How Often Should I Back Up My Data? Your Ultimate Guide Awaits ...
Wondering how often you should back up your data? Continue reading to learn everything you need to know about keeping your information safe & secure today.
Businesses of all sizes and private individuals all have one thing in common: their greatest asset isn’t physical.
It’s not a physical location or goods that should be their most secure asset. It’s their data.
Their digital assets are their most valuable assets. Without them, a business can’t serve its customers or acquire new ones. Home users can’t access their homework or tax documents.
Being unable to access your data means everything comes to a standstill, whether you were anticipating it or not.
It doesn’t have to be that way. If you’ve ever searched for terms like “back up my data” or “save my data” you’ve come across thousands of results. That’s for a reason-data loss is more common than you think, but there are solutions to mitigate potential disasters.
Here’s why and how you should back up your data.
Who Needs Data Back Up Services?
Both businesses and individuals need data backup. Often it’s for different reasons, but sometimes the reasons overlap.
In both instances, losing data could be detrimental, if not outright devastating. Businesses of all sizes are vulnerable to data loss. A data loss incident could mean hours of lost productivity and a dwindling client base.
For personal users, data loss could mean losing valuable items such as family photos, creative projects, or important legal and financial documents.
Regardless if it’s for a business or a single person, data back up is something everyone should have a plan for.
Why Back Up Your Data?
The best medicine is preventative. It’s the same with data backup. Regular backups are your best defense against data loss.
Data loss is any incident where important files and folders become inaccessible. This data could get deleted, corrupted, or otherwise turned unreadable.
This could happen in a number of different ways. When most people think of data loss, they think of hardware failure.
However, data could also become compromised as part of a cyberattack, a virus infection, or employee theft.
On a much larger scale, there are also natural disasters to contend with. Fires, floods, hurricanes-these massive disasters can occur suddenly and with little to no warning. Natural disasters have ruined many businesses within minutes.
A data back up ensures important files and folders are copied or archived elsewhere. That way in the event of a disaster, those important files can be restored, essentially “resetting the clock” to the way things were before the disaster.
Even if you don’t experience natural disasters or theft, data loss can occur at any time. There’s no set rule for how long a computer lasts. It could be several years for a desktop, only a few years for a laptop, or even less.
Without regular data backup, you’re taking a gamble every day-a gamble you can’t afford.
How Do I Back Up My Data?
If you have lost data, then you will need to hire professionals to recover that data. Fortunately, with regular backups, a professional should be able to have you back up and running in no time. With a proper disaster recovery plan, your data can be recovered and you can resume normal operations faster.
A managed data backup and recovery plan can help a business be prepared for a disaster-whether it’s manmade or natural. You can resume business quicker, with minimal impact on your operations and bottom line.
What Are the Types of Back Up?
There are many different methods of backing up your data. Generally, they break down into two categories: onsite and offsite.
Onsite backups are exactly what they sound like. Data is backed up locally on a different device. An example might be a parent backing up their digital photos on an external hard drive.
In this instance, in the event their computer failed, the photos would be backed up safely to the external hard drive.
Offsite backups are when data is backed up to another location. Cloud backups are a popular option. The data is backed up to the “cloud,” which is a remote server offsite somewhere. It may be in a different town or state entirely.
A combination of onsite and offsite solutions should be used. Having multiple methods of backup ensures that you always have a functional backup, even in the worst-case scenario.
Backups can be done either manually, or automatically. Software programs can automatically back up data at regularly scheduled intervals.
How Often Should You Make Back Ups
Once you have a back up plan in place, the next decision you have to make is how often you want back ups made.
How Often Should I Back Up My Data?
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For businesses, a daily backup is always recommended. Going longer than 24 hours without backing up your data is risky. Can you afford to lose a day’s work, from everyone across your entire organization?
A home user may only need to back up their data once a month or once a week, depending on how often they use their devices and how much data gets modified. However, a regular user may also want to implement daily backups.
If you don’t feel comfortable making your backups, a managed service provider can provide data backup and recovery, as well as other IT services. For many small and mid-sized businesses, a managed service provider is cheaper than having an in-house IT team.
Don’t Sort Through Thousands of Results for “Back Up My Data”
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We offer back up and data recovery services for small and mid-sized companies in the Omaha area. To find out how we can mitigate your next data disaster and save you money, stop by one of our locations, call us 402-218-4651, or book a FREE consultation today!
