Is your backup doing what
you expect?
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| basic backups |
Most smaller organisations
acknowledge the need to copy data from hard disk onto some other
media. Thay may not do this regularly. they may not atually
check if it does what they expect it to do or test that it can
be restored successfully but at least there is usually something
to fall back on if disaster strikes.
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| limitations of data
backups |
But, in our experience, there
is a lot of misunderstanding about what a backup does for you.
The kind of backup described above is OK if you lose a few files
but is going to leave a lot of gaps should you be confronting
a major problem like loss of disk storage or even theft or destruction
of the computer. Your precious data files sit in the computer
on top of layers of system software, applications and configuration
settings that are also unique to your operation. These elements
are only partially or not at all covered by a basic backup routine.
In principle, all the programs that make your files accessible
should be recoverable but this requires locating media to re-load
them all from scratch on a repaired system. It is not unusual
for users to not know what they had installed, let alone produce
all the correct media (and later amendments and upgrades) to
recover the working system. Relying on this route also involves
establishing all the settings and connections, passwords and
software updates which are unlikely to be recorded in detail.
Effectively, the computer would need to be reinstalled, and
you won't have scheduled the 3 days downtime or the technical
support needed to do this. |
| cloning |
This predicament can be avoided
by using a program that will do a 'bit by bit' copy of everything
on your system, not just the data files. This process is known
as 'cloning'. The exact copy created on another disk or tape
unit can be used for 'bare metal' recovery back onto a new
disk or even another computer, if required. The difference
in this approach is that a system can be fully recovered in
hours rather than days and without all the panic and disruption
that server failures can bring.
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| seek advice |
the message is that backing up,
disaster management, data recovery and system recovery are
all interrelated and the right solution is likely to be unique
to your business, depending on how much data you have, what
kind of computers, how volatile is your data. A good grasp
of the many and varied products available in the marketplace
is also useful.
In other words, it's worth talking to someone who has been
there and done it before, because the maintaining the integrity
of your computer systems is also assuring the integrity of
your whole business
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visit
Orchard Computers website