7 Key Things to Consider About Your Data Backup Practices

Anyone who works with computers has lost an hour or two of their hard work when the computer decides to quit working for a certain period. These experiences with technology can be anything from frustrating to infuriating, depending on what kind of work you were doing and how much work you lost.

However, if all you've ever lost is a couple of hours of your work, you might consider yourself fortunate.

What would happen if your entire business network were to have an issue that caused it to crash? What if you lost everything in your database that allowed your business to run daily?

The results would undoubtedly be devastating to the bottom line of your entire business and your livelihood (as well as the livelihoods of those working for you).

Too many companies take the "that will never happen to me" approach and don't bother to back their business files up. A complete backup of all of your system's files would include the following:

• Operating system files
• Software application files
• Lesser used data files
• All data files on every server (not just some on certain servers)

A comprehensive backup will cover you in every possible scenario of a catastrophic loss of information.

The following are 6 things to consider about your current backup practices and how to improve them:

1. Do Your Backups Work?/How Do You Know?

When you back up your data, how are you positive that it works? Just because you paid an IT team to come in and back up your data doesn't mean that everything works and is perfect, or that it even works at all. Checking your backup regularly and making sure you can access your information is key to ensuring your back-up is 100% and went smoothly.

Issues that you need to be aware of during system backups include everything from low disk space to issues with the backup software or even use errors can cause backups to go awry. Making sure everything works on your backups is key to ensuring you have effective backups of your files long-term.

2. Are Your Backups Running (Are You Sure About It)?

Ensure that the person/people responsible for your backup files are watching for success/failure messages regularly to ensure that backups do complete successfully. Failure messages can notify the person what went wrong so it can be reported and fixed, while success messages can let them know that the backup gets completed properly and effectively.

3. Ensure That You Back Up All Of Your Data

Companies are storing data in more places than ever before. You want to make sure that all of your data from all devices are getting backed up effectively. These backups include data from all different devices such as:

• Tablet
• Smartphone
• Individual Laptops
• Cloud Storage
• Memory Sticks

Ensuring all of your devices get backed up appropriately helps ensure that you have all of the data you need in case your system were ever to crash.

4. The Frequency of Data Backup:

Your company should have a frequency of how often you back up your data. The more frequently you back up your data, the fewer chances there are of losing valuable information. For example, most companies should favor, say, a weekly over a monthly backup plan to ensure that your backed up data and files stay up-to-date and that the information that would get lost if your system were to crash would be minimal.

Set a regular updating schedule for your business data and stick to it.

5. Have At Least 2 Backups In Place:

Having one backup in place is a great start, but having two backups of all data makes your backup system more secure than one backup would. If you have your first way of backing up information fail, you have another place to turn in case you have technical difficulties or otherwise risk losing information and data that is crucial to your company running and operating smoothly. The fewer losses of information you have in a system crash, the less devastating the effects on your business and your bottom line will end up being.

Your second backup may be a remote backup solution through a quality provider who ensures that your information is kept safe and confidential as well while still offering your business a way to retrieve your information promptly.

6. Does Your Backup Have a Backup Plan?

Having some sort of backup for your backup if it fails is always a good idea. These backups are especially key if your system stores a large amount of business-related data. It doesn't have to be something complex or overly sophisticated, long as it works and keeps your backup data backed up, and you can access it when you need to, you have accomplished your main mission.

7. How Quickly Will Your System Be Back Up & Running?

If your system was to crash, how long will it be before you can have your system up and running again? The longer your business's network is down, the more money you are losing. To be able to get your system back up and running quickly is key to being able to get back to work and keeping your company productive. Choose a system that allows you to keep your company working hard by recovering data in a reasonable amount of time.

These are 7 key questions that you need to be asking yourself when you are backing up your data and ensuring that your business is prepared for the worst if you were to ever lose a massive amount of data. It's up to you to ensure your business has the backed up data that it requires to continue to run smoothly.