Disaster Recovery – Casserly Consulting

Is a Data Backup Really That Necessary? In a Word: Yes

Does your business have a dedicated data backup and disaster recovery system? It’s one of the most critical parts of managing a business, yet some don’t have a plan in the event of the worst. If your organization were to suddenly lose a significant portion of its data, would it be able to continue functioning as needed? With a data backup and disaster recovery solution, you won’t be dealing in the realm of “what if,” and instead focus on “when” you experience a data loss incident.

Traditionally, tape backup has been the go-to solution for small businesses. Tape backup is the process of storing data on magnetic tape, and at one time was considered the most prominent type of backup in the business world. However, tape has its own set of inconveniences that can hinder operations in times of disaster.

The number one reason to not use tape is that it’s not automatic. One of your employees has to set the backup at the end of each work day so that it can run. Furthermore, when it comes time to activate the backup, it must be performed manually as well. This means that even the slightest amount of user error could completely demolish any chances of your recovering from a data disaster.

The second biggest reason to not use tape is that it doesn’t take a full backup of your data. At the most, it only captures data that has been changed over the past 24 hours. The reason for this is because the data backup can only be performed once a day. Due to the immense strain placed on your network, a tape backup is generally reserved for after-hour implementation, so up to 24 hours of data could potentially be lost in the event of a disaster.

The third and final reason why you shouldn’t implement tape is that it takes considerably longer to restore from in the event of a data loss incident. Tape backup can take several hours to restore, and that’s assuming that you still have an infrastructure and hardware capable of running your organization (let’s face it–natural disasters like floods can damage more than just your building). This type of downtime can be an issue even for businesses that do have the required hardware to get back in business, as it’s just more wasted time and resources that must be accounted for.

A better solution for small businesses is an enterprise-level Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution from COMPANYNAME. BDR uses the cloud to perform data backups, which provides a significantly better system for getting back in the game following a critical loss incident. The cloud allows for faster restoration times, less downtime, and more complete data backups. The cloud utilizes snapshot-based data backup, which only updates the current backup if the files have been changed. These snapshots are taken every 15 minutes or so, significantly reducing the amount of data lost in the event of a data loss incident. It’s truly the best way to go about protecting your organization from unforeseen threats.

To get started with BDR, reach out to COMPANYNAME at PHONENUMBER.

4 Options for Backing Up Your Data. Which is Best?

It’s every business owner’s worst nightmare; they wake up to find out that their entire data infrastructure has been wiped out by some unexpected natural disaster or hacking attack. The only way to guarantee that your business’s future remains intact is to have some sort of data backup and recovery system, just in case of the worst.

However, if you’re unfamiliar with data backup solutions, you might not know where to start. We’ve outlined several options that your business has, as well as which ones are the superior choice.

Local Data Backup
Most organizations will immediately think of local data backup as their first option. While it’s a great way to avoid the risks of not having any data backup at all, keep in mind that it’s far from the ideal solution. Two types of local data backup solutions are magnetic tape and external hard drives. These allow you to keep a copy of your business’s data on-site in the event of a disaster, but it’s not a guarantee if you want to ensure the recovery of your data.

Imagine for a moment that your business was struck by a disaster so great that it eliminated pretty much everything that your organization had stored in your office. Fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, or floods all have this destructive capability. If this were to happen, your organization would be left without a trace of data to go off of. Furthermore, you also run the risk of malware infections, user error, or hardware failure when hosting your data backups on-site.

So… what’s the next best thing?

Cloud Backup
The next logical step would be to host your data off-site, and the cloud allows for just that. If your in-house infrastructure were to be rendered obsolete or incapacitated by some sort of disaster, you could restore your data quickly and efficiently through the use of a cloud backup and restoration process. Plus, you can forget about the potential user error that could arise from having to manually set and restore through tape backups.

Multiple Data Center Backups
Before going all-in on a cloud-based backup, you should ask them how many data centers that they use to store your data. Ultimately, you want your organization’s data to be stored in as many different locations as possible, as this improves the odds that your data can be located and restored. Basically, if the data can’t be found in one data center due to some sort of internal problem, you’ll know with certainty that at least one of them has it.

Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR)
For organizations that are serious about business continuity, an enterprise-level Backup and Disaster Recovery (BDR) solution is the best option to ensure the preservation of your mission-critical assets. BDR works by taking a backup of only files that have been changed since the last backup was taken, which allows it to take multiple backups throughout the workday instead of just one large backup after-hours. These backups are then stored in the cloud for future access.

BDR can also restore directly to a device, or to the BDR hardware itself, depending on just how bad the disaster is. This keeps downtime to a minimum and helps you get back in business as soon as possible following a disaster. If you have nothing to restore your data to, a backup device with all of your data can be sent to your office’s location overnight.

Are you ready to get started with BDR? To learn more, reach out to us at PHONENUMBER.