Data backup is one of those things we know we should do both at home and at work, but it can take a back seat to other more urgent (or exciting) computer activities.
A data backup system tends to be a computer service in Louisiana that falls victim to the “out of sight, out of mind” phenomenon. But it only takes one Dropbox syncing problem or ransomware infection and your backup strategy springs to the top of your priority list… only then it may be too late.
Once files are lost, it can be hard to get them back. Even if you do, it can involve a significant amount of downtime and costly recovery services.
Approximately 55% of small and medium businesses say they would pay the ransom in a ransomware attack to get back their data. (Ransomware payments average $41,000!)
The thing is, many companies (and individuals) think they have a reliable backup in place. Then when they need that backup the most, they find that it either stalled months ago or they can’t fully recover their data.
Why does this happen to good companies who try to back up their data like they should?
We’ll go through some of the common backup mistakes people make and how to back up the right way.
Are You Making One of These Critical Backup Mistakes?
Not having a data backup can lead to catastrophic consequences for a business. It means you can’t serve your customers as usual, you’re missing critical records, and your business may be at a standstill.
Yet with so much on the line, only about 10% of businesses backup their data every day. And for those that do back up, the average failure rate for backing up all data is 75%.
Why so high? Because of common backup mistakes like these.
Backing Up Only to a Local Disk
If the only backup copy you have for your data is an external hard drive that’s plugged into your computer, that means if anything happens… a power surge, storm, or other catastrophe, not only your computer may be lost, but your backup may be lost along with it.
It’s fine to have a local copy if you like, but only in ADDITION to an offsite backup that will be secure in the event of an onsite disaster. Offsite backups are one of the many helpful services we offer at Carl’s Computer Care.
Never Checking Your Backup
A backup service often gets started on a computer or server and then never checked again until someone is in an emergency data loss situation. Many people find that their backup stopped copying their data without them realizing it, and they’re left in a bind.
Backups can fail and stall for all types of reasons:
- Software errors
- Synching conflicts
- Employee turned it off accidentally
- Backup space was full
- Computer rebooted and backup didn’t restart
To avoid this happening, it’s a good idea to use a managed backup service for your business data, one that’s monitored proactively for any signs of trouble.
Not Ensuring Your Backup Has a Recovery Component
Backing up your data is one thing. Recovering that data to a device is another thing completely. The best backup systems are designed for fast and easy recovery to either the same device or a different one.
If you make a mistake with the recovery portion of your backup plan, you could end up with your backup being on a disk, but being unable to recover that data easily to another computer, costing you value time.
Data recovery should be tested regularly to ensure you don’t hit any snags and also to teach your staff how to do it quickly so they’ll be ready in the case of a major data loss event.
Thinking That Cloud Storage is the Same as Cloud Backup
Cloud storage and a cloud backup and recovery system are not the same thing. If you think a solution like Dropbox has you covered in the case of data loss, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise.
Cloud storage is designed to sync (not backup) with your computer. So, if you accidentally overwrite or delete a synced file, that same file in your cloud storage will likewise be overwritten or deleted.
One of the horror stories that many iPhone users experience with iCloud is not signing out of their iCloud account before resetting an old phone and having all those photos deleted from iCloud when the phone is blanked out. This is because cloud storage is not the same as a backup.
A cloud backup service makes a copy of all your data, if a file is deleted later, it will still remain on the backup copy.
You can also retain backup copies as long as you like, so if you happen to have a ransomware attack and didn’t discover it for three days due to a long weekend, you could go back to a pre-attack backup version to restore your data.
Get Peace of Mind with Our Offsite Backup Services
Carl’s Computer Care can take the stress of data backup and recovery off your hands. Our managed backup service keeps your data safely offsite and ready for recovery when you need it.
Contact us today to learn more! Call 225-315-3498 or reach us online.