The Importance of Data Backup for your Business

With a majority of businesses relying on computers for their daily operations, data backup and recovery has become more important than ever. There are thousands of companies that offer off-site data backups, and hundreds of companies that offer to recover data off of dead hard drives and USB sticks. The number of businesses alone that are utilizing this service should tell you how important a businesses data can be.

Why data backup is necessary for your business?
Data backup is a smart business move for many reasons. Given the prevalence of hardware failure almost every computer technician service will recommend having users backup their data at least once a week. Aside from the random disk failing or computers going dead, natural disasters, thefts, and accidental deletion can cause major problems for daily business operation. There are three common ways that companies will choose to backup their data, manual local copying, external backup drive, and cloud storage.

Manual local copying
Manual local copying is when a user chooses to manually save their data onto a drive that they personally have with them in the office. An example of this type of data backup would be a user at a work place saving their files onto a USB drive. The user would pick any important files that may be relevant to their work and save them onto the USB drive for later use. While it is possible for users to back up their data themselves onto USB sticks and the like, it is important to remember that employees don’t always know what data is important to backup. Important files could be lost, and it is never a good idea to rely on employees saving their data to personal drives.

Storing data
Storing data using the second method, the external backup drive, is a much better way to ensure that data is securely stored. This method opts to use software to help the user backup their data at set times throughout the day or work week. Examples of this type of software would be Symantec Ghost or Time Machine. This software/external drive combination is very powerful and ensures that a users data will not be lost in the case of a computer failure. While the user may lose a days work, it is much more preferable to have to redo a few hours of work on a project instead of a few weeks. A drawback to this type of file storage is that in the event of a natural disaster or fire, data can still be destroyed.

Cloud storage services
The third method of storing data on workplace machines would be to utilize a cloud storage service. Cloud storage has become increasingly popular due to the fact that it is very hard to lose data stored in this method. When utilizing cloud storage, like a Google drive for instance, a company will share, in real time, the changes made to files on a users computer with the cloud storage service. For example, if a user is writing a report for an upcoming meeting, every few seconds the cloud will save the document as a draft. If the users computer crashes while writing the report, they would simply move to a different computer, log onto the cloud, and open the document they were previously working on. They would find that the document would be perfectly preserved and they could continue where they left off.

The takeaway
All of the options we listed above have pros and cons, and it is important to weigh these options as a business owner. The decision you make could have lasting impacts on your users data and the productivity of your business. We hope that we can help you make the best choice for your business.