 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
Data Backup Solution: Why You Need a Backup Plan in Place - Part 2
In the first part of this article series, I talked about the three main threats to the data on your computer. I talked about the need for a data backup solution that protects your data properly. In this article, I'll outline the most common data backup solution options available to you. A simple data backup solution A simple way to backup your data is to save everything to CD. By burning your vital information to a CD-ROM, you can have another copy of your data if something goes wrong with your computer. Burning your data to a CD-ROM will provide rudimentary data backup protection. There are some problems with this approach however. Burning your files regularly to CD requires human intervention and effort. It isn't automatic. You have to take time out of your schedule to do it. People get busy, things happen and before you know it, you haven't done a data backup in over a month then BAM! Your data is lost. The second major threat to using CD's as your data backup solution is that there are limitations to CD media. The first is that they won't survive a fire. If your place or office burns down and you've stored your CD's on site, your data is gone too. The second problem with CD media is that the media itself degrades over time. A recent study found that even CD's that were advertised to last for 100 years were loosing data after just two or three years. Burning your data to CD is certainly much better than doing nothing but it has limitations. Saving Data to a Web Server With the advent of inexpensive online data storage options, it is now possible to archive your most crucial data online. This option potentially protects you from theft and it is an off site option so it protects you from fire. The only way theft could risk your data is if your computers are not password protected by default and you choose to save all your passwords automatically in your applications. If this is the case, someone who gains physical access to your computers could certainly gain access to your data. This issue aside, saving your files to a web server is certainly an option. The limitation to this data backup solution usually revolves around the cost for the web server storage. While it is usually cost effective for up to 2 GB of data, it isn't appropriate for backing up an entire hard drive worth of data. In House Hardware Data Backup Solutions Another data backup solution is to equip your computers with RAID compatible motherboards and install multiple hard drives in each computer. This option protects your computers from hard drive crashes. It will usually require the services of a computer hardware technician to setup. Done properly, it can pretty much protect you from all hardware failure type data loss. This solution doesn't usually protect you from theft as the extra hard drives for RAID storage are usually installed in your computer or in other equipment on site. It usually won't protect you from fire either so this method does have its limitations. Use a combination of all three data backup solutions For maximum protection, you should consider using a combination of all three data backup solutions for maximum protection. Burn critical documents to CD on a regular basis. Get a web hosting account with lots of storage and upload critical files to the web server. With this option however, keep in mind that unless the data is encrypted on your end, an administrator of the web server could potentially access all your data. Finally, along with burning a CD and using an off site web server, get a qualified computer technician to install a RAID system in your computer systems. If cost is an issue, get at least one of your computers installed with a RAID capable hard drive and at least one other hard drive. Using these three data backup solutions, you will minimize the risk to your data and to your livelihood. Joe Duchesne is the webmaster of Gotocompare.com a computer hardware information site with links to hardware drivers, manuals and lots more. Reprint freely as long as you maintain the live keyword rich links in this resource box.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Comparing Data Recovery Software Software programmers recognize the importance of data files, and thankfully, they have been able to create products that demonstrate their understanding of how often people accidentally delete or lose important data. Thanks to software programmers and development companies, people have a variety of data recovery software programs available to purchase in the event they've lost vital data. Computer Data Backups: Test Now or Cry Later If you're like most small business owners, your computer data backups are one of those things that you rarely pay attention to. Computer data backups are kind of like flossing your teeth and eating low-fat, high-fiber foods? everyone knows what they're supposed to do? but how many REALLY do these things religiously?!?Unfortunately when it comes to your computer data backups however, complacency can be very dangerous. 9 Things to Look for when Considering Data Backup Solutions It's one thing to loose data and money because of hackers and thieves of various kinds; it's a different thing again when it's because you didn't back up your data properly or not at all. Value your data! Whether it's that critical business document, your thesis, your website or your home accounts and precious photo's. