Backup and Recovery Plan For Small Businesses Disclaimer: This article is intended to serve as an informational reference source. While the information is based on sound principles for backup and recovery, it is not intended to serve as your personal plan nor intended to replace consulting with a professional Information Technology expert in the field. Based on a true story.. So one day, I get a call from an associate who asks me do you know anything about backups? And I replied, are you referring to computer backups? Why do you ask? She replied with well my computer crashed and apparently my backup is no good. So I don t know what to do. And at that point, you could hear a big gulp sound reverberating across the phone lines. It turns out that my friend had a backup system in place. Every night, a program would start, the external hard drive would spin, and something happened. But she NEVER checked to see exactly what was taking place. When I asked her to look at the backup file and tell me how large it was, she replied 1 KB. It was then that I knew her backup file was being updated but in fact, it did not contain actual data. How can that be? Very simpleyou can program backup software to generate a backup job but if you do not specify what folders to include in the backup, the program will run, create a nearly empty file (like 1 KB which stands for kilo-bit) and it s done. So let me ask you this.. Just pretend, right now, this very minute. What happens if you office and the computer equipment is no longer available? How would that impact your work? How long can you go without having a computer? If your computer totally fails, how long will it take to replace it and load information? Do you have a backup of your data (and later on, you will see how I truly define by the word backup)? How will you restore your electronic files? Do you have a copy of your application programs? Do you have a copy of your software documentation? If you suffered a fire, how will you restore your paper records if those were burned?
It happened to me.. Like my friend, I too have suffered from computer failure. In fact, it happened twice within three months. The first time, my laptop (which I use exclusively for my business) failed. Later, my home computer failed and I have tons of personal data, files, etc, including my personal financial data. Unlike my friend, I was VERY prepared. And in both cases, I was able to fully recover within 2 days. Let this be a wake up call.. Given what you have just read, if you are not prepared to restore your computer and/or data within your prescribed timeline, you need to follow the ideas contained within this article and create a Backup and Recovery Plan for yourself. The industry buzz words. Have you ever heard the following terms? Disaster Preparedness Business Continuity Backup and Recover Let me attempt to translate what these mean into a layperson s language. Hang in there with me for this page, I promise to return to simpler language very soon!!! Disaster Preparedness plans help large organizations prepare for situations where there is a major catastrophe. Examples include Earthquake, Floods, Fire, or even total failure of computing systems. This plan specifies how organizations should recover in the event of a major disaster. Business Continuity focuses on a specific action plan that will be put into place if a catastrophe occurs. For example, let s assume that a major data center is taken offline because is suffers damage due to flooding. How would they continue to process data? The answer is to have a second data center site, located in a separate geographic area, with similar computer, similar software, and a copy of the actual data. A switch can then be flipped that will direct computer operations to take place at this site instead of the one that was damaged. (And you can bet large institutions have this type of capability.) Backup and Recovery simply means that data is backed up to some type of source and can be reloaded onto a computer in the event it needs to be restored. Now while you probably do not have the financial resources or time to create an elaborate Disaster and Recovery plan, you should be able to come up with a scheme that will help you restore your computers (and business) in a reasonable amount of time.
So here is what you need to do. (And this list will change based on your budget and expertise) Backup and Recovery Plan Purchase a backup computer with similar features as to what you have Have software CDs (Operating System, Drivers, Applications, etc). Have manuals and tech bulletins. External Hard Drive or other removable media Backup Software or Copy and Paste Offsite storage of your Backup (On media such as CDs, flash drives) Test Your Backups Backup and Recovery Plan You need to think about the bullet items above and figure out how you will address them. The Backup and Recovery Plan can be a narrative, a checklist, bullet items, etc. Choose a format or style that works best for you. But whatever format you choose, make sure you think through each of the steps. If you suffer from a disaster, you will be following this plan to help you restore your computer operations. I like checklists. They are easy to create and follow. The checklist should be a step by step process and can include additional notes, instructions, references to books, web sites, technical documents, etc. And yes, later on, I will address the issue of Testing Backups!!! Purchase a backup computer with similar features as to what you have I know, I know. Many of us can hardly afford a single computer. But why do I recommend having a second computer? It is the fastest way to restore your data If you primary computer fails, it might take a long time to repair The second computer can be used to test your entire Backup and Recovery Plan. Now it s important to remember, this second computer should be similar to your existing computer. Why? The software programs you are currently running need to run on the new computer. You may need similar storage and working memory. You need to make sure there are no compatibility issues between the computer and the rest of your hardware (such as printer, scanner, USB devices, etc). If you do not have the ability to buy a second computer, then you ll need to make sure you know where you can go for repairs and the time it will take to have your computer up and running once again.
