Seven Rules of Efficient and Effective Data Backup

Companies (and individuals) should back up their data for two main reasons. The first is for those times when a document has been deleted or damaged and you wish to recover the original document. The second is as part of a disaster recovery plan – protecting your valuable data from theft, fire, or natural disasters. Backups tend to be given a low priority; they cost time, money and effort to implement. However, if your company's data is lost or stolen, proper backups could easily be the difference between your business surviving or failing.

Here are some helpful tips for backing up your data:

Backup Often
Frequent backups lessen the impact of data loss. Backing up your company's data once a week means that a week's worth of data is the greatest possible loss. Similarly, backing up your company's data daily guarantees the most data you should ever have to re-input is one day's worth.

Don't keep critical data on desktop PCs
In many organizations, documents are kept on PC hard drives; it is unlikely these are backed up regularly, if at all. It is also very common in small and medium businesses to store email on PC hard drives. This provides no protection if the hard drive fails or is stolen. All documents, spreadsheets, email, etc should be kept on a central server, which is in turn backed up regularly.

Automate the backup process
Backups are tedious to do and most people will avoid doing this chore or simply forget to do it. Automating tedious tasks ensures they get done.

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 and the files of new users are being backed up. A quick check once a week could avert a much more serious problem later on.

Keep backups off-site
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 specifications. Storing your backup tape in your server is also insufficient. A thief will likely throw the tape away, since it is useless to him or her. Your company's data, however, is priceless to you. Oversight Technology's BackUp Pro software provides the option of backing up your data to an email address, eliminating the need for physical tapes and allowing you instant access to your data virtually anywhere.

Produce a "backup recovery" manual
Have a step-by-step procedure written - with a copy stored off-site - detailing how to reinstate your company's data. A major disaster is not the time to try and remember how to recover data from your backup media.

Test the recovery procedure periodically
Without warning, give the backup recovery manual to a staff member and see how long it takes them to recover data. No one involved with creating the manual or the backups themselves should be involved in the test. The results of the test should be analyzed and the manual updated accordingly. A recovery test should be carried out at least twice a year; this demonstrates both that the backups themselves are usable, and that your organization understands how to access them if necessary.