Being able to restore is more important than backing up

Many small businesses don’t back up their data at all, and others use improper media for the job. I’ve often asked computer professionals, “Which is more important: Backing up your data, or restoring it?” Almost invariably, they will answer that backing up the data is more important. We’ ve been trained to think about backing up our data, and when you go to any of the popular hardware companies that offer data protection solutions, they sell backup solutions, not restore solutions. Therein lies one of the problems - a misleading mindset. Protecting your data is not about backing it up. It’s about being able to restore that data when, not if, you need to.

We all have a negative attitude toward backing up data, but even when we do it regularly, lots of things can go wrong. Choosing media poorly suited for backing up critical data is a major problem. A significant number of small businesses still back up their data to floppy disks, which is a very bad idea. Floppies are not suited for backing up anything important because they are unpredictable; sometimes they work trouble free for decades, sometimes they fail right out of the box, and sometimes they fail after just a few uses. Floppies are the worst backup choice.

Tape backups are better than floppies, but if you’re going to use a tape drive to back up your company’s data, then plan on spending at least $1200 for a reliable one. Several problems can occur with backup tapes. A poorly designed tape drive can stop and start frequently in the same area. It can drag the tape across the heads producing wear spots, called “shoe shining.” These areas no longer store data properly, and will result in data loss. Low quality tapes can suffer from stretching; due to the constant back and forth motion of the tape head, or from heat and cold. Stretched tape produces alignment problems and data loss. Dust, humidity, and heat can likewise cause problems. Tapes exposed to harsh conditions may be unreadable; a good storage environment is vital to maintaining tape reliability. Another problem area is tape rotation and retirement. One medical facility we had dealings with ran their tapes until one of those tapes literally fell apart in someone’s hands. If you decide to go with tapes, be sure to rotate out the old ones on a regular basis and replace them with new ones. Don’t wait until they fall to pieces.

DLTs (Digital Linear Tapes) are pretty reliable - almost as reliable as hard drives - but they are expensive. We run a Mammoth-2 from Exabyte, for example, and it cost approximately $2,500. The tapes go for $40.00 for a 20 to 50 GB storage capacity. Be sure to stick with the manufacturer’s specs for rotating and retiring tapes, and take care to avoid exceeding the tape’s or the drive’s limits.

CDs are often used for backing up data. On the surface this seems like a good choice. CD burners are pretty fast now, and most writable drives come with free software. Yet there are some caveats. Buy only high quality, name brand CD-Rs. CD-Rs are much more reliable and readable than CD-RWs when it comes to writing and reading back. Some CD burning software requires that the same software, and possibly even the same model of CD drive, be installed on both the target and backup machines. CDs are also subject to “rot,” where they gradually degrade over time.

Removable hard drives allow you to write large amounts of information in a short time and then take the disk out and store it somewhere else (ideally, off-site). They have some definite advantages - they allow you to backup data fairly quickly; and external ones can be moved easily from one machine to another, making it easy to back up multiple machines, or to restore data to different machines. Be careful if you choose this solution. Some drives have operating temperature limits in the high 80s or low 90s (Fahrenheit). Modern CPUs run hot, and the temperature inside a PC case could easily reach or exceed drive limits. Also check the manufacturer’s specs - some drives have an astounding 1% non-recoverable error rate. Select your removable drives with care, and as with all backup solutions, check the manufacturer’s recommended operating parameters and stay well within them.

Whichever backup method you choose, it won’t do you any good if you can’t restore the information. Failing to check your ability to restore your data is like having an uncashed check; you just don’t know if it’s worth anything. Also be sure to store your backup media off-site. This can save your business in the event of a destructive emergency like a fire. Don’t depend on fireproof safes, either – the tape may not burn, but the heat is usually enough to render most media types useless.

Insurance may help your business recover, but it usually does not cover data. Most small businesses have a standard business operating policy (BOP), which are written to cover primarily bodily injury and personal property. A hard drive crash, for example, is not covered in a standard BOP. A standard BOP also does not generally cover loss of revenue due to a hard drive crash unless the business’s revenue is generated specifically by the hard drive, and not by the data stored there. For example, someone in the business of selling storage space on a crashed hard drive would be covered for loss of revenue, but not for the data itself. Since it is so difficult to prove the worth of electronic data, especially when it’s gone, almost no insurance company will cover the value of the data. Most backup hardware and software boxes carry a similar disclaimer: they’re liable only for the replacement costs of the media or drive itself, not the data or the perceived or inherent value of that data.

A BOP can cover the cost of researching and restoring (but not recovering) any lost data. In other words, it may pay for someone to compile all the paper records necessary to re-create the electronic records. However, like most policies, there is a cap on the amount that is paid out to re-create the data, and it’s easy to exceed this cap, especially since many small businesses are underinsured. Most business insurance companies do offer riders or separate policies that cover data loss and restoration. The problem is that most businesses don’t want to pay the extra charges; they view it to be an acceptable risk.

What can you do to avoid catastrophic data loss?

1. Select a reliable backup system.
2. Back up your data daily.
3. Move your backed up data off site every day.
4. Rotate media (if used).
5. Test your backs on a regular basis by selecting and restoring random files.

Let us help, Altronics Communications provides maintenance services for small business, you can count on us for all your needs of preventive maintenance, disaster planning, computer support, network design, deployment and administration.