We all know that backing-up our data is essential, but how many of us are actually following best practice when it comes to protecting the data that drives our business? From accidental deletion to a catastrophic fire or even a cyberbreach, a sound back-up strategy will limit downtime that can cost your organization thousands of dollars each hour you are down. Below is a list of 5 best practices to follow to ensure your data back-up is ready when you need it.
- 3-2-1 Rule. The rule is simple: You should always have at least 3 copies of your data. One primary, 2 back-ups with 1 of those back-ups being an off-site copy.
- Have a set schedule in place to conduct your data back-up, or ideally, automate your back-up process so that it is always done on the same day and time.
- Test your back-up data. The only way to be certain your data is valid is through regular testing. The integrity of the data back-up can be corrupted over time and even become victim of malware itself.
- Establish a recovery strategy that includes multiple scenarios that require data restoration. Test those recovery strategies on a regular basis.
- Utilize an imaged-based back-up instead of a file-based method. Image-based back-ups “take a picture” of your device or server including its operating system, applications and application files which greatly reduce downtime by speeding data recovery.
Summit IT Solutions has partnered with Datto to deliver a back-up solution to businesses that automate much of the best practices described above. Datto guarantees the integrity of your business data and even has an option to allow an organization to “spin-up” an entire server temporarily while data is being restored on the affected server(s). If you would like to learn more about implementing best practice back-up solutions in your organization, click here so that we can schedule a 30 minute Q&A session.
