Why the Backup System Is Important — Strategies to Protect Your Information
Did you have a bad experience of losing a lot of critical data? Or, shorter than that, have you ever felt a moment of panic where you thought you did?
Whether it’s pictures from a family vacation, a report from work, or a semester’s homework, you probably have data on your computer hard drive or mobile device that’s too valuable to lose. That’s where data backup comes in.
There is even a whole day dedicated to its importance. But a backup strategy isn’t something to focus on just one day of the year. It should be part of your cyber hygiene.
Define backup
A data backup is a copy or archive of vital information stored on your devices, such as a computer, phone, or tablet. It is used to restore the original report in the event of data loss.
Data loss can come in many forms, from hard drive failures to ransomware attacks and even human error or physical theft. Regardless of the mishap, a data backup can be the respite you’re looking for to restore the data stored on your devices.
It is usually stored in a secure, separate location from the original device, such as the cloud.
What data should I back up?
As a baseline, you should back up anything that cannot be replaced if lost. For individuals, this may include:
- Address books
- Pictures
- Videos
- Music files
- Documents
- Table calculations
- Financial databases
For businesses, data backups become more technical than backing up customer databases, configuration files, machine images, operating systems, and registry files. There is usually an IT department to manage them.
Data backup strategies
When choosing a data backup solution, individuals can take cues from how businesses are developing their data backup strategies and do so by considering recovery point objectives (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO):
The RPO is the period of time between your data backups, whether 24 hours or a month and understanding that this is the period in which you will lose your data in the event of an incident. The shorter your RPO, the less data you lose and vice versa.
RTO is the time it takes to restore your data. The faster your storage solution is streamlined, the quicker your recovery time will be.
At the end of the day, the best data backup solution fits your needs, and that’s different for everyone. For this reason, you may also want to consider:
- Ease of setup
- Price
- Storage space
- The security of your data
- How quickly can your data be backed up
- Easy access to the backup of your data
Deploy the backup 3–2–1 strategy
Backing up is not a one-time approach. You want as many layers of data backup as you can get. For this reason, the 3–2–1 backup strategy is the gold standard for backing up your data. The concept: create three copies of your data on at least two storage solutions, one of which is stored remotely.
Always opt for more storage
n doing so, consider which data storage options make the most sense with which data. For example, a physical data backup, such as removable media, can be lost if your house is flooded. But the data backed up on the cloud will not, so you might consider storing your irreplaceable information there.
Don’t underestimate physical copies
Don’t underestimate the value of having physical copies of things like your bank statements, tax records, or even your home title. It’s a good idea to keep a file of your most important documents and any digital data backups you have.
Conclusion
Data backups should not seem like a chore as we evolve into a world filled with digital citizens. They should provide peace of mind that you have done everything possible to protect your essential information and precious memories from unknown animals.
