Hello friends, family, and all of those who I hope to meet someday. This is my first blog, so hopefully I won't bore you too much and you'll gain some knowledge from what I have to say.
I would like to talk about backing up your data on your computer or server. I was reading a column on http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/57921.html?wlc=1253120737 written by Jack M. Germain about how many companies do not have backup or disaster recovery plans and how many of those, do not recover once the disaster happens. Any stats I quote will come from this article.
If you think about, how many printed documents do you keep up with these days. Then compare that to the number of documents, emails, pictures, and music that you keep on your computer or server. Most people consider them safe. What would happen if your hard drive crashed, your house or office, burned down, or your laptop was stolen. Do you have a backup of all of your data? If not, it could all be gone, forever! Some people will say "I did backup my data to an external source and put it in my fire safe". If that fire safe is in the house or office that burned down, there is no guarantee that the fire marshall will let you get to it right away because of safety reasons. It may be a day or a week before you can get your data. If you are a business, this would be valuable time that you have lost and some of your customers may have to find other avenues for the services that you provide. Some of the data lost could be sensitive or confidential. You could be liable for that information being lost. Are you insured for that?
Many small businesses cannot survive a data loss. You need to have a plan in place to protect you from any kind of a disaster. Never say never! You should plan for anything. You wouldn't think that a car could drive through your front door but it could. You just do not know. That's why a plan is so important.
There are many ways to backup and protect your data; simple and complex. You could buy an external USB hard drive, save all your data, and then place it in a safety deposit box at your bank. If it's your business you could take the backup home or hire a service that picks up your backup and stores it in a secure, controlled environment. There are also online backup services that will store your data for a fee.
I am not trying to scare anyone out there, I just want to give you information. The bottom line is that you should backup your data. I am sure that many of you will have questions about some of the things I mentioned or maybe have thought of other things you would like to know. If so, give me a call or shoot me an email. I'd be glad to help!
http://www.jh3ts.com
Thanks for reading,
Jay Harrill
President
JH3 Technology Solutions
