Top Strategies on How to Backup Your Data Successfully

Don’t keep waiting until the disaster strikes! Have you ever imagined how your operations would be affected if few data volumes (documents, multimedia files etc.) are destroyed, stolen away or rendered useless by a malicious program! The importance of hiring a professional IT support company cannot be denied but you on your own need to be aware of top strategies on how to backup data as well. Professionals can help you better if you know what you really need for your business.

Listed below are the top strategies on how to backup files and other data –

Brainstorm and Plan Early

Make it a point to discuss raw ideas for a data backup plan with system administrators and other professionals at your company. Everyone can come up with unique ideas and help in strengthening your company’s data backup strategy. If you’re living in an area where floods or hurricanes are common, make sure backups are never stored in basements. Choose at least the 2^nd or 3^rd floor. If digital data is the lifeline of your business, it’s a good idea to take online backups. Such backups are easily accessible through web interfaces and keep your data safe from all imaginable disasters including break-ins, fire accidents, floods, earthquakes etc.

Have a Rock Solid Backup Routine

Running a business successfully demands all of your focus & energy. In the process, it’s easy to lose track of backups or other such processes that are actually very important for the health of your income stream in the long run. Even if you know how to backup a computer or understand the importance of email backup, you’d still need to have a backup routine in place. Make it a part of the daily task list assigned to a system administrator or network engineer. Never count on each employee in your organization, big or small, to take backups on their own. They might do it for a day or two but eventually, they’ll stop doing it.

Have a Personalized Data Backup Strategy

The best data backup strategy is not exactly like the one recommended by an expert. It’s the ‘modified’ strategy that has been tailored to your business’s exact needs. If data on your company workstations changes every day, you need to backup hard drive on a daily basis, for example. It’s advisable to have full as well as incremental backups. For example, you can take one full backup on every Saturday and incremental (data changes) backups on week days.

Test Your Backup on a Regularly Basis

Don’t rely blindly on backup software whether it’s online or installed on a server on your local network. IT support companies (if you’ve hired one) will do it on its own but it’s important to inquire about data backup testing. Try to recover the data backup to an alternate location on your network at least once in a month to check if the integrity of data has not been lost. Also, make sure you check ‘backup logs’ at least once a week to find out if some backup operations failed.

How to Recover Deleted Files

At times, important files get deleted due to human error, viruses or malfunctioned software programs. In some cases, antivirus programs can also delete important files. The file can be restored directly from the backup, if you’ve any. If there was no backup, you can try using a freeware or proprietary software for restoration. You can also have a look out on this article regarding hidden tips to successfully restore your files.

However, If deleted data is very important, it’s prudent to have a competent IT support services company look into the matter as they’ve expertise, tools and software for data retrieval.