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - Business Impact Analysis Business impact analysis is a critical part of the business continuity planning process. This step quantifies data and gets into the real world issue of potential losses that can negatively impact your business. How to Effectively Back Up Your Data What to backup, and what to loseThe oldest "computer expression" is that there are two kinds of computer users, those that backup their data and those that will. Often, it takes a "data disaster" to compel otherwise responsible people to make a regular habit of backing up their data. Data Recovery Processes Six months ago my computer crashed. When I turned my computer on it would not load Windows XP and so I could not get into my two hard drive files. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - The Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plan Essentially, the plan addresses the who, what, where, why and when of recovery. Goal number one is to reduce the risk profile of the business. Do You Have The One Key Ingredient Necessary For Disaster Recovery? It is not rocket science, we all know that we should have a disaster recovery plan in place for our business regardless of its size. When disaster strikes, it seldom discriminates on the size of the company. Do I Really Need To Backup? Okay, computers a machine, right? Okay, maybe not yours. You have this special relationship, but that a subject for another article. I Lost It! Simple Guide To Recovering Corrupted Images And Files WinUndelete http://www.deprice. Data Recovery: Beginners Tips Right now you probably in a lot of mental pain, and all you're concerned about is recovering your data as quickly as possible - so we'll refrain from comments on the wisdom of regular back ups. The time for preventative measures has gone - the issue at hand is data recovery. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery - A Business Not a Technology Issue Hackers, hurricanes, fires, flooding, power outages, denial of service attacks, application failures, employee error, sabotage and now terrorism are helping companies to focus on the necessity of a business continuity plan.Through the late 1990s as companies prepared for Y2K, many IT executives, risk managers, CFOs and corporate managers realized that recovering computing systems, networks and data was not enough. 5 RAID Data Recovery Prevention Tips If you have spent the time to increase your computer's performance by setting up a hardware RAID array, you owe it to yourself to invest a little extra time and effort in maintaining the hard disks in your setup. Following these tips will help limit the need for data disaster recovery in the future. Data Recovery The Easy Way If you aren't prepared in advance, you will most likely have to use a data recovery service or data recovery software solution to help get back as much as you can of what was lost. This can be a very good idea if there is no other way to recover your files, but it doesn't have to come to that in most cases. Is Your Backup Good Enough? As someone who has seen quite a few hard drive crashes over the years, I believe that performing a full backup of your computer's hard drive should be an important part of your weekly (if not daily) routine. There's nothing more frustrating & costly than trying to restore a computer with only a handful of Floppy disk drives, a couple of scratched CD-ROMs or poorly stored backup tapes. Its All In The Planning - Surviving Disaster ITS ALL IN THE PLANNING - PREPARING FOR THE UNTHINKABLE* Make it clear who needs to do what, and who takes responsibility for what.* Appoint deputies for key roles. 3 Ways Computers Can Hurt Your Ministry - Part 1 - Ineffective Data Backups Our computers have become almost indispensable ministry tools. What would you do if the worst happened and you had to function without your computers? Would your ministry survive?This article is the first in a 3-part series on how to protect your ministry from serious computer-related loss. Big Time Disaster Recovery Solutions Available for the Little Guy There was a time - not too long ago - that Data Disaster Recovery solutions were available only in the domain of multinational corporations and big business in general. However, with the proliferation of high speed internet access and the ability to store large amounts of data in a much more cost effective manner due to plummeting storage costs, the ability to perform a secure backup of data to a remote location engineered specifically for the purpose of securely storing massive amounts of information is now in the reach of the general public. The Seven Golden Rules Of Data Backups Backups of company data are carried out for two main reasons. The first is to cater for those times when a document is inadvertently deleted or damaged and you wish to recover the original document; the second is as part of a disaster recovery plan in case something catastrophic happens to your computers (e. The Best Data Recovery Choice For You The best defense against a loss of data is a really solid and faithful backup routine of important files to reliable media. It's also a good idea for the media to be removable and portable if possible so that even if something happens to your whole computer for any reason, the data is protected by being in a totally different physical area.
|
|
|
 |
 |
