Is a data backup solution part of your computer plans? Do you have a way to protect yourself if something goes wrong with your computer or data? Computers are a useful part of our lives but we don't always protect ourselves from their loss be it fire, theft or hardware failure.
We often don't consider how fragile our computer data really is. Do you keep sensitive information on your computer that you would be upset if you lost it? Not sure? Consider this. If I told you that I was going to format your hard drive right now and you will lose all of the information on your computer, would you be ready? Or would you need to get a few files first... If you are in the second group, chances are you don't have a proper data backup solution in place to help you handle disasters.
What happens if your computers are stolen?
I recently had a business colleague of mine who's office was robbed and who had all of his computers stolen. He naturally felt helpless and victimized over the situation. What was especially frustrating was that he thought he had taken the proper measures to secure his office. He had a good security system in place, had secured his premises and yet they were still able to cut his phone lines, disable his alarm and have their way in his office. Don't think a computer theft can happen to you? You know what? It can happen to anyone and you don't have to own a business.
Computer hard drives do crash
If theft doesn't get your computer, a hard drive failure certainly might. Hard drives are the devices in your computer that store the information on your computer. Your computers' long term memory if you will. They are built with rotating mechanical parts. These parts break down. If they break down, your data can be gone. Are you prepared?
Data on a hard drive can often be recovered by expert data retrieval houses but their prices usually start at $10,000 and up. Want to avoid such costly recovering options? Establish a data backup solution.
A fire can wipe out your computers and your data
If computer theft or hard drive failure don't destroy the data on your computers, a fire certainly might. This threat speaks to an off site backup storage solution. While the first two can be averted by simply burning a CD of your most critical data, fire can destroy your CD's too if they aren't stored off site. Fire is just one more reason why a data backup solution needs to be a part of your vocabulary and your action plan.
Protecting your data just makes good common sense. If you have data that you don't want to loose ? and most of us do ? you owe it to yourself to protect your data. The next article in this series gives you some simple steps you can follow to protect yourself from data loss.
Joe Duchesne is the webmaster of Gotocompare.com a computer hardware information site with links to hardware drivers, manuals and lots more. Reprint freely as long as you maintain the live keyword rich links in this resource box.
The risk analysis and business impact analysis have identified risks to key business functions. Also, the potential impacts and probabilities of these risks as well as the... Read More
ITS ALL IN THE PLANNING - PREPARING FOR THE UNTHINKABLE* Make it clear who needs to do what, and who takes responsibility for what.* Appoint deputies for... Read More
"We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows could not be accessed or located."It happens to the best of us. A complete operating system failure. One day you... Read More
Okay, computers a machine, right? Okay, maybe not yours. You have this special relationship, but that a subject for another article. Machines break. Software gets fouled up.... Read More
Oh the perils of collecting those precious photos on your PC for years, only to have your hard drive crash one day, and not have made a... Read More
How long have you been doing business online? Whether you are new or an old timer you need to understand the one important truth of the e-world.... Read More
It might be more fun to talk about those free online business cards that are saving the company money, or those nifty designer business checks that are... Read More
Oh the perils of collecting those precious photos on your PC for years, only to have your hard drive crash one day, and not have made a... Read More
If You are running an Online Work at home Business it is very critical that you create a well organized directory structure. The Obvious advantage of an... Read More
Backups of company data are carried out for two main reasons. The first is to cater for those times when a document is inadvertently deleted or damaged... Read More
Backup on business computers is typically not the user's concern unless it's a small business. A business should have a policy in place for managing backups especially... Read More
Business impact analysis is a critical part of the business continuity planning process. This step quantifies data and gets into the real world issue of potential losses... Read More
Your worst nightmare just became a horrifying reality. You keep hearing that little voice in your head mockingly shout "you should have backed that stuff up" The... Read More
The best defense against a loss of data is a really solid and faithful backup routine of important files to reliable media. It's also a good idea... Read More