Data backup: An inconvenient Necessity

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Wednesday, 28 July 2010 07:35

Data Backup: An Inconvenient Necessity By John Hope-Bailie, technical director of Demand Data Data backup, storage and retrieval issues have gained currency in recent months with rumours of increased system-corrupting malware threats doing the rounds ahead of the World Cup. However, rather than replying on unsubstantiated stories for motivation, computer users would be better advised to opt for an investment in a backup solution as a long term necessity to guard against a wide range of threats – from power outages and worker sabotage to old-fashioned system failures. Any malfunction, no matter how insignificant, could contribute to the catastrophic loss of valuable data. It’s a drum that has been beaten regularly in the past, but it’s a proven reality; lost information can lead to business failure. At the very least it could be frustrating and annoying. Like the lifejacket on a sinking ship, a backup will be a most gratifying safeguard when disaster strikes. Therefore, the best solution is to introduce a data backup strategy ideally formulated to meet your needs. The first decision to make is what data will need to be backed up. Then, how often you are going to make backups? You also need to decide whether you are going to hold your backed-up data on- or off-site. The general rule of thumb is that any data that is vital to the business, particularly important documents, accounting files and spreadsheets, should be backed up. The exceptions are the operating system and programs that, apart from personal settings, can be recovered from original CDs which (hopefully) you have stored in a fire-proof, secure area. Make daily backups de rigueur. If you leave it any longer than that, the greater the amount of data irretrievably lost when lady luck deserts you. What backup device will you choose? The popular options include tape drives, USB drives, rewritable CDs or DVDs, a second hard drive or a hard disk array. If you opt for manual backups – we’ll deal with automated alternatives later - there are three ways for them to be executed. The first is to copy and paste the relevant data from the hard disk to the backup medium. The simplest method involves ‘dragging’ the files from the computer to the backup. The second is to use a software-based backup utility. This method is used to backup selected parts or a complete disk comprising a large number of files where the risk of corruption is high. Disk ghosting is a similar process, with the exception that a complete disk image file is created which may be ‘burnt’ onto a CD or DVD. When choosing backup software, select a system that simplifies the process as much as possible. For example, backups – if not fully automated – should be executable with a single command. That said, it is best to purchase a more sophisticated, fire-and-forget system which will eliminate the possibility of human error. The options discussed so far are generally associated with on-site backups. More secure, (from theft and fire perspectives) are off-site options. The obvious solution is to physically remove the storage media (tapes, disks, CDs, DVDs) to a remote location after completing the backup and returning them when they are needed for another backup. A more practical solution, which will eliminate the tedium associated with this and similar routines, is to make use of a modern Internet-based subscription service from an approved service provider. It will also eliminate the unreliability associated with conventional backup methods, which according to research, fail to recover sufficient data for a full restore in around 50% of catastrophic data loss scenarios. Ideal for small businesses or home offices – although often found in corporate environments – the leading outsourced backup offerings use industry-standard encryption and administrative controls to ensure that data is always protected. Significantly, the increasing acceptance of ‘cloud computing’ is now facilitating easier off-site data storage in more secure locations, often outside the country. These solutions are bound to gain in popularity because of their ability to seamlessly integrate online backup, offsite storage, archiving and recovery into a single solution that facilitates cast-iron data security and 100% recovery. Importantly, data can be backed up as frequently as every 15 minutes, 24 hours-a-day. And then it is streamed to an off-site repository from where it can be recovered at the point of failure, eliminating downtime and data loss from relying on a previous day’s backup.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 July 2010 07:40