Doing Backups
Taking Precautions 2
See also: Automated System Recovery (ASR)
The wisest precaution is to make regular backups. A backup is a separate copy of all your data files (or even the whole system).
There are several ways of making a backup:
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Copy your files onto floppy discs.
This is fine, if all your have are 20 or thirty documents and a couple of spreadsheets, but becomes tedious and time-consuming once more than a few discs are involved. To backup the entire system of a present day PC would need over a thousand discs! Memory Keys
Over the past two years, 'Memory Keys' or 'Memory Sticks' have emerged as an alternative to floppy discs. These are very small devices which use the same Flash Memory as digital cameras and plug into your computer's USB port. Depending on capacity, they can store the equivalent of between 20 and several hundred floppy discs. They are also much faster than floppy discs. Their easy portabilty might be a problem (see sidepanel).
Tape streamer.
This is the traditional method for many businesses, and there are several systems on the market. A basic 'Travan' tape streamer costs between £100 and £200, and usually includes specialist backup software, to make the task easier. They copy your files onto a tape cartridge slightly bigger than audiotapes. Blank tapes cost about £20 and it is recommended that you use two or three in rotation. Remember to replace them from time to time as they can wear out.
- Recordable CD (CD-R)
This is a CD system that allows you to record onto special blank CDs. The discs can be used once only, and it is unlikely that you will be able to store your complete system on a single disc. However they are cheap (less than £1 each if bought in bulk).
This system does offer several other advantages - see 2nd side panel:There are also re-writable drives and discs (CD-RW), which can be erased and used again, which reduces the costs. However ordinary CD players and CD-ROM drives may not necessarily be able to read these discs. so check that you can read them on a number of other computers before depending on them for backups!
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Removable/Portable Hard Discs
In the past twelve months, these have become widely available at affordable prices. 40 Gbyte portable drives (plenty for most small businesses) can now be obtained for a little over £100. Some come with backup software, or you can merely copy all your important files across to the drive. Once again their easy portability (see sidepanel) may be an issue. On-line backup
With broadband connections now being standard, many companies are now offering the chance of backing up your data through the internet. For an affordable annual contract they will store a copy of your data on a server at a secure remote location. They will also backup their own servers daily. You can determine a schedule whereby any changes in your data are uploaded each day (or week). Usually your data will be encrypted so that only you can view it; they and their employees will not be able to.
A great advantage is that your staff won't have to remember to chnage the tape or CD each day.
What to backup and how often to backup are other decisions you will have to make.
A backup of the whole system is only possible with a tape streamer, or by copying an 'image' to another hard disc and it is something which you will need to do occasionally - say after installing new software. You will need to back up your data files more often. It all depends on how much work you do each day. How many hours of staff time can you afford to be spent on catching up with work lost since the last backup? Companies with large networks will perform backups several times a day
The software supplied with your backup system should give you the choice of either backing up the all the data or only those files which have changed since your last complete backup
