Chad Whaley's Blog

We frequently field calls from new clients who are calling us because they just lost all of their data due to a hard drive crash, laptop theft, or even the occasional natural disaster (ie. Flood, Tornado, or Fire).  Being that data loss is very preventable, I constantly try to educate everyone on ways to avoid it.  If you do not have a backup strategy in place today, please implement one immediately upon reading this because it is only a matter of time before it will happen to you, if it hasn't already.  I've listed key components that everyone should consider or include in a backup strategy.

Major Components of any Backup Strategy

"To Error Is Human" - The first line of defense against what I refer to as the "Oopps Factor".  In my experience, a major portion of data loss is due to someone deleting the wrong thing accidentally.  There are tools built into Windows 7 to help with this, but the best recovery strategy is having a backup to restore files from.  This can be as simple as a single file, spreadsheet or email being accidentally deleted to a whole directory of important files.  There have been countless times that our computer support Indianapolis clients have called us to rescue key files.

"Planning for Business Continuity is Smart" - The buzz phrase of the last few years has been "Business Continuity".  If you've had anyone sell you on a hosted application or cloud computing, you've undoubtedly heard this buzz phrase.  It is referring to the ability for your business to continue operating without requiring a specific physical structure (your current store front or office location) or physical hardware/software.  We are big components of a Hosted PBX system that we integrate for some of our Indiana Telecommunications Provider Partners.  It helps with Business Continuity because calls can be rerouted in real time to any phone number in the world with a few simple clicks within the portal.  A good backup strategy should allow for business continuity in the same way.  A remote backup strategy fits the bill.  This is why we recommend a Remote Offsite Backup strategy to all of our computer support Indianapolis clients.

"Know the Limitations of Your Key Applications" -  A thorough knowledge of key business software applications should be factored into any backup strategy.  Certain applications, especially database driven ones, may require special steps to be properly be backed up.  In other words, just backing up the physical files might not be enough.

"Servers Require Special Care" - If your company is running on a server, then additional steps many need to be taken to properly backup everything.  This can range from a system state file to the Exchange store and log files.  Typically, special plug-ins or software are required.  The backup solution we use for most of our Indianapolis IT Support clients is Exchange aware as well as being able to handle most major databases.  These are key requirements in my opinion.

In Review

I will admit that more and more people are growing aware of data loss and the fact that it is a very real threat to business and personal lives.  All data loss can't be avoided, but at the very least its impact should be minimized with a good backup strategy.  If you do not have a good backup strategy in place, then please make one today.  If you own or operate a business, then ask an Indianapolis IT Support firm such as The Interconnect Group to help you create/implement one.  If you are in need of a backup strategy for your personal data at home, then please read a blog I wrote last year regarding 10 Handy and Free Software Programs in which I listed a free backup service for consumers.  At the very least backup key documents and files to an external hard drive or USB drive while you're implementing a proper backup strategy.

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