Backup, backup, backup - don't get your back up!

IT Support - data back up

If your PC died, would a part of you die too?
Backup. It’s a classic example of a simple word covering several shelves full of canned worms. In our (admittedly cynical) experience, taking a backup is a virtual guarantee that nothing bad will happen! It is when a backup is not taken that you are at risk from data loss and (for some reason) an increased likelihood of failure.
Then there is the middle ground – people who take backups regularly but never test that they’re backing anything up, or that it is restorable! We once attended a site and asked about backups and the length of time they take to run. The lady in question said “Oh yes, it takes about a minute”. Knowing the amount of data involved, we suggested that this was not very likely and it was later found that she had been diligently backing up an empty folder on the server! Utterly terrifying.
Back up what you need. Test you can retrieve it. Very simple, but so very rarely done well! The amount of IT Support calls we get about restoring data is quite large and more often than not as we look after the management of the back ups, the files are safely put back! If you want to talk about having a managed back up facility give us a call on 0871 855 2270!