Backing up your business's data might not seem as important as making sales, but without a proper strategy, you risk losing much more than sales if your data is compromised or lost.
It was hard for Rob Emrich to justify spending money for anything that wasn't directly
involved with daily tasks. The chairman and founder of Road of Life, a nonprofit that
educates children on cancer prevention in Columbus, Ohio, stored all of the company's
financial information on an external hard drive attached to the USB port of his server.
However, a year ago, Emrich came to work and discovered that he had been robbed. The
computer to which the hard drive was attached was gone -- and so was the drive with all
of his financial records. The employees of Road of Life spent the next two weeks unable
to continue their business; instead, they had to re-build their database, pulling together
paper copies of donation records and looking through old e-mails saved on personal
computers.
Backing up a company's data may seem like a second-tier priority, particularly for small
businesses looking to put all of their resources into generating immediate revenue or
providing services, but in the face of a disaster, a business's backup files are all they have
to keep the business alive. Without proper backup, data loss can keep a business from
operating for weeks, even months, resulting in severely decreased productivity as staff
members work to recover the lost information.
Right now, tapes are the most common form of data backup. However, with evolving
technology, online backup services and DVDs also are becoming popular methods, and
with the proliferation of inexpensive external hard drives, many companies are using
them to create network attached storage that can be used for larger scale backups. It's also
common for companies to combine the different means of backup, to ensure that their
needs are met within their budget.
Here are some things to think about when comparing the different strategies for backing
up your company's data.
• Tapes. Tapes are a very efficient way of backing up data: They are inexpensive
and can store large amounts of data. For this reason, "they are the best option for
long term, off-site archiving in high capacities," says Steve Berens, senior director
of marketing and product strategy for the storage devices business unit at
Quantum, based in Irvine, Calif.
Data tapes operate similarly to cassette tapes in that the information is stored
sequentially on a magnetic strip. This means that the files are saved in
chronological order, so file retrieval is very convenient if a full recovery is
required. In the event of a single file being lost, however, tapes are extremely
inefficient because they require someone to rewind and fast-forward the tape in
order to find the file. Like cassettes, data tapes require meticulous care; in
extreme weather and humid conditions, tapes can easily be ruined and the data on
them lost.
• CDs, DVDs, and external hard drives. CDs and DVDs have a number of
advantages over data tapes: Storage and file-specific recovery are quicker, and
these media are fast becoming ubiquitous. The problem with CDs and DVDs is
that they can't store as much data as a tape can.
• Attached storage. An external hard drive, which can be connected to a computer
through a USB port or attached to a network, also is a good, inexpensive option
for storing data. The key to using an external hard drive, as with any data storage
device, is to back up frequently and then take the files off-site. Experts
recommend making duplicates of the hard drive and storing a secondary copy
somewhere else, often in a different region, and occasionally in a different
country. "Even if you're storing your data in the biggest safe on the planet, guess
what? It's still just in one place," says Nishank Khanna, CEO of UnderTag.com,
an online coupon aggregator that had its own experience with massive data loss.
"If something happens in that one place, all of your data is gone."
• Online backup. Online backup is still a relatively new option, but its popularity
is increasing because backups can happen automatically, and typically only
require a quick file setup. "Online backup is a lot more secure and reliable than
other options because all of the data is encrypted," says Jennifer Walzer, founder
and president of online backup service, Backup My Info (BUMI), referring to the
ease of password-protection on online backup servers. Proponents for online
backup also point out that because it is automatic, there is less chance for human
error.
"We have a program (script) on our server that kicks off every 57 minutes and
does a backup and a compression of several databases and then sends them to the
off-site vendor's server," says Al Canton, owner of Adams-Blake Company, the
makers of JAYA123, a Web-based enterprise application for allows small
businesses. "It also deletes previous backup files that are over 10 hours old," he
adds.
The negative side to online backup includes its comparably high costs and speed
of total recovery. Because back ups are done entirely over the Internet, your best
bet for efficient backup and fast data recovery are to use high speed connections,
such as broadband cable or a T1 connection. Dial-up connections are less than
desirable for this method of back, especially if you move large amounts of data on
a regular basis.
When considering what might be the best options for your company's data backup, keep
the following points in mind:
• Security. Not only should you keep your records secure for your company's sake,
but you should also protect investor and customer information. Data encryption,
or making data unavailable without a password, is possible on each of these forms
of data storage, including tapes. Make sure that even if your data is stolen, others
won't be able to open your files.
• Redundancy. Canton notes that even though using online backup is fast,
convenient and secure for his business, he uses more than one backup method to
help guarantee the safety of his company's critical information. "Redundancy is
the key for any backup scenario," he says. "We also do a daily backup to a third
location; we make sure that no geographical location can have the same weather
pattern as the others."
• Testing. Be sure to test how well your backup system is working by recovering a
randomly selected file each month. This way you can be sure that your system
will work when you need it to.
• Plan for the unexpected. Even if you keep your own office secure, there's no
telling what your neighbors are up to. Despite how much care you take to keep
your office safe from fire or theft, your neighbors might not be as diligent: A fire
in an adjoining office can quickly turn into a major disaster for your business.
"Your computer is 100% guaranteed to fail," Walzer says. "The question is: Will
you be prepared when it does?"
Making a data backup plan is as vital to your business as selling your product or service.
Road of Life's Emrich learned this the hard way, but eventually decided on an online
backup plan that would keep his organization from having to experience data loss disaster
ever again. "The amount of productivity we lost from losing that information exceeds any
price that we would pay for data backup," he says.
By: Jena Wuu | From: Inc.com |
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