Backups - The Key to Safe Computing

All computers and their components are subject to failure. Every business will be confronted with some type of computer failure sooner or later. Data loss or data corruption is the greatest threat to businesses during a failure. While the causes of data loss and data corruption vary, not all are easily fixed.

Here I’ll discuss the simplest, easy and inexpensive task to be safe from bundles of problems in case of loss or corruption of valuable data. Taking regular and secure backups of our valuable data is the key to safe computing. If you’re an information producer, you simply must have back-up copies of everything. There are plenty of simple and cost-effective back-up options so there is no excuse for it.

When a data loss or data corruption occurs, many times the only option is to restore the data from a previously created backup of the affected data. Many businesses or organizations today over look the importance of data backups until they suffer the unexpected loss or corruption of valuable data. Once this occurs it would be too late.

If you have made backups of all data stored on the hard drives, restoring that data will go much more quickly and require a lot less effort. It will also require a lot less man hours and tears shed over the loss that has occurred. All you need to do is make a copy of your important files on other storage devices or locations.

Data Backup Guidelines:

1. Users should take time to identify the important data that they hold on their computer. Make a list of all your important documents and their location on your computer and use this to form the basis of your backup plan.

2. Users should select appropriate backup media. Backup media refers to the device that you back your data up to. This could be a tape, a zip disk, a CD. Your computer most likely has an appropriate drive for one of these devices and this will influence your decision.

3. The backup media (i.e. tapes, zip disks, floppies) should be labelled as precisely as possible with the date, and some information to indicate what data has been backed up. You could alternatively keep more detailed records of what has been backed up on a separate piece of paper and just label a reference number on the backup media.

4. Users should hold multiple copies of important data from different time intervals. This protects against loss of data where data becomes corrupt and a user does not notice immediately.

5. Copies of the back-up media, together with any notes on what has been backed up, should be stored safely.

6. You should test the process of restoring your data from your backup copy. This will ensure that you have backed up all necessary data correctly.

Backups - The Key to Safe Computing

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