Unfortunately, all hard drives have a shelf life, all of them will die eventually. Even if it isn’t a catastrophic failure that is the issue, a security breach may also lead to data loss.
This means that it is vitally important for you to ensure that your data, both personal and business, is regularly and adequately backed up. While there is not one single way of backing up data, there is one certainty: if you have a strategy, you will be best protected.
You should find a data backup strategy that works for you and stick to it, but here are some initial suggestions:
Make It Automatic
Even someone with the best intentions will, at times, become busy and forget to run backups, and even the odd missed backup can put your businesses data at risk. You shouldn’t presume that calendar reminders will be good enough. The only way to get around this issue is to configure an automatic backup solution to protect your business data and keep it safe from loss.
Test It Regularly
There’s no point in having a backup solution for your data if it doesn’t work as it should. It’s better to learn this during a test than learning the hard way when you have lost all of your data. You don’t have to test it as regularly as every week, although this would do no harm, but set a schedule and stick to it. Use a tool such as Disk Utility to check your drive’s integrity and that you can restore files from it.
Run It At A Convenient Time
Whether the backup is on your personal or business system, timing of the backup run can be vital. Otherwise your backup software could interfere with your computer use and vice versa. The most ideal time to run a backup would be the early hours of the morning when you are least likely to need to use the computer.
Customise Backup Times According To Your Data Changes
Everyone’s data will be different meaning that it will have different needs when it comes to being backed up. If your data changes regularly, you should back it up just as regularly. For example, if your data changes daily then you should consider a daily backup.
Similarly, if your data is highly valued, but does not change very often, you should back it up each time a change is made and ensure it is stored securely.
Put Someone In Charge
If you run a business, it is important that you emphasise the importance of backing up data to all of your employees, regardless of their position in the company. However, it would be ideal to nominate one person or department who is dedicated to ensuring that the company’s data is sufficiently backed-up.
Of course, each individual data backup strategy will be different, but that is not to say that any are necessarily better than others. The best thing that you and your business should do is experiment and find what works best for you and your data.
[Photo Credit: Janitors]
