I have heard many stories over the years from people who “thought” they had backups of their data, only to experience a data loss and discover that their backups were useless. Do you know if your data backup is a true backup?

There are many reasons why a backup might not work: the original data was corrupted, the media is no longer readable, or the data is obsolete. There are some simple steps to verifying that your backups will work for you in your time of need.

Not all backup types are the same

While backing up your data is paramount, the way you backup your data is also vital to data recovery. The best solution is to have multiple backups on varying media in multiple locations. To accomplish this you will want to consider media types. Many companies use tape backups, which require a person to actually physically go to the data server to manually rotate tapes. Consumers have copied data to CD’s/DVD’s because they are extremely portable, but the longevity of this media is still in question. Many portable devices are considered disposable and while you might have a copy of your data on a thumb drive, this may not be a true backup of the files you need. Secure online backups have become popular in recent years because it is a true backup located off-site, requiring only the internet for access.

When choosing data backup solutions you should consider the ability to access your backup. Are you in an area that might be evacuated? If so, remembering to take your backup device and power cords might be difficult. It is a good idea to “share backup” services with another field office, or even another family member who lives in another region. Make a backup of your data, verify that it is valid and then mail a copy. You may not have immediate access but if your data does not change often, for example, archives of family photos, you will have the data secured. An excellent addition to “shared backup” services is secure online backups accessed anywhere from the internet. You will have access, or another field office or family member, to easily bring your data online from anywhere.