In Part I of this series, we discussed how to save your business some money by using services such as Skype or Vonage for your long distance calls.
In this second installment, we will go the opposite way and ask you to spend money. Counter-intuitive? maybe but not until you read the rest of article.
This time we are going to talk about the importance of backing up your data.
Yet Another Warning
Enterprise data back up and recovery is a subject of many faces with many standards, procedures, and protocols. I will only scratch the surface of non-critical data back FOR THE MICRO-ENTERPRISE (please read: 1-5 PCs maximum). Larger amounts of data or mission-critical data backup and recovery require a different approach and it is outside of the scope of this simple article. As usual, if you need professional advice on such topics, please acquire the services of a local IT firm to aid your and your IT department develop proper procedures.
On With the Topic: Backing Up Your Data
If you are small business operator, you probably rely on at least one or two computers to store some (if not all) of your business data. At the very least, you probably have some letters or letter samples, some images or logos for your business cards, or a short write-up about your company that can go on a pamphlet, flyer, or brochure. You may even have a website. Some of your data stored on this computer may be as crucial as customer information or as trivial as your next calendar appointment.
Have you wondered what would happen to your business if you did not have this data? Are you prepared to handle the possibility of data loss in the event of your computer getting stolen or hacked into by an intruder; what about your data being deleted by a virus, or by accident?
Usually, small business pay little attention to the maintenance and support of their computers. As long as they work, why worry about them right? Wrong!!!
Maybe it is because people do not realize how easy it can be to back up your data. Or maybe people think it is expensive. Well, I have good news for you: It does not have to be neither difficult, nor expensive. Here’s three possible solutions:
- Making Backups to DVD
- External Hard Drive plugged into your computer
- Network Attached Storage with Backups
I will briefly explain each option next.
Making Backups On DVD
If you have a fairly new computer, chances are it came with a DVD writer (aka burner), that is, a drive that can copy data to DVDs. If you do no have a DVD burner, you can buy a new one will at your local computer store. On average, a DVD burner will set you back about $50-$75 (CDN) as of this writing.
So, with a DVD burner installed on your computer, you can go to your local office supply store and get some blank recordable DVDs (depending on the amount of data you would like to backup) and make yourself TWO copies of the data you would like to keep onto this DVD. Store one disc in a secured location at your workplace (this will be your primary backup) and a second disc to go on a different physical location (NOT the same as the address as your primary backup).
The reason for making two copies is simple. You can use a primary backup located closest to you. However, there are times when you need the backed up data but the main backup is not physically accessible. Situations such as lack of access to your office (due to fire, earthquake, snowstorm, etc) render your main backup useless so it is a good idea to have a secondary source to recover the important files from.
If you have small amounts of data to backup (less than 700MB) you can achieve the same results by using CDs instead of DVDs. CDs are less expensive than DVDs but they can hold less amount of data per disc.
Backing up data to DVDs is a viable option if you are storing less than 4GB of data. For higher amounts, DVDs are still OK but then you start dealing with multiple discs per back up which make it more expensive (multiple discs, multiple times, over time add up); It simply becomes time consuming.
Backing Up Data to an External Hard Drive
When the amount of data is substantially large (over 2GB) you can consider a slightly more expensive alternative to DVDs. That is an external hard drive that will hold all of your data in one place.
In order to do this, you need an external HD which can be obtained from your local computer store starting at $100 (CAD) and a computer with USB ports available. Well, for the reasons explained above, you should really have two of these devices and keep them on separate locations.
Then, simply plug in the external Hard Drive to the computer you want to make a back up of and copy the files over. Repeat this step for each computer you want the data to be backed up, and for the secondary back up and you are done!
Yes, this takes time, but you do not have to be there to watch it go. You can schedule the task to take place before you leave the office and comeback the next day with your data all backed up for you.
Backing Up To The Network
If you have a small local network (and you should), you can just back up your files to there. You will need a special device on your network (which acts like a server) and you will be permanently able to back up and restore files from there.
Don’t forget to have a secondary back up of the data on your network device as always.
Theres are devices called “Network Attached Storage” (aka NAS) devices. You can find them at most computer shops and their prices can range from $200 to $2000 (CAD) and up, depending on how much data you want to back up. The advantage of a NAS vs an external Hard Drive is that, being network-aware, this devices are available to all computers on the local network not just one computer at a time.
So, with only one device (or two for secondary backups) you can basically have a back-up for all the data on all computers on your office as long as they are on the same network.
All the options above include software to automate most, if not all, of the process. So you set it up properly once and then you can forget about it. That is, until you need it ;)
Part III will come soon and we will touch on small networks for small businesses.
Until then…