There are a number of events that can cause catastrophic data loss for a business, and most of them you won’t see coming. But whether you suffer an unexpected fire or a hard drive that accidentally crashes, the result can be the same, devastating data loss.
According to IBM Security, the average cost of data loss for businesses is $150 per each lost record. On a hard drive with just 1,000 files, that’s $150,000 in losses if you haven’t protected your data with a good backup strategy.
Not many small businesses can bounce back from a data loss incident. Most of a company’s files are in electronic format now and that data can easily be lost or corrupted, which is why sometimes a backup is the one thing that can keep a company in business after a major incident has occurred.
Data loss often comes out of the blue unexpectedly. It can happen due to:
- Lost or stolen computer
- Mechanical failure of hard drive
- Software conflict
- Accidental deletion
- Malicious deletion
- Cloud service provider outage
- Ransomware and other types of malware
- Manmade or natural disasters (fire, flood, hurricane, tornado, etc.)
What’s the best way to prepare your business and ensure business continuity in the face of multiple eventualities?
Read on to learn the common backup mistakes to avoid and how to adopt the 3-2-1 backup rule to keep your business resilient no matter what.
Avoid These Common Backup Mistakes
Backups are one of those parts of a company’s technology infrastructure that can easily be forgotten about. That is, until data loss has occurred, and it immediately goes to the top of the priority list.
Here are some of the common data backup mistakes that people make that leave them in a bind just when they need their backup the most.
Not Regularly Checking Your Backup
People tend to start a backup for the first time, then not think about it again until they need to recover the data. The average failure rate for backing up all data is 75%, and part of that can be contributed to neglected backups.
Backups can easily stall and stop recording data if they hit a glitch. They can also run out of space or be accidentally turned off. You can avoid nasty backup surprises by regularly checking and testing your backup to ensure it’s properly copying all your data and hasn’t hit a roadblock.
Not Choosing the Right Folders
The best backup systems are those that will take a full image of your entire computer or server, including operating system, software, files, and all. But, if you don’t set up your backup properly, you might just be getting a few folders on your hard drive that are being copied but missing other valuable data.
It’s best to have an IT pro help with your backup setup, so you can ensure it’s got you covered and will have an entire copy of your data and system that can easily be restored in its entirety to another device if needed.
Not Backing Up Cloud Software
Do you back up your Office 365 or other cloud-based services? If you think that the provider has it covered, you’re wrong. Microsoft and Google both recommend backing up your data in their platforms to a 3rdparty backup provider to prevent loss in the event they have a server outage or other downtime or system problem at their data center.
Keeping Your Backup Onsite
If you’re backing up your computers to a local server or external hard drives at your office, what happens if there’s a theft or a disaster like a tornado? You not only lose your computers you lose your backup copies too.
You want to make sure you’re using the 3-2-1 backup rule, which includes the need to keep backups offsite, so in the event your office suffers physical damage, you can still keep your business running by recovering your data from the cloud.
Using the 3-2-1 Backup Rule to Secure Your Data
The 3-2-1 backup rule was designed to remove as many backup risks as possible and ensure that no matter what, a copy of your data is recoverable when needed. The rule goes as follows.
3: Keep three copies of all your data. This can be the copy on your hard drive as well as two other backup copies.
2: Make sure two of those copies are on different storage types. That means using both cloud and local drive storage options will help you hedge your bets against a loss.
1: Keep at least one copy of your data offsite. As noted, cloud backups are a smart way to ensure all your data isn’t onsite and destroyed in the case of a catastrophe at your physical office.
Get a Resilient Backup Plan in Place Today!
You don’t want to wait until you’ve suffered a data loss incident to think about your backup plan. Genuine Technology Group can help with both onsite and offsite backup solutions and disaster planning and make sure your solution is tested regularly.
Contact us today for a backup plan evaluation and keep your data protected. Call 971-288-0880 or reach us online.