World Backup Day is Approaching
3 March 2022
As World Backup day is approaching, our guide contains advice on how to protect your data.
Around 20% of people have never backed up their data. Thankfully this number is on a decline and has halved in the last 10 years. Spreading awareness and reminders of backing up data help to keep our files safe.
Why Backup your Data?
Data recovery is often a difficult and expensive procedure, with there being no guarantee of recovery.
Having your data backed up is much easier and cost effective to restore the data. In the past the process of restoring data from backups could take days, now it is only a couple of hours or minutes.
When thinking about what to backup, it is important to consider not just the most important files, but also to think about operating systems and applications.
Your Data is Vulnerable to:
- Theft
- Theft of devices is always a possibility. Once stolen, the information is often wiped in order for the device to be sold or passed on.
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Ransomware
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It’s on the rise. Companies with data backups have managed to minimise the costly damages of a Ransomware attack.
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Hard drive failure
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Sometimes due to age, systems can fail. Hard drives can also be damaged due to wear and tear, with data being lost.
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How to Backup your Data
Your data should be backed up in several different places in order to ensure its safety. A general rule is to backup in two different places and then again on a cloud-based application.
Don’t forget the power of paper copies of important documents such as tax details.
When considering how often to backup your data it is important to think about the Recovery Point Objective (RPO). What is the maximum period of time you are willing to have lost?
The RPO will define how often you want to backup your files, some companies are hourly others every day
Removable Media and Hard Drives
Removable media such as pen drives and disks are an easy source of backup. They are small and it is easy to move items across. But they are only really ideal for smaller scale back ups.
Hard drives are another popular option due to the large amount of storage space they offer. They are easy to add files to and they are better than pen drives for a higher number of files.
However, they are a problem for larger companies as each computer would need to be manually backed up to the hard drive, which may not be possible if your RPO is a few hours.
Network Attached Storage (NAS)
This type of backup is very common as having a storage device that is attached to a network is flexible, easy to use and manage and also, they come at a lower cost.
However, they should not be solely relied upon. If the facility where they are kept is destroyed, the data will not be retrievable.
Cloud Backup
The most popular mode of backing up data as it is seamless. You don’t need to own any specialist hardware, just an internet connection to be able to access and upload files.
Cloud-based back up is becoming more sophisticated. Some cloud- based systems have a feature called Baas incorporated into them. This ensures the website performs backups itself and it runs smoothly, making backing-up even easier.
It is a good idea to get a cloud plan bigger than what you think you need as your information and files will be ongoing.
Backup services
Let an external company, like us, manage your backups!
We offer:
- Automated backups monthly/weekly/daily/hourly
- Encrypted off site backups
- Monitoring and integrity testing
- Regular testing and restoring