What Everybody Ought to Know About Backups
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Not long ago, a fairly savvy fellow told me he backs up all of his critical data every night. I told him that was a smart thing to do and asked him if he was using CDs or an external hard drive.
“Oh, no. Nothing like that,” he replied. “I just make a copy of the ‘My Documents’ folder so I have two of everything just in case.” (I held back my groan.) In case of what? Certainly not a drive failure. Keeping extra copies of a document on the PC may help recover from a bad edit, but it does nothing to prevent data loss in the event of a hard drive crash.
As gently as possible, I explained what a REAL backup is. So now he’s burning CDs in addition to keeping extra copies on the PC. And I’m a bit more at ease knowing that I won’t have to deal with the nightmare of explaining to him why it’ll cost him hundreds or thousands of dollars to recover his data when his hard drive fails.
No less an authority than Seagate Recovery Services defines a backup this way:
Simply storing duplicate copies of your critical data on the same device is not a proper backup. The true definition of “BACK UP” is storing TWO or more copies of critical data on TWO separate storage devices!
Everybody ought to know that.
Cheers!
The Geek
Have a computer problem? A question about your latest gadget? Click here to Ask the Geek! Kenny “The Geek” Harthun has been playing with geeky stuff since 1965. He’s a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer with Connective Computing, Inc. providing network, desktop and info security support services to a wide range of clients.
[tags]backup, ken harthun, ask the geek, tips, advice[/tags]
4 Comments
Julian Horn
June 1st, 2007
at 4:37am
Quote: “The true definition of “BACK UP” is storing TWO or more copies of critical data on TWO separate storage devices!”
Actually they are missing something. The two sepearate devices need to be in seperate physical locations. It’s all very well backing up to NAS but that’s no good if said device is in the same room.
In the unfortunate event of a fire for example, both current and back up data would be destroyed.
You must remove backup data from your office to another location to be safe(ish)
Greg March
June 1st, 2007
at 7:34am
You may want to include an article about the longevity (or lack thereof) of CD media, along with which CD media lasts longer.
/greg
Ernest N. Wilcox Jr.
June 1st, 2007
at 9:16am
While the above meets the definition of a back up, my definition is as follows:
1). A master image set of the system when first installed and configured (stored off site).
2). A monthly image set (stored off site) Weekly or daily sets may be appropriate in mission critical or business situations.
3). A periodic incremental back up set (moved off sit).
All backup sets should be stored on CD, DVD, or networked media. The frequency with which incremental backups are created and moved off site should be a function of the importance of the data being backed up.
Backed up data should be archived. If you are backing up business data, keep all back up sets for up to the length of the statute of limitations in your area. The length of storage and completeness of your back up archive should be a function of the type of data being archived and its importance.
A good back up routine should be designed to protect you from data loss due to any number of causes including (but not limited to) hardware failure, fire, or natural disaster.
gnomewriter
June 6th, 2007
at 3:32pm
Hey, thanks for the comments, everyone. Cheers! The Geek
Julian–Good point. In our management of backup regimes for our clients, we insist they always keep their latest backup offsite.
Greg–thanks for the suggestion. I’m working on another backup-related article with some examples of different ways to back up data. I’ll include your idea.
Ernest–That’s a good, thorough approach. We have financial clients who go even further, putting a week’s worth of full backups on one tape, then storing it off-site, never to be used again.