How do I backup my small business data?

How to backup your data for a small business? Protect your critical company data with an affordable onsite and offsite business data backup solution.

Introduction to Data Backup:

To ensure your small business’s continuity, data backup is vital. Unfortunately, there are a number of ways to lose your data. These include:

• Data deletion by accident or by a disgruntled employee.
• Hacking of your online storage accounts.
• A ransomware attack.
• The theft of your computer or phone.
• The hard drive on your desktop or laptop crashes or is damaged, and the data is unrecoverable.

In the event that any of these things happen, you’re going to want to make sure you’ve taken some essential steps so you can recover your data and continue business as usual. Read on to learn what to do.

Implement a Data Backup Regime

To protect your data adequately, you need to set up a data backup system that ensures that business data is backed up regularly. These backups need to be created on reliable media or in the cloud, and if using media, devices need to be kept in a secure off-site location.

When asking yourself what data should be backed up, always consider whether losing said data would interfere with your business. If it would, then that’s the data you need to back up. For example, desktop software programs can be reinstalled if necessary, but recovering transaction details or business correspondence is virtually impossible if those files are lost or damaged beyond repair.

Select Your Data Backup Storage Method

Cloud Storage

Backing up your data with an online backup service is easy, which is just one of the reasons to choose cloud backup for business. However, cloud services can still come under attack from hackers or sabotage by employees. For this reason, you should consider taking local backups of cloud data on occasion as a safeguard. Additionally, you will want to use strong passwords that you change regularly. You will also want to make sure your backup files are encrypted.

Local Data Backups

The alternative to cloud storage is backing up your data locally. There are several different devices you can use to back up your data locally. These include:

• External hard drives: This is the recommended method for small businesses. They are relatively inexpensive and easy to use.
• USB Drives: Although they don’t have the capacity of external hard drives, they have fast data transfer rates and are easy to carry around. Furthermore, they have no moving parts, so they’re durable and reliable.
• LAN Storage: Local Area Network storage lets you backup files to another computer or server.
• Tape Storage: This option is best for large amounts of data backup as they are highly reliable and can contain massive amounts of data.

You should back up your data nightly. You can make this process easier with backup software programs that work on a set schedule to automatically backup your data. Additionally, this software also zips and encrypts files to save disk space and increase data security.

However, it’s extremely important that you only keep your data backups on-site if you store them in a fire-proof, indestructible safe. Otherwise, your data backups could be struck by disaster.

Some small businesses use security boxes at banks for their data backups. Alternatively, some business owners have multiple data backup copies stored at different secure locations. It doesn’t really matter where you keep your data backup so long as it’s secure and you can access it regularly.

Create a Data Archive

In general, backups are periodic, short-term images of data meant for disaster recovery. A data archive, by contrast, refers to the long-term storage of data that you no longer use regularly, but you hold onto it in case a situation arises where you need it restored.

Summary

The last thing your small business needs is to run the risk of losing your data. Therefore, you need to prepare for disaster by investing in proper data protection. This means creating a backup system that includes regularly archiving and backing up your data using secured means. For instance, you could use cloud storage or a local backup method such as tape storage. However, if you choose the local backup method, make sure you store the device you use in a safe, off-site location. You might even consider having multiple backups. By doing this, you’ll ensure that your business will survive no matter what storm it may face.