Data Backup Tips and Strategies to Prevent Data Loss

» Backup Tips & Strategies

Can you afford to ignore Data Backup?

An average business spends between $100,000 and $1 Million per year due to data loss.
54% of companies surveyed said that being without their data would cost them more than $50,000 an hour.
After 5 years, only 7% of businesses that suffered serious data loss are still in business.

A comprehensive data backup strategy is vital to your data security. Too many people wait until disaster strikes before they think about a backup. A good backup is an excellent way to protect against viruses, deteriorating hard drives, disasters and human errors. If it would not be cost effective or even possible to re-enter data, then you need a backup strategy.

Plan for Data Backup:

Think about where you keep your backup.
If you live in an area that can flood, don't store your backup in the basement.
If the storage location for your backups is protected by sprinklers, what will the water do to the backups?
If there is an earthquake, will you be able to get to your data. An off site copy or online backup is an excellent idea.
Store a full backup at another location to protect against fire, theft, or other disaster.
If your data is critical it may be a good idea to have a quarterly and yearly backup as well so that you can recover files that may have been deleted, but not discovered until months later.

Begin a Data Backup routine:

Make backing up a part of your normal scheduled daily tasks.
Don't count on anyone else to back your data up for you.
Do backups of your own critical data.

What is the best way to set up a Data Backup strategy?

To determine the best schedule for your data backup it is important to know how often your data changes.
It is a good idea to have at least three different backups of your data.
Full backups can be supplemented by incremental backups. An incremental backup will only back up files that have changed since the last full backup, and is normally much quicker than a full backup. If you run an incremental backup at the end of the work day, it protects all your newest data if anything happens overnight, and all of the data not backed up by the incremental backup is still protected by the full backup.

Be sure to test your Data Backup periodically! Did you know that...

The Department of Trade & Industry has recently said that only about 60% of the backups companies think they have completed are usable.
34% of companies NEVER test their backups.
77% of those who have tested their backups have discovered failed backups before they were needed.

Don't simply rely on backup software to get it right 100% of the time. To ensure that your backups are protecting you, periodically test the backup jobs by attempting to restore them to an alternate location. This will bring out any flaws or corrupt data before it is too late.

Most backup applications also have a "backup log" or generate a "backup report" that can quickly identify any problems or skipped files in the backup job. Be sure to review these logs when backups are complete.

A backup of a backup of a backup:

A single backup may be a good start, but for the best protection against data loss, especially from catastrophic events, having at least three (3) backups of your data is recommended.

Iomega is not just a Data Recovery company: since 1980, we've helped over 60 million customers protect and store their data with simple storage solutions for a complicated world. Because of this, we can not only tell you how to back up your data, we give you the tools to do it easily!

Here's a perfect example of how to use Iomega storage solutions to protect your data:

Set up Iomega Automatic Backup or Automatic Backup Pro to automatically back up your data at the end of the day. Automatic Backup installs quickly, then runs automatically to back up your data to an Iomega External Hard Drive or Network Attached Storage (NAS) appliance. Files are immediately available if you need to restore a copy, and you don't have to go digging through tape libraries!
Using an Iomega REV drive powered by Iomega Automatic Backup Pro software, configure a full backup to REV 35GB disks once a week. Once this backup is done, you can secure the full backup offsite. With your data now backed up in two locations, no single event will be able to damage both sets of data.
Set up nightly incremental backups with Automatic Backup Pro to other REV 35GB disks. Use a different disk for each night, and you'll always be sure to have at least one copy of your recently-changed data nearby.
Use an online backup solution, like Iomega iStorage, to keep a third copy of your data. Secure online backup from iStorage means that your data is protected from data loss sources such as floods, fires, and theft. Plus, your data is available online, which means you can get to it from home, work, or on the road!