Around five percent of hard drives fail within 18 months. As time goes on, it becomes more likely that a hard drive will fail. The type of hard drive also plays a role in determining how long it will keep working.
Since the majority of data loss can be traced to hard drive failure, it’s important to prepare your business. There are other causes of data loss as well, such as being the victim of a cyber attack. With the number of cyber attacks on the rise, it only makes sense to put a plan in place.
That’s why you need a backup disaster recovery plan.
Defining Backup Disaster Recovery
The idea behind backup and disaster recovery is simple. When something happens to your data, you can recover it.
The example of hard drive failure illustrates the point. If your hard drive were to stop working, would you be able to access the files on it? If you haven’t backed up the data to another location, you’d likely lose all the files on that drive.
Hard drives sometimes fail because they’re old. A disaster like a flood or fire can also destroy or damage equipment. Cyber attacks can also damage drives, causing data loss.
Having backups in other locations means you don’t suffer data loss. A disaster recovery plan outlines actions to prevent data loss and what you’ll do in the event of a disaster.
Restoring Data
The first line of defense against data loss is the backup. A backup is a copy of data stored in another location.
In the past, backups were manually conducted. Today, most experts recommend automating your backups. Services like the cloud can make it easier to create backups of your most important files.
Mobile devices may sync with the cloud, creating automatic backups. You may also be able to set other programs or devices to create these backups on a regular basis.
A good rule of thumb is the 3-2-1 rule:
- Create three copies of your data
- Store them in at least two separate formats
- Keep one copy offsite in case of disaster
To do this, you could set a computer to backup to the cloud, which stores your data on an offsite server. You might also store your files on a disk or another hard drive in your office as well.
If you don’t have a backup, you may need to engage in data recovery. Backup vs recovery is quite different.
Backup means restoring your files from another copy. Recovery tries to recover lost data from a damaged storage device.
If you hard drive is destroyed, though, recovery efforts won’t work. A backup is a much safer plan.
Why Does it Matter?
Consider that many businesses fold after experiencing a cyber attack. A large number also lose customers if they lose data.
You might be working on an important project, and a fire or flood wipes out the files. Without your hard drive, you can’t continue working on the project. The customer decides to take their business elsewhere when you miss your deadline.
Restoring files from backup prevents this scenario. You can keep working and deliver the project on time. The customer sticks with you, allowing your business to continue growing and profiting even as you recover from disaster.
Secure Your Business Future
As you can see, having backup disaster recovery plans is crucial for any business today. Secure your company’s future by investing in a recovery plan today.
Looking for more security advice? We have plenty of tips and tricks to help you keep your business safe.
