There are a lot of ways that a business’ data is at risk. Hackers can inundate your network with malware, some kind of natural disaster can befall your place of business, you could be the victim of sabotage, or someone who works for you can just mistakenly delete a critical file. With so much risk, it’s a good idea to have a comprehensive backup and recovery plan in place so you have access to a copy of your data should any of these unfortunate situations come up.

This Stuff Happens All the Time

You might think that this couldn’t possibly happen to you, but the fact is that it does. All the time. Small businesses lose important financial files. All it takes is a crashed hard drive, a random virus, or even just spilling a drink on your laptop. Boom—data gone.

The 3-2-1 Rule

Here’s the best way to keep your files safe: the 3-2-1 backup strategy. Sounds fancy, but it’s pretty simple.

• 3 copies of your files - One main version, and two backups.
• 2 different kinds of storage - Like one on a backup device and one in the cloud.
• 1 copy stored somewhere else - Not in the same place as your computer, in case something happens to your home or office.

That way, if one backup fails, you’ve still got another.

Cloud Backups Are Great

Using cloud storage is super handy because it saves stuff automatically. You don’t even have to think about it. But don’t rely only on the cloud. Servers can go down. Accounts get hacked. Accidents happen.

Automate Everything

You’re probably not going to remember to manually back up your files every week, let alone every day. That’s okay. You can set up automatic backups with software, so it just happens in the background. No stress.

Make Sure Your Backups Actually Work

Having backups is great, but they need to work when it counts. Now and then, try restoring a file just to make sure everything’s working the way it should. You don’t want to find out your backups are broken after something goes wrong.

The bottom line is that backing up your files might sound boring, but it’ll save you a ton of frustration later. Don’t wait for a disaster to make it a priority.

If you want help setting up your redundancy strategy, call our team today at (703) 719-4000.