The Importance of Backing up your Data

Data is important, especially when it is yours! Whether it be from a business or your personal photos you will want to have your data backed up somewhere. It is easier and more important than ever to do yet too few people, and even some small businesses have not invested in a proper data backup solution. 

Data Backup

One of the most important, yet one of the most overlooked areas of IT is simply saving/backing up your data in more than one location. Whether you have a small business or just all those selfies you took with your phone, you will want to backup your data in a second place. For individuals with their PCs, this usually comes in the form of an external drive. With a business, the data backup solution will involve redundant servers and tape storage for long term data storage. Data loss is a big issue and can occur from hardware failure, malicious software, or disasters like theft, fire, flooding, or even your cat spilling your soy latte. While your data can usually be recovered, it comes at a significant cost in terms of time and money.

Taxes

Businesses are usually required to retain their records for an extended period, usually many years. The IRS could audit your business and demand to see your records for tax purposes. They will not be very forgiving if you recently had data loss and cannot produce the necessary records. To avoid being fined for noncompliance your small business should have a data backup solution.

Theft

For individuals and small businesses alike, theft is a common issue. If your entire life's worth of photos is only stored locally on your machine then you forever have lost those memories.  For your small business, the stolen PCs could have client's personal contact information and more. Think about how long it took to gather all that information and consider how long it would take again to regather all this info if it was not safely backed up.

Computer Infections

A growing number of computer viruses purposefully target your data. They often delete or corrupt your data to the point that it becomes next to impossible to ever unencrypt it. Look at the recent WannaCry ransomware attack that encrypted files on infected machines. For those individuals or companies that had not made backups of that data, they would need to consider paying the ransom or be unable to use their data ever again. This issue is almost entirely mitigated by having secure backups offsite. Sure it might be annoying to grab data from an offsite server but it is infinitely better than facing permanent data loss. In this digital age, it is more important than ever to secure and backup your data

Avoid Downtime

If a disaster were to happen in your local area, oftentimes the most successful companies are the ones that come back "online" first. This competitive advantage is huge as you can grab the business of your competitors before they can reopen their doors. A 2007 study from the University of Texas showed that 43% of small business that suffered major data loss never reopened. Think ahead and you and your business could be one of the lucky ones to survive. 

Whatever your business, whoever you are: think about your data and how you are protecting it. Buy an external drive and backup your local data on your PC frequently. If you own a small business there are solutions for you and despite the cost think about what you would do if your data were corrupted or stolen - how could you recover?

PC Tec Rescuers is happy to help you with this or any other data migration issues you might have. Their friendly techs are available 24/7 to help you with any of your needs.