What is ‘Backing up data’?

Data backup is one of the most important areas of business IT and yet is also one of the most ignored. Backing up data making a copy of your most important and needed files; this can then be used if the original is lost or becomes corrupt.

Why you should backup?

Losing your business files can happen in a variety of ways, the common causes include your IT system failing physically, errors, theft or disasters like fire, flood and dropped mugs full of liquids! People also commonly save data to just one place, like ‘My Documents’ on your PC’s hard drive. Which means that if this data were to be changed or deleted it would take considerable time for IT support to restore it.

What should you backup?

Choosing which files is a good start to ensuring you have a copy of all your business’s important information. To help choose which files you should backup try thinking about what you would need to continue working if your PC were to be stolen/damaged. For example clients address/telephone details, your account information, important documents.

Another question to ask yourself when choosing which data to backup is “How long has it taken me to collate all this information and what would happen to the business if I couldn’t get it back once lost?” These are the key things that you should be thinking about.

What type of backup should I run?

There are many options to choose from, but the two moat popular options are an online or physical backup though a hard drive. Both have their advantages and are explained in detail in our most recent post, which you can read by clicking here.

If you have any more questions about backups or just IT in general, feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to provide you with our IT support advice.

Website – http://www.pinfieldsit.co.uk/blog/Backing%20up%20Data