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Backing Up Vital Business Data

How can I protect my business data from disaster?

Most PC users have experienced the problem of losing data they have just entered into a system. It might be a document in a word processing application or a spreadsheet but the feeling of dread is the same as you realise you need to type the whole document out again. If you scale this problem up to your entire business data imagine how you would feel if:

• The shared office has been flooded or suffered a burglary
• Fire has struck
• Your hard disk drive has failed
• A colleague makes an incorrect change and deletes a vital spreadsheet or file

All of these will lead to data loss, much of which could have been mitigated by implementing a backup process.

What does this problem mean to me?

Quite simply the loss of business data has forced many companies into liquidation. It is difficult to stress the importance of data backups enough – it is probably the single most important computer related task you could ever do.

What data needs to be backed up?

The answer is as much or as little as you can live without, including customer lists and contact details, website and tailored software.

Remember – you will lose all of the data you updated since your last backup was taken, so take frequent copies of important data. Sometimes these backups could be hourly, sometimes daily but almost always weekly. Always remember to test your backups on a regular basis in case anything gets damaged.

Recovering data from a back-up

The most important thing to remember if you have suffered a failure is not to panic. If you have been taking reasonable steps to protect your equipment and have a backup process in place then you should be able to recover any lost files.

Take a methodical approach to recovering the data and make sure you are happy that you are restoring the correct version of the files to the correct place. Many people have panicked in these situations and ended up copying old data over newer copies, making the problem worse.

Back-up equipment

There are a number of technologies available to help you backup data, including:

• Backup to hard disk. Copying data to another PC is often a quick backup technique, especially if you have them link together on a small network.
• Writeable DVD and CD is becoming a very common tool used in backups. CDs can store around 650 Megabytes of data. That’s enough to store a backup for most laptop users and small businesses.
• Memory sticks use solid state electronics ( i.e. no moving parts to store data). It is now possible to buy memory sticks that can store huge amounts of data making these ideal for small businesses.

For further access to information and advice on using ICT in your business, contact a Business Link IT Adviser by:
emailing: info@businesslinkeast.org.uk
calling: 08457 17 16 15
or requesting a call back from an adviser here.