In an article from earlier this year, Business Cloud News reported interesting survey data from companies that had lost valuable data. At the time of their data loss, 86% of the companies had relied on some kind of data backup method. Unfortunately, their data backups hadn’t worked as expected, leaving them defenseless against costly permanent loss.
When considering whether your business has a strong backup and disaster recovery plan, check if your data backup methods actually work.
Why do backups fail?
Businesses sometimes forget to include all of their devices, or all the files on each device, in their data backup process. Errors may also arise and result in missing, incomplete, or corrupted copies. Furthermore, data backups may get stored in ways that compromise them. For example, businesses may back up their data on tape, and fail to notice that the cartridges have sustained physical damage.
Human error often plays a significant role in data backup failures. Especially when the backup process relies heavily on manual input, there’s more room for mistakes, such as overlooked or accidentally deleted files.
Are your backups reliable?
Your backup and disaster recovery plan must rest on reliable data backup measures. It’s important to regularly test them. See what would happen if you had to restore your data.
• Among your backups, do you notice any missing or degraded data?
• If there are any errors, what’s their source?
• Does the restoration process proceed too slowly, at a delay you wouldn’t be able to afford?
• Are the copies of your data safe from tampering or theft?
Furthermore, you have to check that the methods you use are appropriate for the kind of data you’re backing up. For instance, critical data that would need rapid restoration after an IT disaster probably shouldn’t get backed up on tape cartridges.
Combined Systems Technology 