Have software CDs (Operating System, Drivers, Applications, etc). It s ea sy to lose the CDs that came with your computer or have purchased subsequently- they are invaluable. Without them, rebuilding your computer will be a near impossible task. Keep your CDs in a safe place. It might be a good idea to purchase a fire proof safe and store it in your garage. Have manuals and tech bulletins. If your computer came with manuals and/or if you have other technical bulletins, keep those in a safe place. Even though these documents can sometimes be found at the manufacturer s web site, who has the time to go look for them, let alone download. AND if your computer fails, you ll need to rely on someone else to retrieve this information. So do yourself a favor; save and keep the manuals in a safe place. External Hard Drive or other removable media The stores are filled with External Hard Drives. There is a wide selection of USB type hard drives that quickly plug into your computer and appear as an internal drive. The nice thing about these drives is that you can quickly unplug them and connect them to another computer for immediate access. You can now purchase what is called a Flash Drive. These devices, which are no more than two inches long, plug into a USB port and just like an external hard drive, offer detachable storage. They are easy to use and very portable. The main drawback is their small size- they are easy to lose. And if you lose one, someone else will have access to your data!!! So unless you are an expert at data encryption, I would shy away from these devices as your main backup. Backup Software or Copy and Paste. There is a wide range of Backup Software. Many of them are identical. The main features include: Ability to create multiple backup jobs Ability to grab several folders of data and back them up at the same time and place Create a single backup file (that contains a header with information on what is in the backup file) Ability to schedule the backup You can create incremental backups which simply record changes to your data. You can create grandfather-father-son backups throughout the week- allow you to create multiple files. The full backup method creates copies of all data. As with incremental, multiple backup files (on media) should be kept (i.e. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc). This would allow for you to restore a file that was created and added to a particular backup. (Overriding a single file creates the potential of removing a key file from your backups). Depending on the amount of data entry and your ability to restore files, you might consider a weekly override of the Monday Thursday files, but archiving the Friday file to an offsite storage site. An incremental backup method creates multiple backup media that are kept (not just the last one) and cataloged (as per your backup schedule). These backups will be incremental if each original piece of backed up information is stored only once, and then successive backups only contain the information that changed since the previous one. As a backup method, it is highly efficient. It allows for situations to restore data as of a certain date where as overriding a single backup media can erase files (on your backup) that are no longer present on the source drive.
