Traditionally, having an office ‘backup’ meant having the main data stored on internal servers, and the copies were located in offsite storage in a secure location. The system (still in use by many today) is secure and reliable, but it’s also non-dynamic and doesn’t scale well. In addition to that, you have to use human and hardware resources.

The newer technology of cloud backup has the advantage of seamless scalability. You don’t need to acquire more hardware as your data multiplies. Also, because you are essentially outsourcing backup, you don’t have to invest human or hardware resources in the process. One concern of using cloud storage as a backup is that your data is being handled outside your own control, raising issues of security and data integrity. There are many benefits, however, including lower cost for higher security, and not having to purchase and manage your own server. Despite being a somewhat nascent industry, there are a number of cloud computing leaders in the field willing to offer you their services.

The more sophisticated the information infrastructure of your business, the more crucial your data becomes. Whether you are a small business backing up a few hundred files from a single server or a large corporation backing up multiple workstations and servers, and whether you are using physical storage devices or systems from the cloud computing leaders in data backup, many of the same principles of data protection apply.

What Data Should You Back Up?

Any business generates masses of data. In planning data backup, identify data that must be backed up, data that can be archived, and data that can be erased. Erase obsolete data, and clean up unused files to simplify the backup process. If any data you intend to erase include personally identifiable information, use secure erase programs.

Archival Data

Some inactive data must be archived for regulatory purposes. Because this data does not change and will not be accessed on a regular basis, it should be treated separately from your active data. Archival data requires secure offsite backup, but not frequent recopying.

Active Data

Active data used in normal day-to-day operation of your business need to be backed up to some form of working storage frequently and to secure offsite storage at regular intervals. Active data needs to be backed up in a form in which it can be retrieved quickly in a usable format to minimize downtime in case of failure of your primary IT systems.

Backup Generations

Data backup was originally planned to address all possible contingencies including equipment failures, power failures, human failures and natural disasters. Given the proliferation of malware and hacktivism, data backups should include multiple generations so that it is possible, in case of a corrupted server to restore your data to an earlier uncorrupted state. In practical terms, this means archiving daily, weekly, and monthly backups.

Synchronization versus Backup

Two common implementations of data backup are synchronization, in which all data are copied dynamically to a mirror server as they are written on your server, and traditional backup, which involves taking periodic static snapshots of your server. In order to achieve multi-generation backup, a synchronized system still must be backed up in a traditional static fashion at regular intervals. Synchronization minimizes data loss and possible downtime but uses substantial system resources.

Bottom Line

What matters most is not the specific technology you use, but that you meticulously plan and implement a data backup strategy that enables your business to keep functioning with minimal loss of time and revenue in case of a server failure.