Electronic data is an essential part of everyday life. Data loss can arise from a multitude of wide ranging circumstances, from the simple deletion of a file to a breach in security. Proper data backup and recovery strategies should be integral to a comprehensive data management plan in order that critical data is retrievable if disaster strikes, as lost data can be costly and time consuming to put right.
There are a few basic factors that need to be taken into account when considering backup procedures and recovery plans. Thinking about the types of possible failure that might affect your system is a really good place to start, and once you have gone over every possible disaster from A to Z, start planning your data recovery.
The first step, as with any task, is to identify all systems and applications that contain critical data. What information do you have that is vital to you or your business? Do not forget to include your email system, as archived emails are often essential. The next thing to consider, is how many gigabits of data you have, what computers the files are located on and what format they are in. You may also want to think about the type of hardware that you have, as a slightly older computer might be harder to protect.
Once all the important systems have been identified, start to think about how to replace them. If a critical system fails, how long could you do without it before it has a negative effect? How costly would this be to you in time as well as money? Careful thought is needed at this stage, because the answers will impact how you protect your systems and how much you might have to spend to gain that protection. Without this information you will not be able to formulate your data protection and recovery plan.
Calculating your data storage requirements is another obvious but critical step. This affects how often you would need to run back-up procedures and your preferred recovery time. If you only have a relatively small amount of data, a simple mirror disk is an effective way of holding two lots of identical information so that if one hard drive fails, there will still be a working system. For larger amounts of data, there is always the possibility of using an outside data storage facility for peace of mind, but making several copies of your data locally makes good sense in the long run.
Advanced preparation is the key to identifying the important systems that need to be recovered. Make sure that you target your resources specifically to the systems that really matter to you so that you do not waste time, effort and money on backups that do not enable you to get things up and running. With any luck, all your preparation for the recovery of data will never actually be used; however, the security of having a data recovery plan in place hugely outweighs leaving things to chance.
This article was written by Workbooks.com, leading supplier of web-based CRM software.
Related posts:
Recent Comments