Grandfather-Father-Son Backup refers to the most common rotation scheme for rotating backup media. Originally designed for tape back up, it works well for any hierarchical backup strategy. The basic method is to define three sets of backups, such as daily, weekly and monthly. The daily or Son backups are rotated on a daily basis with one graduating to Father status each week. The weekly or Father backups are rotated on a weekly basis with one graduating to Grandfather status each month. Often one or more of the graduated backups is removed from the site for safekeeping and disaster recovery purposes. A disadvantage of this backup scheme is that it doesn't ensure that media is replaced before it wears out. For example, each daily (son) media is used every week until it fails, unless some method of tracking media age is implemented. All these features sound great, right? But what is the drawback? Just like my friend, it is easy to become complacent about the backup software. You need to make sure it is doing it s thing. And I will tell you how to check that in a later section. You are probably familiar with the method of Copy and Paste. You simply point to a folder or file, copy it, and paste it somewhere else. It s simple and easy to do. And you can use this technique for creating your backup files. The Copy and Paste technique works great if: You do your backups manually You have a limited number of folders and files to back up. Offsite storage of media (such as CDs, flash drives) Even if you have an external hard drive, what would happen if this device and your computer were burned in a fire? It s a good idea to burn a CD that contains your data and have that in either a fire proof safe or stored at an offsite facility (such as a safe deposit box) at your bank. And how often should you refresh this offsite media? Just ask yourself the following: How much data entry do you perform in your work. If you do very limited data entry (i.e. an hour a day), that is 5 hours a week. If your computer and external hard drive were not available, weekly offsite storage means you have to re-enter 5 hours of work. The longer the refresh cycle, the more data entry you need to do. But anything is better than trying to reenter information from Day 1- that is an impossible task. And if your paper documents have also been destroyed, you will NEVER recover. By the way, do NOT rely on Floppy Disks as a backup. They can fail over time.
Testing Your Backups I like to call this exercise simulation. It is a chance to not only test your computer generated backup, but it will also help you refine your Backup and Recovery Plan. You can create a test plan based on the type of backup you make (Incremental, Grandfather, Overide). There are two types of tests that I like to conduct. Recovering a lost folder or file Recovery onto a new computer Even though there are ways to recover a file that was deleted this is not always straight forward. And if you cleaned out the Trash Can, that file is lost for good. Recover a lost folder or file Here is a simple technique for testing the process to Recover a lost folder or file (and I will assume you are using backup software). Monday Day Create a test file using MS Word. Call it RecoverMe.doc and save it in one of your folders. Monday Night We ll assume your Backup software is making a backup Tuesday Day Delete the file called RecoverMe.doc Tuesday Afternoon- Using your backup software try to recover the file from the backup system. Now let s try this. Monday Day Create a test file using MS Word. Call it RecoverMe.doc and save it in one of your folders. Monday Night We ll assume your Backup software is making a backup Tuesday Day Delete the file called RecoverMe.doc Tuesday Night - We ll assume your Backup software is making a backup Wednesday Afternoon- Using your backup software try to recover the file from the backup system. You may find that if your backup is over-riding the backup file every night, your RecoverMe.doc will not be available- it s gone. Thus, if you had separate backups for Monday and Tuesday, you should be able to recover the file from the Monday backup. This is why you should consider having a separate backup files for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. For Saturday, you can burn that file onto a CD. This will ensure that you have a backup, that is one week old, that will not be overridden. And it s this CD that you will take to your offsite storage facility (or safe). Recovery onto a new computer. If you have a second computer available, the ideal situation is to have the Operating System and Applications installed. This will allow for the least amount of time to recover your data. (If you have not done so already, make sure you install the Backup Software onto the new computer.)
Testing procedure: Disconnect the external hard drive from you main computer Connect the hard drive to your backup computer Make sure you can restore the backup file onto the backup computer Make sure you can see the folders and files that were copied from your main computer Make sure you can open and work on these file!!! And this is where my friend s Backup Plan failed Even though she had an external hard drive, backup software, saw that an updated file (of some type) was being created each night, she NEVER tried to view the contents of that backup file nor try to restore data from it. Had she done so, it would have been obvious that the backup file was blank. And yes, she lost all of her data. The only remedy for her was to take the internal hard drive out of the computer and send it to a special lab were they try to read the contents and copy it onto a new drive. But this is a time consuming, expensive and never guaranteed to work process. My parting words of wisdom. There are many ways to generate backup files and recover in the event of a disaster. The important point is that you create a plan and test it periodically. The computer stores are filled with external hard drives, software, and other gizmos that can help you with this task. Do not get overwhelmed. Step 1- Understand the process Step 2 - Create your plan Step 3 Purchase the hardware and Software Step 4 Periodically test the plan Of course, if this is still overwhelming, I am here to help. I ll be happy to work with you to develop and implement a Backup and Recovery plan. And yes, we will test the recovery process every now and then!!! Good luck!!!