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As computers have advanced, data storage has increased at a phenomenal rate, computer hard drives are capable of holding 100's of Gigabytes of data, to give some idea of scale, you could store the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in 1 Gigabyte!
Because of the enormous size, these hard drives are storing more and more of our personal data, businesses store accounting data and customer information, home users have irreplaceable photographs and videos of children or family. Putting all your eggs in one basket is never a good idea. Shockingly without proper backup data, 70% of small businesses will close within 12 months of suffering from data loss. For domestic users, data loss can lead to strained relationships and in some cases divorce!
The main causes of data loss are outlined below.
Rest assured that no matter how expensive it is, computer hardware can and does fail, and it is not always old or cheap equipment that fails, new equipment can also fail without warning, taking all your precious information with it. It is hard to predict hardware failure, but in some cases there may be some early warning signs. However usually by the time you see the first symptom it is too late.
It is very easy for users to delete files, either by mistake or in some cases deliberately, a disgruntled employee may for example delete all your invoice files, finding out who owes what then becomes a major headache. People can accidently overwrite files, or input incorrect data, having a proper backup would allow you to recover your files without loss.
You
could also lose your data if you are a victim of theft. Sadly this is
one area that is on the increase, domestic computers especially laptops
are easily stolen and wiped clean before being sold on. How do you tell
your family you have lost all your family photographs!
Business computers are also at risk of theft, more so in some cases, industrial
units are often poorly lit and unoccupied at night. Here a good backup
regime, will reduce your loss and allow you to continue trading with the
minimum of disruption.
There is also a risk to your computer data from fire or flooding, you only have to watch the news to see stories of town centres and home being damaged by flash floods, often in areas where people thought there was no risk. Fire also poses a great risk to data, especially so where people elect to keep their backups on site.
There is no one solution to data backup as each case is unique, we can help, advise and setup a backup policy to suit your needs. Perhaps you would like us to perform a periodic backup and take it offsite? You may already have a plan, but are you sure it works? There is no point going through a backup routine if the data is not being backed up correctly or you cannot restore it.
What can you do? Call us before it's too late