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Backups
All
reliable computer consultants stress the importance of
backups, most computer users take them for granted –
until disaster strikes. Evaluating your backup system
during a disaster is hardly the right time. It may
teach you a lesson, but it is a lesson you want to
avoid learning first hand.
Why
Backup?
Top
10 Reasons:
-
Hard
Drive Failure
- hardware will crash sooner or later.
Manufacturers know this and include a MTBF (Mean
Time Before Failure) rating on hardware. A
Mean Time is just an average and this is one
reason they stress the importance of backups.
-
Human
Error
- although not necessarily a disaster, human error
is the most common cause of data loss. Files
can be modified with the wrong data, or an older
version can wipe out a newer file. In
numerous cases, we have recovered files and
folders that have been deleted
or overwritten
by a user, often unwittingly. The "drag
and drop error" is a common occurrence in GUI
operating systems like Windows.
-
Software
Failure - entire databases can become corrupt;
also software bugs and incompatibilities are wide
spread and fairly common. Making back ups of
an entire workstation, a snapshot, is an
good way to recover after an application install
goes bad.
-
Power
Surge - nature can often affect the quality of
the power delivered to your servers and systems.
Lightning, wind damage, and water can all
contribute to surges or spikes on local power
lines sometimes causing hardware failure and
subsequent data loss.
-
Viruses
- not all viruses destroy data, but some do.
Backups not only provide a way to recover data
lost to viruses, but also to get back to a
state before the infection.
-
Intrusion
- in other words, hackers. Systems connected
to the internet are open to the possibility of
being hacked. Also seemingly innocuous
viruses can host a Trojan horse that, once
deployed, can open security holes and advertise
it's presence on your system to the underworld.
-
Fire
- Fire can devastate an entire company well beyond
what's contained on computer systems. Yet,
if good backups are kept off-site, there's a
chance that the most important information can be
reproduced when needed.
-
Flood
- A customer of ours recently discovered the value
of backups when a heavy rain storm produced major
leaks inside the building and destroyed several
pieces of equipment.
-
Vandalism
/ Terrorism - September 11th taught some
companies the meaning of Disaster Planning &
Recovery and clearly identified those that had not
made plans for restoring backups elsewhere.
-
Theft
- One of our customers arrived at the office on a
Monday to find it ransacked and most of their
computer equipment missing. Needless to say,
their backups were invaluable to them and luckily
the tapes where not taken along with the computer
gear.
42%
of all data losses are caused by hardware or system
malfunction!
30%
of all data losses are
caused by human error!
14%
of all data losses are
caused by software corruption or program malfunction!
7%
of all data losses
are caused by viruses!
3%
of all data losses
are caused by nature!
2%
of all data losses
are caused by malicious activity!
2%
of all data losses
are caused by fire!
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