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Eight common things the disaster-struck didn’t do
Eight common things the disaster-struck didn’t do
July 08, 2010
Please blow a raspberry in my general direction if you think this post is overly doom-mongering. But the sad fact is that many small businesses are totally unaware of how much of their data is at risk.
The main reason for this gap in disaster recovery policy is ignorance of the key facts. They're often straightforward but little known, so instead of giving you a jargon-filled list of technical terms, I’ll give you a list of things people usually forget to cover until it’s too late.
1. Backing up data at all. Don't fall into the trap of thinking "it'll never happen to me," because there are only two types of people in this world: those who have had a data loss and those who are about to.
2. Backing up data frequently enough. If you came into your office and realised that a vital quotation you prepared three days ago had been deleted, would you be happy that your weekly backup didn’t contain it?
3. Not backing up accounts data. Sensing a theme here yet? Many people assume that their network backup covers all their data. This isn't always true. Accounts data is sometimes stored on an individual PC that's not covered by the backup schedule.
4. Email. Many people don’t think they need to recover their email. Until they
lose it, that is. I’m talking about the messages that arrive in your inbox or are sat in your “Sent items” folder. These are increasingly used as evidence of a contract or as instruction to proceed.
5. File and folders. So you've got the obviously vital data, like your financial information covered. What about the seemingly mundane? Word documents, spreadsheets and databases can all contain important information. Make sure they can be recovered.
6. Storing information in the wrong place. When you hit save, do you know where the document is stored? Is it somewhere that is scheduled to be backed up? Saving your work on the desktop of your PC or in the My Documents folder isn’t much use if your backup only covers a shared folder on your network.
7. Contact and calendar information. In small networks your contact and calendar folders in Outlook are stored on your PC and may not get backed up. If you suffer a data disaster you'll be completely lost, with no idea who you were due to see and no way of contacting them.
8. Where your backups are kept. Do you use pen-drives, CDs, backup tapes or hard drives to backup your data? Great. But where do you keep them? Next to your PC or file server? Not so great. Even the best backup procedures become useless unless you store the data safely off your premises.
This is by no means an exhaustive list. There are probably other pockets of data you need to secure. The best way to think about it is to imagine what you can’t live without should disaster strike.
Think of the things you do on your PC each day. Don't worry about the software itself (you should have the original installation CDs for that), but question where the important data is situated. Make sure it's somewhere that's covered by your backup schedule. And if it isn't, fix it. Now. Because you never know when data loss might strike.
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Comments
First I better declare an interest, as I do run an online backup business.
As Andy says routine is everything, you should apply KISS to backups. Automation is key, because when you are busy, that is when you are most at risk. I am happy to talk with anyone DM me on twitter @richardlhobbs or contact via phone or email.
@Corcoran we often find people are not backing up the right files too, I created a how to on how to backup outlook data files http://essentialrichard.com/how-to-backup-outlook-data-files.html. Many small businesses with only pop mail don’t think to backup outlook. It can be very painful!
@Craig checking your backup is vital, so many people think there systems are working fine until they need to restore data. For example the tape drive is corrupt, the DVD disks are faulty. When I copy files in windows I use Teracopy which allows you to verify files, if you are backing up to USB drives it is a good tool to check the copy worked.
@Martin and @John there are ways are to back up on line and off line. Both drop box and Our Pro version offer synchronisation features. Ours works by creating a virtual drive which is cached on the local PC by default. So if you are not connected to our servers you still have access to your files.
Online backup does not work for all businesses but for small business it gives them an unparalleled level of redundancy and protection.
BackupAssist is a good place to start.
Calm down with your multicloud business! Honestly, next thing you know the US housing market along the gulf coast, will make a great investment.
Classic 'cloud' backup just yesterday - backs up the system every 15 minutes, but someone failed to notice that they hadn't selected '[Microsoft email server] Exchange Aware' so their mail server wasn't backing up at all and hadn't done for 18 months.
Bricks and mortar. Get a reliable, 100% onsite backup working first - then look to extend that with either tape offsite rotation or *shudder* rely on ADSL/BT telecoms network to securely backup your data daily.
Martin raises a good point and I agree 100%. Many backup processes fail due to an assumption that the backup is working, yet no one checks it to make sure. I know from experience that backing up to a cloud location AND to a local hard disk can be done and should be done. The rule is that you cannot have too much backup !
If you do rely only on a cloud solution for general file backup then that's great, and other John mentions DropBox which is a superb solution. However, don't forget to save your Sage backup or other specific application backups into the DropBox folder or else they will not be included in the sync to the Cloud.
The best way to cover both bases is to use standard NTBACKUP on your PC, as Corcoran points out. Right click the C: Drive icon and choose Properties, then the tag called Tools and on there you'll see a Backup Option. That's the standard Microsoft backup process and it works well. You can even schedule the process too.
Overall Andy is right. A poor backup process will result in a lost business. Period. The DTI publishes statistics every so often that shock people, but which are true. A huge number of businesses that have a total data loss and are unable to recover the information go bump. It’s better, cheaper and less hassle to be prepared.
A good backup routine and process is vital to any business and depending on your size and set up there are lots of options.
A good place to start is to speak with a company that can assess your requirments and give you best advice.
At the end of the day there are a plethora of options
Backup to tape, Disk to Disk, Disk to Disk to tape etc etc. each has its own merits and drawbacks.
A good backup process is essential and worth spending some time and money in geting it right. Get it wrong and it could cost you your business.
@Martin: Yes, I've wondered about relying on the cloud too. As a freelancer, all my important files are backed up via Dropbox. It's wonderfully easy to use, but it smacks rather of eggs in one basket. I think an external hard drive (or some sort of network attached storage) would be a good investment.
Or how about duplicating backups to two cloud services simultaneously? I can imagine all sorts of problems with that approach (bandwidth use, system resources, etc), but has anyone tried it?
Is there a danger that businesses will come to rely on the cloud for backup? The ease of use of online backup services is great, but shouldn't there be dual backup simultaneously to external hard drive AND cloud? I know I'd be happier with this sort of triple redundancy protection. Anyone know who's offering that kind of thing?
To append to this - people often don't realise the distinction between 'data' and 'system' - so they backup all their documents and think that's all that's needed - their server then crashes and because the 'bits in the background' that power the server haven't been backed up at all; all they've got is some data and potentially no way to log back into their PC's because their server is down!
Whoever you happen to be - technical or not - at least look at the good old fashioned built in tools that Windows XP and Windows 2003 server provide - ntbackup: it can be a lifesaver :)
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