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The
Importance of Making Backups
The importance of making backups cannot be
stressed enough. As a private consultant I am often asked to recover lost
data from dead computers or failed hard-drives. Sometimes I am successful
and sometimes the data is gone forever.
There are many ways for data to be lost.
Laptops can be stolen. Hard-drives can go bad. Files can be accidentally
deleted. A computer virus could reformat your system. A fire could destroy
you office. A disgruntled employee could ‘accidentally’ delete data. The
list of potential disasters is virtually endless and every one of the can
lead to great hardships trying to recover or recreate the lost information.
As an example; one of my engineering
clients had a computer that contained over 14 years worth of accumulated
AutoCAD drawings and was never backed up. It was a disaster waiting to
happen. The hard-drive began to make terrible noise and the Windows
operating system would no longer boot. Yes, I was able to retrieve the
data. This person nearly lost countless hours of work and the CAD drawings
for dozens of his clients. He was very lucky. A loss of this magnitude
could have potentially destroyed his consulting business. He learned the
hard way and now he makes regular backups. Unfortunately this type of
problem occurs quite often and most of us learn this particular lesson the
hard way.
My favorite backup strategy involves a
combination of different backup methods. Typically, in a network
environment I recommend some sort of tape backup system. (http://www.pcguide.com/care/bu/method.htm)
Full backups are made every weeknight. Ideally, I like to use 31 tapes so
there is one for each day of the month. Using this numbering system makes
it very easy to locate a file that was deleted 2-3 weeks back. Some of my
clients also like to keep a permanent full backup monthly or yearly as a
matter of permanent record. Quite often, clients will keep the tapes in a
fireproof safe or at an offsite location. In addition to the tape backups I
like to use online backups. A Network Attached Storage device (NAS) is
attached to the network just like any other server. This device typically
contains anywhere from a half terabyte and beyond of RAID-5 fault tolerant
storage. I configure the backup software to do incremental backups every
weeknight and I perform a full backup on the weekend. (http://www.pcguide.com/care/bu/what_Full.htm)
This method provides a backup to the backup in the event the tape system has
an issue. Likewise the size of the NAS is so great, that we can typically
get over 20 full backups on one NAS device. If a file ever needs to be
restored, it is pulled from the NAS device rather than the tapes. These
methods may seem redundant to some; but that’s the whole idea of a backup!
In conclusion, we can see that backups are
vital to every computer system whether it be a home system or a business.
If you think backups are unimportant, think again. You need to ask yourself
the following questions. If my computers hard-drive died, what information
would I lose? Could I recreate the information easily?
What would it cost me to recover the data? The data stored on
your computer is more important than many people realize!
Sources
PC Guide Website,
Backups and Disaster Recovery
http://www.pcguide.com/care/bu/index.htm
PC Guide Website,
Backup methods, Devices and Media
http://www.pcguide.com/care/bu/method.htm
PC Guide Website,
Full, Selective and Incremental Backups
http://www.pcguide.com/care/bu/what_Full.htm
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