Necessity of Creating a Data Backup

Data contained in a hard disk or any other storage device, has a finite lifespan. However, it is so important that it has to be necessarily protected by a backup.

Importance of Data and Difficulty in Creating a Backup

Data is accumulated after years of effort. Home personal computers contain data of important emails, address book, software utilities, downloaded music files, games, photographs, and many other important information like the taxes paid, bank account details, financial statements, etc. So vital is the information stored in the hard disk that when it is lost 70% of the computer users know not how to handle the situation.

Data is equally vital to business enterprises. Organisations incur huge losses without the existence of data and they are often forced to shut shop following its non-recovery. Having a data backup enables businesses to preserve their market image and reliability.

However, those entrusted with the task of creating a regular backup of information feel that it is a great hassle. It takes time to copy a large number of files regularly to a tape drive, a portable hard disk or any other storage media.

This problem has been solved to a certain extent with the advent of modern devices that have made available large hard drives, CD and DVD burners, and similar other innovative technological media. Creating a data backup is fast losing its reputation as a boring task and it’s economical too, to fit the most modest of budgets. These affordable backup methods are a protective measure that proves a virtual life-saver when the need arises.

Protecting Data Saves Businesses from Bankruptcy

Every business enterprise will face a computer-related problem at some point of time. Upon losing data, they would have to ship the hard drive to data recovery experts, who mail back the data after its retrieval. The whole process takes a few days, which prove too costly.

More than 9 out of 10 companies that exist without a data for a 10-day period file for a bankruptcy within a 12-month period. Such a situation does not arise, if a backup is available. It just takes a few minutes to retrieve the lost data and resume business operations.

Even if the vocational premises are affected by events beyond control, business does not get affected and can continue as usual. Data backup storage devices can be placed off-site protecting them from natural calamities.

However, natural calamities are not a great contributory factor for data loss. 90% of the data is lost due to human error. Data loss translates to huge monetary or personal loss. Its protection by a backup entails peace of mind. It is much easier to retrieve data from backup storage media rather than spend huge amounts in its retrieval. (It takes a minimum of £ 90.00 to recover data from a 4.7 GB hard disk, and data recovery can never be guaranteed.)

Otherwise, plenty of man-hours would have to be spent on its recreation, (if recreation is possible) or to reinstall the base software and to reconfigure the computer to suit user preference. Such effort could otherwise have been put to other productive uses.

Creating a Data Backup

Varied backup devices are available to suit user needs. Each backup device has its own pros and cons. CD-Rs and CD-RWs are becoming quite popular over other data backup devices, for they have a storage capacity equivalent to 800 MB and they are easily portable, inexpensive and lightweight.

People do not realise how important data is until disaster strikes, and once the unanticipated occurs they are engulfed by ‘computer rage’ and assault their pc physically and verbally.

Importance of data stems from the simple fact that data unrecovered is data permanently lost. If creating a backup appears time-consuming, it is easier to hand the job to some other professional services. They ensure that the data is continuously available round the clock. This would also free the IT personnel, and they can devote their time to other productive endeavours.

Article Source: http://www.my-article-dashboard.com

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. For more information on computer crime and Computer Forensics see www.fieldsassociates.co.uk

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