Computer Tip of the Day "09-16"

Make backup copies of important business data/information.

Back up your data on each computer used in your business. Your data includes (but is not limited to) word processing documents, electronic spreadsheets, databases, financial files, human resources files, accounts receivable/payable files, and other information used in or generated by your business.

It is necessary to back up your data because computers die, hard disks fail, employees make mistakes, and malicious programs can destroy data on computers. Without data backups, you can easily get into a situation where you have to recreate your business data from paper copies and other manual files.

Do this automatically if possible. Many security software suites offer automated backup functions that will do this on a regular schedule for you. Back up only your data, not the applications themselves (for which you should have distribution CDs from your vendor). This automatic backup should be done at least once a week, and stored on a separate hard disk on your computer if not off line using some form of removable media. The hard disk should have enough capacity to hold data for 52 weekly backups (500GB should be sufficient). Remember, this should be done on each of your business computers. It is important to periodically test your backed up data to ensure that you can read it reliably. There are "plug and play" products which, when connected to your computer, will automatically search for files and back them up to a removable media, such as an external USB hard disk.

It is important to make a full backup once a month and store it away from your office location in a protected place. If something happens to your office (fire, flood, tornado, theft, etc) then your data is safe in another location and you can restore your business operations using your backup data and replacement computers and other necessary hardware and software. As you test your individual computer backups to ensure they can be read, it is equally important that you test your monthly backups to ensure that you can read them. If you don’t test your backups, you have no grounds for confidence that you will be able to use them in the event of a disaster or contingency.

If you choose to do this monthly backup manually, an easy way is to purchase a form of removable media, such as DVDs if you have a DVD writer or an external USB hard drive (at least 1000 Gigabytes capacity). On the hard drive, create a separate folder for each of your computers, and create 12 folders in each computer folder – one for each month. Bring the external disk into your office on the day that you do your monthly backup. Then, complete the following steps: connect the external disk to your first computer and make your backup by copying your data into the designated monthly folder; immediately do a test restore of a file or folder into a separate folder on your computer that has been set up for this test (to ensure that you can read the restored file or folder). Repeat this process for each of your business computers and, at the end of the process, disconnect the external drive. At the end of the day, take the backup hard drive to the location where you store your monthly backups. You may, when each of the monthly folders has been used, purchase more media for the following 12 months.

It is very important to do this monthly backup on each computer used in your business.