What is Computer Backup?
A Backup Article Contributed by Melissa Larose
What is Computer Backup?
What is computer backup? Well for the novice it may seem an odd use of words because it insinuates a problem with a computer as in the sink is backed up. But to the technologically experienced it is a normal routine and serves a valuable function.
Computer Backup Basics
By now it is fairly common knowledge that computers can have problems. They can crash, the can come down with a virus, they can have hardware failures, they can be destroyed during a natural disaster, and they can be abused by their users, hackers, and even their manufacturers. Some of this is deliberate and some of it isn't. Anyway that is happens damage to a computer and/or its system can wreak havoc on a business.
The cost of down time of personnel and production, unavailable and possibly lost data, and possible loss of good will with the public and your customers are all good reasons to consider computer backup as a necessity in the business landscape. Until recently, the IT budget was typically short changed and the IT department considered to be something of an albatross.
With the latest threats to our way of life and the fact that more and more people are hacking into business and government sites looking for ways to sabotage data, the IT budget and the view of IT within the enterprise is changing rapidly.
Computer Backup Saves Business
Knowing your business and the value of your data is part of making decisions about what to backup. Knowing this information you can structure a sound computer backup plan. Here are some questions to ask yourself: If the system crashed or there was a disaster that caused us to lose all of our data, what would be the most important to recover first, second, and third and why? How long can we be down with no access to our data and still survive?
How long can we be with out our data and not have our customer inconvenienced? What will it take to return us to normal? And in what stages does it need to happen? There are many more questions to ask but those should get you started.
Many people respond to the question - What would be the most important data to recover? - with the answer "All of it". But this answer doesn't work in reality because recovery from a disaster is typically incremental. You must come to some conclusions about the data you create in order for computer backups and data recovery to happen in an orderly manner.
Computer Backup Will Make You Happy
The first time your company experiences a disaster and the that backup plan that you have been following all this time gets put to use you will experience euphoria of a technical kind. Although you would never wish the experience of reward on a situation like computer backup you will feel one. Understanding the need for computer backup and implementing a backup plan is important for the continuity of business.
