Could Your Business Survive Without Your Customer Data?
Picture the sheer horror of the following scenario to a business owner: You arrive at work to be told that your IT system has gone down and that all the data may be lost? You ask your in company IT specialist how long it will take to restore the back up and you are told the backup has also failed and all of a sudden the sheer horror of the situation sinks home as you realise have lost your entire businesses data .
IT is the lifeblood of any organisation and those who fail to take the correct steps to protect it do so at their peril. Loss of data is a major threat to businesses of all sizes – from single desktop operations to multi-networked concerns.
Any IT solution should not be restricted to the basics like computer repair, network and computer support , but should also take into account business continuity planning.
The sad fact is that nobody can predict if a business or a consumer is likely to suffer from a data loss emergency, but there are a number of areas that are generally prone potential problems which could arise from a basic electrical power surge, electronic or mechanical failure or even a sabotage attempt by a disgruntled employee. You also have to consider acts of nature i.e floods, storms or even natural disasters depending on your locality.
In recent years companies with foresight have invested in tape back-up systems, where all important data has been copied to tape, usually each night. But even some of those have fallen victim to theft, loss or tape failure. Fortunately technology has moved on and companies wishing to ensure the best possible protection have taken advantage of IT specialists offering the ultimate solution – offsite data back-up to remote, highly secure servers.
This then leads to the need for far more expensive data recovery or raid data recovery as a method of hopefully retrieving vital data.
Many companies are now investing in remote data backup models as part of their business continuity strategy as these have a number of significant advantages.
For example, despite being stored remotely, data can be restored in the workplace extremely easily by logging into the servers. Data is digitally encrypted so that it can be accessed by no one other than the company to whom it belongs. “It is also a very cost effective method compared to tape systems which are less reliable and constantly need replacing.”
If you have not yet implemented a disaster recovery plan for your business then you should put this high on your business agenda. Could your business survive if it were to lose all the client records on your CRM system or financial data from your accounts package. Don’t forget the cost is not purely the loss of data but also the lost business that may ensue as well as the time and resource to get things back on track.
And of course on a final note, once you have implemented a business continuity plan make sure you test it to make sure the plan is robust in a real environment.
How Old Is Your Hard Drive?
I guess we have all been there at one stage or another. You have been working on an important project, business proposal or even spent days and sometimes weeks writing an academic paper and all of a sudden the file is no longer there and panic sets in.
The first thing to do is to do a search of your folders to make sure you have not saved it in the incorrect folder and if this does not fine the elusive file you can also try having a look in the recycle bin to make sure you have not accidently deleted it. If the file can still not be found then this may be indicative that you are suffering from a degraded drive.
Much as we would like to believe a hard drive will not last forever but has a definitive life expectancy which is often referred to as a mean time between failures (MTB). MTB can often be used as a reference to a drive future reliability and calculations would put expected drive failures at less than 0.1 percent.
But oh if life was so simple!
So the big question is when is the best time to renew my hard drive so it does not suffer from any failures?
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Each year, Nearly 50% of PC users lose priceless data. Even the ones who use onsite backup methods such as CDs, flash drives and external hard drives are at risk. Fires, floods, theft and other disasters can destroy your onsite backups. Carbonite Online Backup eliminates the risk of losing files by automatically backing up the irreplaceable photos, music, e-mails, financial records and other valuable files on your PC to a secure, offsite location. Carbonite takes less than 5 minutes to install and begins working right away to protect your most valuable files, constantly updating your data backups while you work without slowing down your PC. The best part is you can test drive for FREE for 15 days. Try Carbonite FREE today.
