JadeXS - Tip #7

I recently had the very unpleasant experience of a hard drive failure. Fortunately the computer was under warranty and a service representative of the manufacturer installed a new hard drive for me. However, all the data on the original hard drive was destroyed – none could be saved or retrieved.

The problem is that you usually get no warning before it's too late. Poof! Your data is gone.

If you had a hard disk failure, would you be as fortunate as I was? How difficult would it be for you to get your life/work/routine back to “normal” if you had to start from scratch? If you’re not 100% certain that this situation would be nothing more than a minor annoyance/ inconvenience, I strongly encourage you to take stock of your backup plan (or lack thereof) by reviewing these tips

Oh, I have insurance ... I'm not worried

Usually insurance policies will cover your equipment if it is damaged by lightning, fire or flood, or if it is stolen. But, I have never seen a policy that covers the recovery of your data and that can take a very long time.

The engine room of a company is where the customer or client information is stored. Inside the database is all the information on what they buy, when they buy, how they pay and so forth. This may include your prospect or marketing list. Prospects are bought and sold openly, so who would want to loose them. Just imagine that you go to work tomorrow and attempt to open your database and its not there.

Make sure all of your current work files are backed up. This includes all application data files from ALL programs. Make sure you’ve got your e-mail address book stored somewhere. Make sure all your financial data is stored somewhere safe. Make sure you’ve got all your word processor files backed up. Have a copy of every Web site you visit frequently (e.g. export your Favorites/save your bookmarks). Make sure that you have a list of every user name and password for every Web site you visit and/or every program that requires a login. It’s easy to get this information while your computer is working and devastating to not have that information when you’re trying to get back up and running!

To really be safe, the backup medium (tape, CD or DVD, etc.) should be removed from your site. If you are backing up to tape, for instance, and you leave the tape cartridge in the machine, you'll be protected if the hard drive fails. But if the equipment is stolen, or the office burns to the ground, the backup will be lost.
The safest procedure is to use a different tape or disk each day and keep it off site.
Even though the data is backed up, what guarantee is there that you can restore the data when disaster hits. When you back up all of these files, make sure the backup media you use has the ability to be read in another computer! It’s all very well to create temporary backups to a ZIP disk or CD, but if backup cannot be read in another computer, you may as well not of even bothered! Always Test the Integrity of your Restore.

Choose the backup solution that is right for you.

Data loss is a serious problem. Not having a backup system in place is like driving your car with no insurance. You just wouldn't do it.

Contributed by: Julia May Baird (Marketing Manager)