What Happens if You Don’t Backup Your Data?

It’s easy to assume that because you saved your files, they’re safe. But, that isn’t the case. Whether it be by human error, system failure or cyber-attack, your files are at risk if you don’t back them up elsewhere. In this blog, our experts discuss the importance of backing up your data and the best ways to do it. So, let’s get started, what happens if you don’t backup your data?

If you don’t regularly back up your data, you risk permanently losing it due to accidents, human error, cyber-attacks, or system failure. In such cases, if your files aren’t backed up elsewhere, you might not be able to recover them, resulting in potentially severe consequences for your business.

Read on to learn more about why you should be backing up your data regularly, and how to do so for best results.

Jump to section:

• Why are Data Backups Important?
• Is it Really Necessary to Backup Your Data?
• What is the Difference Between Data Backup and Restoration?
• Which are the Four Most Common Methods of Data Backup?
• What’s the Best Way to Backup Large Amounts of Data?
• How Can Obsidian Networks Help?

Why are Data Backups Important?

Data backups are incredibly important in data management. They protect against human error, hardware failure, virus or other malicious attacks, power failure and more. Ensuring that your data is backed up regularly means that the fallout of such events is minimal.

Backups create a copy of your data and are stored elsewhere, away from your primary data storage method. If this primary method fails for whatever reason, the backup copy can be recovered and used.

For best results, backups should be made regularly to ensure up-to-date data and minimal data loss. The more time that passes between backups, the more potential for data loss. It’s also a good idea to have multiple methods of backups for additional insurance.

Is it Really Necessary to Backup Your Data?

Creating backups is the only way to protect your business from losing valuable data.. So, yes, it really is needed to back up your data. The next question you should be asking yourself is how often should you back up your data?

Data backup security should be done at least once a week, but ideally every day. You can manually back up your data, but automatic options are also available to simplify the process. Simply set the system to backup at a time and day to suit you – many companies choose overnight.

By backing up your data daily, you can be sure that you won’t lose anything important, even if something goes wrong out of hours.

For more information on how to store information, read our blog on Organising Your Data.

What is the Difference Between Data Backup and Restoration?

Data backup refers to the process of creating copies of your data to minimise data loss in the event of mistakes, system failure or malicious attacks. Data is copied and stored away from the primary method of storage for safekeeping.

Should the worst happen and your data is lost for whatever reason, you can then restore data from a backup. Data is taken from a recent backup and is restored to its original location or a new location of choice.

Both are needed for maintaining optimal data backup security.

Which are the Four Most Common Methods of Data Backup?

There are several ways to backup your data. Below are the four most common ways for businesses.

Full Backup

This backs up every single file on your device/network. Because of this, the process could take hours and require more storage space than other methods. However, it is recommended that you do a full backup the very first time you back up your data so that everything is accounted for. It can then be run periodically to ensure the safety of your data.

Differential Backups

This method only backs up new or changed files since the last full backup. They can be performed much more quickly than a full backup and, therefore can be performed more often.

Incremental Backups

Similar to a differential backup, this method also only backs up files that are new or have changed since the last backup of any kind. These types of backups are often performed by backup software because they can be done frequently due to their small size and fast backup time.

Mirror Backup

This method is comparable to a full backup. It creates an exact copy of the source data set, but only the latest version is stored in the backup repository, with no track of different file versions. Mirror backups have a fast recovery time and also have the added benefit of easy-to-access individual backed-up files. It does, however, require a large storage space.

What’s the Best Way to Backup Large Amounts of Data?

You can backup large amounts of data in the same way as smaller amounts, it just takes longer. As such, it is recommended to use an automated system that runs outside of normal hours, e.g. overnight.

With larger sets of data, it’s also important to ensure that your backup storage solution can handle the amount of data you need to backup as well as any new data and tracked file versions, if required.

How Can Obsidian Networks Help?

As part of our Fully Managed IT Support service, we provide backup and recovery solutions. If a system fails or you’re hit with a ransomware attack, sometimes the only option is to restore from a backup. Our backup and recovery service ensures that you’re always covered, even if the worst happens.

Our data backup security solution includes automated hourly, daily, weekly or monthly backups, encrypted off-site backup locations, monitoring and integrity testing as well as regular testing and restoring to ensure that everything goes to plan, should the worst happen.

Get in touch today to learn more and see what we can do for your business.