Protecting your business from the consequences of data loss is probably one of the most important IT support services London businesses need. Losing files or data can mean lost productivity or even a lost client – so it pays to have a watertight backup system in place. But just running backups may not be enough. Them Digital provides a range of IT support services to London's small and medium businesses, including configuration and testing of data backup regimes.
IT Support Services London – contact us now to discuss your requirements.
Why Just Running Backups Isn't Enough
If you already have a backup system in place you are ahead of the curve compared to the many businesses that do not. But just putting a tape into the backup machine every night, or letting your online backup service run in the background, may not be giving you the protection you thought.
There are a variety of ways that a backup system can fail, partly or completely, leaving your business exposed in the event that you need to restore a file and find it is not there.
Simple hardware failure can happen at any time – from magnetic tapes breaking to hard disks getting corrupted. Replacing storage media regularly will minimise this risk, as will rotating storage media (not using yesterday’s tape to do today’s backup).
Media corruption is rare but possible any time a file gets copied. So even if a backup seems to complete successfully there is no guarantee that all files have been copied correctly.
Most backup systems involve a piece of software which is configured by the user to say which directories are to be backed up and at what frequency. It is all too easy to think you have configured your backup only to miss key directories containing important data, or to run less frequently than you need (e.g. running a Monday-Friday backup which does not backup work done over the weekend).
Finally, you need to think about actual usage and location of your company’s computers. A magnetic tape backup will usually only be able to backup machines directly connected to the office network. If some staff have laptops which they take home overnight or at weekends to do work, they won’t be covered by the automated backup. Either they need to back up their own work (which is subject to human forgetfulness) or they need to be included in an online backup regime which will back them up wherever they are.
What’s needed is a backup system that reflects the practical needs of your business, reinforced by regular checking against original files which will reveal any shortcomings before an actual file recovery is needed. Them Digital can help with both of these aspects.
IT Support Services London – Choosing a Backup System
The first step is to choose a backup regime which suits how your business actually uses its computers and does not take an unreasonable level of human effort to make the regime operate correctly.
For instance, a magnetic tape backup depends on someone in the office remembering to put a new tape in the backup drive at around the same time every day. While this may suit an office where there are one or more people present every day (e.g. permanent clerical staff), it won’t suit an office where people are often out and about and there are part time or temporary admin staff. In contrast, an automated backup to hard drive can run automatically every night regardless of whether anyone remembers or not (although computers do need to be left switched on).
It’s also important to consider how quickly you need to be able to retrieve lost files. Restoring from magnetic tape can take considerable time. But backups stored on a separate hard drive can give instant access.
For some types of data – particularly creative media such as graphics or audio – restoring yesterday’s work can still mean a significant loss of unique data which cannot easily be replicated. In this case you should consider some type of real time backup system which records all file changes as they are made.
Some types of backup regime require more investment than others – but this should be offset against the value of the data and the potential cost or other impact of data loss. Them Digital can talk you through the different options and costs and help you think through your particular circumstances to come up with the right backup regime for you. We can help to set up and configure the necessary hardware and software and be on hand to help with data recovery if required.
IT Support Services London – Backup Testing
Them Digital can also help you check that your chosen backup regime is running correctly.
For magnetic tape and hard drive backups, the client checks whether a backup has completed successfully and if not, emails Them Digital who will then investigate. Depending on the setup, it is usually possible for Them Digital to log in remotely to do this investigation, leaving your people to carry on with their normal work.
Even when the system is saying that a backup was successful, it is important to make regular checks of some files to ensure that no corruption or other errors are occurring. Them Digital will log on to the backup server, restore a file selected at random and restore it to a different location where it can be examined. This checking will show up problems such as media deterioration or incomplete backups before a real data loss occurs.
The situation is a little different for online backups in that more of the checking process is automated. The backup software will be configured to notify Them Digital by email about the success of failure of each backup run. If the email indicates any type of failure Them Digital will investigate by looking at the backup logs. If necessary, Them Digital can login and force another backup to run, and then carry out further checks. We will also carry out test restores by picking a random file on a client machine and then restoring it to another location and checking that the file opens and reads, with no corruptions.
We can also assist our clients in using their own backup systems more effectively themselves. While Them Digital will always be available to help in an emergency, it always pays to have one or more people in the company who are familiar and comfortable with the backup system, can look at the logs and know what they are saying, and can carry out a restore if required. This will provide you with quicker restoration as well as greater peace of mind – and Them Digital will be delighted to help enable this.
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