Backup for Small Business: The Basics

Plan your backup IT strategy with these tips. All Covered provides backup and disaster data recovery consulting and services for small business nationwide.

Data Loss - An Inevitable Event

Tomorrow, next week, six months, next year—it will happen.  Your organization will experience data loss from a server or from an individual’s computer.  Are you prepared for that event?  According to American Data Recovery:

• U.S. businesses lose over $12 billion per year because of data loss.
• Hardware or system failure accounts for 78% of all data loss.
• Human error accounts for 11% of all data loss.
• 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down within 6 months of the disaster.

All companies are aware that they need to backup critical data, but often they are not aware that poor configuration and maintenance or incomplete procedures and policies can lead to huge costs, both in expense and time, associated with recovering lost data.  According to a recent article by Johanna Ambrosio, in IT World.com, “…I’d wager that most medium-size and smaller businesses do not do regular backups.  All this is going to change in the next year or two. Given regulatory requirements, and the overall emphasis on security in our society as a whole, even the smallest businesses can no longer afford to ignore backup.”

Here are four key areas that all companies should think about when backing up and recovering data.

1. What Data Should be Backed Up?

The most critical information in the organization is where every company should start.  This is usually information such as accounting and finance data, email, manufacturing and production (ERP), clients and prospects (CRM), HR, project plans, or drawings, schematics and artwork.  Many companies neglect data and documents stored on desktop or laptop computers. 

Determine what data your company needs to backup by asking “If we had a fire today that wiped out everything, what information is critical to get the business back up and running, in the shortest amount of time?”

2. What Kind of Backup for Which Type of Data?

There are many options for data backup and retrieval for servers and desktop computers. Which type of backup system you select depends on the kind of data that you want to backup.

If information is static and rarely changes such as artwork or schematics, then archiving that information to CDs or DVDs may be the best backup solution. For information that changes frequently, such as email, spreadsheets or Word documents, tape backup is usually a better solution.

Tape backups allow for incremental as well as full backups.  This level of granularity allows for data retrieval from a specific date or range of dates.

Removable media such as Zip drives or online backup solutions are probably the best for laptop or desktop computers.  The key, however, is that the backup is automated and scheduled, otherwise it won’t happen.

3. Verify/Test and Restore the Backup

Testing or verifying your backup solution is perhaps the most overlooked step in the backup process.  This step is a necessary evil and many times simply not done because of the cost and time.  Here are some best practices that should be followed for any tape backup solution:

 

• Weekly – Verify by going into a restore view to see a list of all files that should be backed up; don’t simply review the backup logs.
• Quarterly – Test restoring from the most recent tape in your tape rotation, at least three types of files, such as the admin mail box, a Word file and an Excel spreadsheet.  Select different dates for each file you restore.
• Annually – Complete a full system restore to a blank hard drive or server to ensure the backup system is foolproof.

4. How do you Avoid Recovery Disasters?

If you must recover data after a disaster, here are some pitfalls to avoid:

 

• Storing tapes on-site
• Using old tapes that may have stretched and are not cleanly capturing data
• No access to a compatible tape drive, hard drive, and cables if tape drive and server are completely destroyed
• No hardware drivers, backup software, software keys or passwords readily available to begin the data restoration

Lastly, any backup plan for a business should be part of a larger disaster recovery or business continuity plan.

How All Covered Can Help

If this is an issue for your business, All Covered provides backup consulting and services for small businesses nationwide.

• Call us: For a personal consultation, call our friendly sales team at 866-446-1133
• Email us: Use our contact form and we'll contact you within one business day.
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• Our services: All Covered Backup IT Services
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• Learn more: Business Continuity Planning
  Planning for Business Continuity and Securing your Data