Just recently we held a seminar in which we gave a presentation to business owners in Yorkshire. We asked the audience for a show of hands as to who did regular backups of their computer data. We were surprised by the results.

Only around 70% of people actually had a regular backup solution in place.

This means that on average 30% of businesses aren’t backing up their data. If a disaster happens to their office (floor, fire or theft) their entire company data would be lost and the chances are the business wouldn’t recover.

We then asked the audience who tested the backups they completed.

Only one person out of 35 knew that his backups were tested on a regular basis. This result didn’t surprise me. People (and indeed IT consultancies) believe that if they backup their data on a regular basis, they are doing all they need.

Wrong!

There are many reasons as to why you should test your backups: -

1) Human error – you may complete a test on your backup and find that the backup has completed without issues for the past six months but one important client file is missing

2) Backup Failure – the backup may simply fail. Although you have received a “backup successful” message, you may find that many of the files on the media are missing or corrupt.

3) Security – It is a very sensible option to use encryption. It has been known however that no one actually knows the encrypted password.

4) Software Version – you may have had a backup software upgrade and the new software is incompatible with the new version.

5) Media Problems – Lots of people still use tapes. These tapes should be changed on a regular basis, otherwise they will become useless.

We then asked the audience who kept a copy of their backup’s offsite. Again, the majority of businesses don’t keep a copy of their computer data offsite and so therefore aren’t protected from fire, floor or theft.

These are some of the many reasons why having a complete backup solution isn’t all about making sure a backup takes place.

There are also lots of products available in the marketplace to ensure that businesses can have a sound backup solution which includes backup, testing and offsite storage.

Ask your IT company or call us on 0113 394 4647 or use our contact form

Jonathan Edwards (Microsoft Small Business Specialist)

Last Updated: April 22, 2009