Data Backup and Recovery – What Options Does Your Business Have?

Data backup and recovery are essential for any business. A loss of data, whether it’s due a system failure, cyberattack, natural disaster or human error can have a devastating impact, causing significant financial and operational losses. It can also have a negative impact on reputation, which can be potentially devastating for a business. With this in mind, the following advice answering the question, what is data backup and recovery software, should prove useful.

 

What is data back up and what are the data backup types?

Data backup is the process of copying data so that it can be recovered in the event of data loss. There are various types of data backup.

 

Cloud data backup

Cloud data backup is perhaps the most secure form of data backup and recovery. Unlike other backup options, there’s no need to invest in expensive hardware. It offers good flexibility because you can access your backed up data through any online connection, whilst still retaining full control over who can access it.

 

Cloud backups are an insurance policy against cyberattacks and natural disasters. And because data is backed up continually without the need for human intervention, there is no risk of forgetting to run a manual backup.

 

Cloud backups are also incremental, so if a data loss event occurs and a backup is necessary, there won’t be any gaps between the last backup and the data restore.

 

External drive data backup

An external backup drive plugs into your device and allows you to copy data onto it. This form of data backup and recovery is popular because it is easy and convenient.

 

However, there are two main downsides to this form of data backup. Firstly, it is reliant on someone to carry out the data backup regularly, which means your backed up data may not always be the most recent.

 

Secondly, there is the question of where you store your external drive. If it’s kept on the same premises and there is a natural disaster or a fire, then your hard drive file recovery may be impossible.

 

Disc data backup

Backing up data on discs such as CDs or DVDs used to be popular, but this form of data backup and recovery is seen as quite old fashioned now.

 

Whilst discs are cheap to buy, this type of data backup, like the hard drive option, is again reliant on someone physically copying over data, which can be slow. The amount of data that can be stored on a disc is also limited.

 

If disaster strikes and you’re unable to access your building, your hard disk recovery will be hindered, so if you’re using this form of data backup, you should store your discs at a different location.

 

USB data backup

USBs have a greater storage capacity than discs. They’re cheap and easy to transport and store, as they take up far less room.

 

The disadvantage with this form of data backup is that they’re incredibly easy to lose and can be targeted by thieves.

 

Data backup and recovery of this method again relies on human intervention to copy files to the USB, and it then needs to be stored at a different location to your business to avoid data being compromised.

 

Network Attached Storage data backup

Network Attached Storage devices (NAS) consist of drives that live on your IT network and can be accessed by all users.

 

This flexible form of data backup also allows users to stream media and share files across devices as well as the internet.

 

What is data recovery?

Data recovery is the process of restoring data which has been lost, damaged, corrupted or deleted and is mostly achieved through data recovery software.

 

Should the worst happen, and your business has no form of data backup, you can employ a data recovery service to try to retrieve your data for you.

 

Examples of data recovery include:

 

Disk Drill – primarily a hard disk data recovery utility which recovers data from hard disk drives, USB flash drives and SSD drives as well as devices such as smartphones.

 

OnTrack EasyRecovery – another hard disk data recovery application which can be used to retrieve data from CDs and DVDs, as well as repairing corrupted photos or videos.

 

Stellar Data Recovery – works to recover data on all file formats and drives.

 

Data recovery services can be expensive and there is no guarantee that your data will be retrieved or that it hasn’t already been compromised. For this reason, it’s wise to have a plan for your business that incorporates both data backup and recovery to cover all eventualities.

 

Data backup and recovery services in London from PC Docs

 

Are you looking at data backup options for your business? Or perhaps you want to upgrade to a new backup format?

 

If you’re interested to learn more about your data backup and recovery options, get in touch with PC Docs for a solution that is tailored to the individual needs of your business.