We’ve all heard about the importance of data back-up to avoid losing mission critical data. Here at 24 Hour Data, we hear horror stories every day from people who didn’t back up their data and now face an emergency situation. Family photos lost, college thesis papers… or even companies who lost all their files.

Facing lost data can cripple a business. What’s the right way to perform data back up for your most important files?

Double Your Backups

One back-up is better than nothing, certainly. But two is better than one. Always store duplicate back-ups, preferably with one in the same location as your server and another somewhere else.

Back up Data Daily, Weekly, Monthly

Files should be backed up daily, with that information stored locally so you can access it quickly as possible in the event of a hard drive failure or system crash.

Then, back-up all your files weekly, keeping one copy on site and another at a remote location. This will protect you from the loss of data in the event of a natural disaster such as a flood or fire in your building.

Finally, perform monthly back-ups, again, storing the information in triplicate. You may consider storing one set of data “in the cloud” so you can access it remotely from anywhere in the world.

Know How to Access Your Back-ups

Finally, make sure that several key personnel in your company know how to access all three forms of back-ups, and know where those back-ups are stored, in the event of an emergency.

Back-up methods come in many different formats, and how you back-up your data is a matter of preference, cost, and how much data you need to store. By following these best practices, however, you’ll put your company in a better position in the event of system failure or physical damage to your hard drive or server.

And remember, if you don’t… 24 Hour Data is there when you need us, 24/7