An Effective Data Backup Strategy        

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I have often dealt with data corruption or data loss at my customer’s place of business due to the lack of an effective backup strategy.  There are many opinions about what constitutes an effective backup, but the really important issue is that you backup your data regularly, however you do it.

Backing up every day is an absolute must, but what if the data you are backing up was corrupted yesterday or the day before?  Or the day before that?  You could have 30 or 31 tapes or CD’s and use one for each day of the month, but what if you are copying corrupted data onto each and every tape or disk in the backup rotation?  What if a part of your data was corrupted 6 weeks ago?  Now, all 30 of your CD’s or tapes contain backups of corrupted data!  Assuming all the data on your backup media is corrupted, how far back must you begin manually restoring data to get your business back up to normal operating speed?  6 months?  12 months?  How long will this take?  How much will it cost you?  I can assure you, it will be in the thousands of dollars!  You might save money (if your drive suffers a head crash) by using one of the data recovery services located throughout the country.  TLSI in Grand Prairie, Tx. charges $295 at the time you leave the defective hard drive with them and it is NOT refundable.  If they are able to retrieve ANY data from the drive, you will pay them an additional $1,000 when you pick up the CD’s containing the retrieved data!  But that is cheaper than paying several employees $10 to $15 per hour for dozens or even hundreds of hours to restore the data the hard way over a period of several days, weeks, or even months! 

As you may already know, I recommend that most of my customers use CD re-writable disks for their backups unless your backup files are small.  The backup strategy I use takes exactly 21 CD’s, and since CDRW’s cost less than $1.00 each in most stores, the cost is minimal.  The process is outlined below:

Label 1 CD each with the following:               Mon    Tue     Wed    Thu     Fri

Then label 5 CD’s with the following:              Fri 1    Fri 2    Fri 3    Fri 4    Fri 5

At this point, you should have labeled 9 CD’s.  Now label the remaining 12 CD’s as follows:

            Jan      Mar     May     Jul       Sep     Nov

                        Feb     Apr      Jun      Aug     Oct      Dec

Keep in mind, CDRW’s (re-writable CD’s) take from 25 to 45 minutes each to format, so be patient and prepare them over a span of several days.  And, for this process to work properly, you must have a CD recordable drive running Roxio Direct CD or a comparable program.  Now here is the process for using the CD’s you have prepared to protect your valuable data:

On each….

Monday                        Insert the disk labeled MON (unless it is the 1st day of the month)

Tuesday                      Insert the disk labeled TUE (unless it is the 1st day of the month)

Wednesday                 Insert the disk labeled WED (unless it is the 1st day of the month)

Thursday                     Insert the disk labeled THU (unless it is the 1st day of the month)

Friday                          Check you calendar and find out which Friday today is.  In other words, if today is the 2nd Friday of the month, insert Fri 2 (unless it is the 1st day of the month, in which case you would insert the disk for that month).

On the FIRST day of each month, insert the disk that corresponds with that month, no matter what day of the week it is (it should be labeled with the name of the current month).

I realize this may seem a little complicated, but it will give you many restoration options and could save you thousands of dollars if your system crashes or your backups become corrupted!  I could give you the mathematical probabilities for your data recovery using this system, but that would only bore you.  So you decide what you want to do.  Everything I have outlined in this message can be implemented by you for a total cost of less than $30 (assuming you already have a recordable CD drive).  You can do this now or call me later!

I also recommend that you have someone carry the backup disk off-site each day so you can restore the data in the event of a theft or natural disaster that destroys your facility (fire, tornado, flood, etc.).  I have several clients who have implemented all the steps outlined in this message except this one, and most of them have had reason to regret it!  Carry your backup disk off site every day!

I use a very reliable, inexpensive backup program that you can use to create the backup files if you don’t already have one.  It costs only $29.00 and is very simple to use.  Second Copy 2000  can be download (a fully functional copy of the program) at CENTERED.COM and you will have 30 days to register the program.  But you must set up all the necessary backup profiles, format and label all your disks, etc. 

If you only need to back up small amounts of data, you may be able to do so on 3.5” floppy disks rather than CD’s.  If you are using Quickbooks, be sure to back up all files which are named as follows: [company name].qbw except for files which refer to the “sample” company (you probably have two of these on your computer).  If you are not sure where these files are located, search your drive(s) for *.qbw to locate them.  If you have other programs that are critical to your personal or business operation, be sure to back them up also.  If you are a doctor, medical billing company or other specialized business and are unsure what files need to be backed up, call me or send me an email at bobby@kendrickit.com and I will tell you which files are critical, no matter what program you are using (if I am not familiar with your program, I will contact the vendor at no charge to you).

The backup program I use is called Second Copy 2000.  You can download a fully operational copy by clicking here.  You can use the program with no restrictions for 30 days, but after that you will have to pay the $29 to register it or you will not be able to add or change any backup profiles.  Any backups you had scheduled prior to the expiration of the trial period will still function normally.  Registering the program will also eliminate the annoying splash screen you see every time you reboot your computer.

If you are considering the implementation of this backup program but don’t have the time to do it yourself, call me at 214-773-7377 and I will implement the entire process for you in a very short period of time.

If you have the time and skills to implement this process yourself, please do so today!  If you have any problems or would like me to implement this or any other backup process for you, please call me at any of the numbers on the front page of this document and I will help you in any way possible.  I will conduct staff meetings with those employees involved with this process at no charge when requested.  If you are a larger business or you have data that is critical to your operation and would like to have these backups managed by my staff, we can design a program that will ensure your backups are performed on a regular basis for a nominal fee.  And, if you have a high speed internet connection at your office (DSL, T1, ISDN, cable modem, etc.), we can maintain all your data on our servers and not only manage your backups, but maintain your system 24 hours a day, including virus protection.  (This eliminates the need for one of your staff members to carry the backup media off site.)  We have monthly maintenance programs that can be tailored to your needs and they are very inexpensive.  For as little as $75 a month, we can provide services that may include any of the following (depending on the program you decide is appropriate for your situation):

If you are considering implementation of a high speed internet connection (broadband), call me first!  I may be able to provide you with DSL or T1 broadband and cut your monthly phone bill in HALF at the same time!

The important thing is that you just DO IT!  And don’t wait until tomorrow or it may be too late!

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Bobby Kendrick
Kendrick Information Technologies
603 E. Hwy. 67, Suite 103
Duncanville, Tx. 75137
Ph/Fx: 972-223-5146   Mob: 214-773-7377