etc.)
• Many corporate policies or legal stipulations require some businesses to store data off-site.
• Storing your backups off-site would prove to be the wisest choice if there were to be a fire or flood or other disaster at your office.

When?

• How often should backups be taken?  (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly)
• For most businesses a daily or weekly backup should be sufficient.  Keep in mind that when you would have to restore your backup you would recover from the most recent backup which depends on your backup schedule.

You may wish to consider other factors for your backup strategy, but carefully answering these three basic questions will help you implement your backup plan or re-evaluate your current backup plan.

The type and amount of data you plan to backup, the location you plan to store your backups, and the regularity of your backups helps you determine the type of technology you should use.  You will want a technology that is not only cost-effective, but also simple to setup and require minimal intervention (“set it and forget it”). 

That’s why VOLstate recommends DataStash: our online remote secure backup product.  DataStash sends a daily encrypted remote backup to our servers which store incremental backups of your data. Because DataStash is done over the Internet, your backups are automatically stored remotely.  If you would like assistance in developing and implement your backup plan please contact us at help@volstate.net or 423.775.7700.  For more information on our DataStash product please visit our website www.datastash.com. 

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