Statistics show that 90% of the businesses that lose their vital records are out of business within one year, and that 80% of the disasters that destroy such businesses are non-natural in origin: viruses, fraud, hacking and human error.
How well-protected are your systems against data loss? Guess what -- if you are a business owner/manager, the chances are 75% that you don't really know! And if you want to attach a specific level of importance to the ability to restore your data after a critical system loss, ask yourself this question: how many hours do you want to spend reproducing what you can very possibly lose? Assuming it's even reproducible.
A well-thought-out disaster-recovery plan is, therefore, of the utmost importance, and the level of its importance will be a function of the criticality of your data. Fortunately enough, the overall parameters of such a plan are simple to define and implement:
Perform backups on a daily/weekly basis. Determine the level of backup you need (incrementals, differentials and/or full system backups) as well as the media employed (tape, CD, ect.).
Test those backups periodically! More than half of the businesses that find themselves in need of data restore, also find themselves incapable of restoring it.
If you consider your records to be vital enough, start cloning and storing your backup media in a secure, offsite location.
Set aside a certain periodic time (we suggest quarterly) to review your disaster recovery plans, and to ensure that Steps 1,2,and 3 get done.
Don't get caught short by data loss. Give us a call and we'll help you determine a cost-effective backups method that'll work.