 What
does it take to protect your data?
Read
on and we'll show you.
As stated
before, no matter what measures you take to protect
your data from loss, something can and probably will
happen to it sooner or later and the only
way to get it back is to have proper backups.
Types
of Data
- There
are different types of data on your system, and not
all of it is as important as others. In fact, on most
systems there is really only a very small amount of
files that make up your critical
data - documents, accounting files, databases, etc.
while the bulk of your system is made up of programs
and the Windows operating system itself which you
have either downloaded or installed from CD.
These programs are meant to be re-installed in the
event of a loss, not restored. When you install a
program into the Windows environment, many system
files are adjusted to accommodate the new program.
You can't simply backup these files and restore them
later and expect the program to work. In fact, you
have more of a chance of damaging your entire operating
system by doing so. If you don't want to have to reinstall
your programs, the only reliable way to back up your
programs, and the operating system itself, is through
a method known as Disk Imaging (See below). Otherwise,
we recommend you make copies of all of your program
CDs and keep them safely stored separate from the
originals just in case. Get in the habit of storing
any programs you download from the Internet onto CDs
as well, in case they are not available in the future.
Disk
Imaging - In the event of a complete loss,
one major cost of recovery can be the time it takes
to reinstall your operating system and all of the
programs. Disk Imaging greatly reduces the time this
take by taking a snapshot of your entire disk, programs
and all, for you to recover from later. Sounds great,
but it can take over an hour to do a complete image
so its not meant to be part of a daily backup routine.
A lot of people are put off by the fact that recovering
from a disaster can take 4 to 12 hours or more so
having a disk image that can reduce this time to an
hour or less looks attractive - but is it worth spending
over an hour a day for this benefit? Of course not,
but disk imaging certainly has its place. We recommend
in most situations that a disk image be performed
after every install of a program or at least semi-annually.
If you evaluate that the probability of a complete
loss is quite small, then it is probably best to simply
accept the higher cost of recovery. The choice is
yours. Critical Node Systems offers disk imaging services
and storage to our local service area customers and
we would be happy to discuss your situation with you.
If you prefer to do your disk imaging yourself, well
known commercial software packages include Symantec's
Ghost and PowerQuest's
Drive Image, though you should be sure you have
a thorough understanding of disk imaging before attempting
to use these products.
Daily
Backups - It cannot be emphasized enough.
Your most critical data must be backed up daily and
those backups must be taken off-site. We have seen
time and time again where people neglect to do a backup
one day and that is the day their data is lost. Even
worse, they forget to take their backups off-site
and now their data and their backups
are lost. We believe our DAB backup service offers
the best protection available for your most critical
data mainly because it is fully automated and your
backups are instantly and automatically taken off-site
and stored safely at our data centre. DAB offers the
ultimate in convenience, but there is nothing wrong
with traditional backup methods so long as it gets
done and gets taken off-site every single day. You
can use tape drives, write your data to CDs or ZIP
disks, or use removable hard drives. With most traditional
methods, they can be set up to run semi-automatically
with the proper know-how. But with any backup method,
it is vital that the right files are being backed-up.
With our DAB service, our trained technicians go over
your data with you to determine exactly what needs
to be backed up.
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