Protecting Small Business Data
Backup is a mundane technology function that is rarely given much thought until something bad happens and someone needs to restore critical data. There is nothing worse than realizing you have lost critical data and that your backup wasn't working properly. By understanding what your backup is doing for you and utilizing good backup practices you can minimize the chance of this happening to you.
It is important for small businesses to understand the differences between different types of backup software and backup medium. When it comes to backup software there are over 100 different backup software vendors. A major item to consider is the difference between a full system backup and a data only backup. You may also hear a full system backup referred to as bare-metal or image. A full system backup allows you to put your system in the exact state it was before the data loss event. For example, my hard drive crashes and I need to restore my system onto a new laptop. If I have a bare-metal backup I can use a rescue media disk and my system is back exactly how it was before. If I have a data only backup solution I must first reinstall an operating system, reinstall any applications, reconfigure any settings and then restore my data. This can be a very time consuming and lengthy process. There are commercial packages that range from $75 for workstations and $750 for servers to do an image type backup. Organizations that don't understand the difference between a bare-metal backup and a data only backup often get a rude awakening when their system crashes. They know they had a backup, but didn't understand what that truly meant in terms of getting their system into a usable state.
In terms of backup medium, the traditional choice has been tape. Tape has been relatively low cost and allows someone to keep a long term archive of their data. The downside to using tape is that it has a higher error rate when retrieving data and the tape drive itself must be properly maintained. Very few people realize that when using a tape system you are actually supposed to use a cleaning tape on a regular basis to ensure that your tapes continue to function properly. A newer trend is the use of disk drives to store backup data. Everything from low cost USB external hard drives to low-end network attached storage devices. In addition to using disk drives many people have also started using online backup services. Due to changes in backup software techniques and the proliferation of bandwidth online backup is increasingly becoming more popular for small businesses. An online service can also take the manual intervention of swapping disks or tapes out of the picture.
Now that you are backup expert in backup technology it is time to think about what is right for your business. If your computer setup is complex or you have a server that a technology professional spent hours configuring just right, you might want to consider having an image backup as part of your plan.
Next you need to decide the medium. If you will be sticking with tape for low cost there are two important things to make part of your regular maintenance. You should use a cleaning cartridge on the tape drive itself and you should replace the tapes every year if you are using the same ones over and over. Additionally, when archiving the tapes do not store them next to any strong magnetic fields such as TV's, computer monitors or other household appliances.
If you opt for a disk based system make sure you are able to easily get the media offsite.
If you are considering using online backup make sure you do your homework and understand the service you are using. There are lots of offerings and they vary greatly in terms of pricing and functionality.
In closing, the most important part about a backup strategy is not the backup, but the restore. If you understand what your product can do for you in terms of actually getting your system up and running you will be able to sleep well knowing you have put the proper system in place.
