Tips For Data Backup

If you’re working with electronic data on a day-to-day basis, then you should be thinking about how that data is stored, and whether it is backed up regularly. From small home and computer networks, to large corporations – the loss of data can be extremely damaging, and this potential loss needs to be protected against to prevent the unthinkable happening.
Imagine for a moment that a computer on your business network was infected with a virus. This virus begins destroying the data from the PC it is on, and then as quick as you can begin reacting, it is moving across your network to infect any other connected PC it can find.

A damaging virus could be just as costly as somebody literally breaking in and stealing a handful of computers. You will have insurance for your business premises and possessions no doubt, and you should also have insurance for your data (in the sense of backing it up securely).

Finding the right data backup solution can be tricky if you are doing it for the first time, but thankfully there is a lot of helpful tips and advice across the web that can help you.

The right solution will depend entirely on your needs; what do you want to backup? How much data do you need to store? What kind of access rights do you require? – All of these questions need to be answered yourself before you begin looking for a provider.

Typically backup providers will work out their pricing based on the amount of data you need to be stored, and the type of storage you require. For example, 500GB of storage that is in a silo and not accessible without physical connection will cost differently to a 50TB solution that is fully online accessible and can be synced directly to your network.

Once you have selected a provider – or managed to source a backup solution yourself – you need to be backing up your data regularly.

Consider saving files directly to your server instead of editing and creating them locally, and these can then be regularly backed up via scheduling in the system. The benefit of regular scheduled backups is that it takes away the potential human error involved in carrying out regular backups. Although people may have good intentions and know they should backup their files, this can often get overlooked or forgotten on a daily basis, so it is much more efficient to have a scheduled system in place to thoroughly protect your files.

Contrary to the belief that online (or ‘cloud’) backup is somehow more insecure than keeping your data on a server in your office, hosted backup solutions actually provide more security than people think. By using an online backup solution, you are able to sync your data regularly, access it from anywhere in the world (not just your office, or at home), and it means it isn’t going to be destroyed in any kind of accidents to the physical hardware.