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Subject: Backup!

This is possibly the single most overlooked fact by computer users: Eventually the data on your computer with be worth more than the computer, regardless of the cost of your computer. In this month's ELM Bulletin we will show you how to protect that data.

Data is an intangible, it is not something that can be touched, it can only be seen. As such we sometimes forget that it is in data that the true value of a business resides. Every other aspect of a business can be replaced except the data. If the data is lost it can become extremely difficult to keep the business alive.

So, how do we protect that data to prevent its loss, so that when a system containing data malfunctions we lose only time, not data? In a word: BACKUP. The single most important thing you can do to protect your business is to backup your data regularly. Why should you backup your data? Here's the short list:

Backup is the process whereby data is copied from a live location (such as your computer or network server) to a static location (such as tape, CD or an external hard drive). The idea being that the data can then be copied back to the live location in the event of a problem with the original data. A reliable backup can mean the difference between losing an entire business or losing several hours of production.

But how do you backup your data? There are almost as many answers to that question as there are IT specialists to ask. Primarily though, your backup method depends on two variables:

a) The Amount of Data to Protect - Businesses with hundreds of gigabytes of data will have different backup needs than businesses with only megabytes of data. Larger amounts of data require more advanced backup strategies, such as high capacity tape or tape libraries. Smaller amounts of data could presumably be backed up to lower capacity tape or even CD or USB keys. Smaller amounts of data can also be backed up manually during business hours whereas large amounts of data will almost certainly require an after-hours solution of some sort.

 

b) The Amount of Redundancy Required - Redundancy is determined by the nature of the business (and the level of 'paranoia' in those responsible for the data). Accounting firms, for example, may want to retain backups of tax data for at least seven years. Legal firms, on the other hand, may want to keep case data for even longer periods of time. Other businesses may only need to retain data for the past week or two. Of course, the greater the retention time for a backup the greater amount of overhead will be required in media and management. Longer retention times will also have an impact on the media used for the backup as it is generally less costly to maintain a large library of tape media than of external hard drives.

Because of the wide range of choices to be made, we cannot make a recommendation your perfect backup solution in this ELM Bulletin. If you are interested in determining the backup best suited to your needs we recommend that you contact us for further discussion.

We will, however, make two recommendations that are of utmost importance:

a) Never Overwrite Your Most Recent Backup - Keep at least two backups on hand. One should be your last complete backup, the other should be the backup that is currently being made. If you overwrite your only other backup with each backup job and that backup job fails you have lost your only other backup.

 

b) Test Your Backup Regularly - It has happened too often that a regular backup is taking place yet the data on it cannot be used when it is needed. Test your backup to confirm that you can read the data from it. There are very few things more frustrating that trying to retrieve a file from the only backup on which it is known to exist...only to find that the backup cannot be read and the file cannot be recovered.

As always, please contact me if you have any questions about this or any other computer issue.

Peter Rhebergen - MCP

Technical Specialist, Systems and Software

Email: peter@elmcomputers.com

ELM Computer Systems Inc.

502 Gordon Baker Road

Toronto, Ontario, M2H 3B4

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Fax: 416 495 0044

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