Are you only backing up your data to one place? If so, it’s at risk of being lost entirely.
The average failure rate for backing up all business data successfully is 75%. That means only 25% of business backup plans are actually capturing all of a company’s data.
The main problem is that companies aren’t adopting good backup and data recovery best practices and make common backup mistakes. These include:
- Only backing data up to one place
- Thinking that cloud storage is a backup and recovery tool
- Never checking their backup
- Not testing data recovery
- Not planning for onsite disasters
Often, companies get a false sense of security as time goes by without any data loss incidents. But things like ransomware attacks, user errors, and hard drive crashes can come out of the blue. And if you’re not prepared with a backup, it can have costly consequences. Don’t let lost data be a setback; instead, contact ASAP Data Recovery for a comprehensive solution that gets you back on track immediately.
The average cost per each lost business file is $150.
Data loss can include costs from several areas, including:
- Cost to try to recover lost files
- Cost to recreate files that can’t be recovered
- Downtime while dealing with the data loss incident
Being down while dealing with a data loss incident can cost businesses over $10,000 per hour, which makes ensuring all your data is backed up properly a top priority for your business health and security.
Adopting the 3-2-1 Backup Rule to Protect Your Business
So, what is the 3-2-1 backup rule? It’s a rule that encompasses several best practices when it comes to data backup. These include how many copies you should have of all your data and where those copies should be kept to make sure you’re covered no matter what.
3 – Keep Three Copies of All Your Data
The first part of the rule is to keep three copies of all your files. Having your data in three different places is really the only real protection that something won’t go wrong.
For example, say you’re backing up all your computers to a local server in your office. Then one day, there’s a storm and your office is flooded, ruining all your computers and your server. You would have lost all your data because it was all kept on site.
But what if you back up one copy to the cloud, isn’t it safe then? You’re still at risk if you’re only keeping your data in two places (your computer, and the cloud) because cloud data is also susceptible to loss due to things like server crashes or malware infections.
To ensure you’re covered, you need to have three copies of all your data stored in different places. An example of a best practice would be having your data:
- On your computer hard drive (location 1)
- On a local backup drive (location 2)
- On a cloud backup service (location 3)
2 – Make Sure to Use at Least Two Different Storage Methods
If you keep all three copies of your data on the same type of storage medium (like a local hard drive, or all in the cloud), then you’re leaving yourself open to risk of loss or being unable to access your files.
Keeping all your data in the cloud can mean that you can’t get to it if you lose your internet connection.
Having all three copies of your data stored on the same local server, puts you at risk of loss if there is a hardware or software error or other disaster that damages the server.
You want to ensure you’re using at least two different storage methods for those three copies. Backing up to the cloud and having another copy on a hard drive would accomplish this safeguard.
1 – Keep At Least One Copy of Your Data Offsite
The last safeguard in the 3-2-1 backup rule is to keep at least one copy of all your data offsite. This ensures that if something happens to your office, you won’t lose all your data in the process.
If you backup on a local hard drive that you then take home each night, that might seem like it meets the rule… but what if something happens during the day while your backup is at the same place as your computer?
The best way to ensure you have an offsite copy of your data, that is always offsite, is to use a cloud backup and recovery system that your business computers can back up to wirelessly.
Cloud backup is also a great way to backup cloud service data (like data you keep in programs like Microsoft 365 and Dropbox), because those files also need to be included in your 3-2-1 backup strategy.
Ensure You’re Protected with the Right Backup Strategy
The experts at Two River Computer can help your business put a smart backup strategy in place that follows the 3-2-1 backup rule and ensures all data is being captured (computer, mobile, cloud).
Contact us today to get started! Call 732-747-0020 or reach us online.
