Telford based IT experts, Severn Business Solutions, provide some useful advice to domestic households and businesses on why it’s vital to backup your pc and how you can do this.

Why it’s vital to ‘backup’ your computer

Data backup of your computer is a key task of IT and yet it is, most often than not, an area which is ignored. The Data on your PC is essential to the smooth running of any computer. Whether we are talking about a laptop for personal use or even a network of business computers. Essentially ‘Backing up’ means making a copy of your most important files; this can then be used if the original copy is lost. Preferably the second copy should be held at a different location to the original and be kept in a secure environment.

Why you should backup

There are numerous reasons why Data loss can occur; the most common causes are:

• physical failure of your PC such as a hard disk failure
• accidental human error such as deleting an important file by mistake
• a virus may wipe out data
• disasters like fire, flood and dropped coffee mugs!

It is also common for data to be saved to just one place, like ‘My Documents’ on your PC’s hard drive. Which means that if this data were to be accidentally changed or deleted it would take considerable time and expense to restore it. 

Growing numbers of computer viruses are also a risk to business information, as once they have infected your machine they often delete or corrupt your data. This is another reason why backing up your data is such an important thing to do. 

Which data should you backup?

Choosing what data to back up is a key start to making sure you have a copy of all your business critical information. You should think about what you would need to continue working if your PC were to be stolen/damaged. Clients address/telephone details, your account information, important documents. What about your Internet favourites and email addresses stored on your machine? How long has it taken you to collate all this information and what would happen if you couldn’t get it back once lost? These are the key things that you should be thinking about backing up. 

How often should I backup?

When running a business data backup is a critical function. From a personal day-to-day use, the necessity to backup might be less so. Simply put, the more valuable the data is, the more frequently you should back up. If the data doesn’t change often then it doesn’t need to be backed up as often, maybe just after each change. If the data changes frequently then it should be backed up frequently. From a business point of view this might be daily, maybe during the evenings when it is less likely to impact on workload. From a personal perspective, a monthly backup is possibly adequate.

What type of backup are there?

There are various types of backup available and the one you choose will generally depend on time, security and budget. There are a number of frequently used backup solutions which will suit your needs.

1. Memory sticks: used for smaller backups or mobile users and personal use.
2. Tape backup: an old industry standard backup medium for businesses with a reasonable amount of data to backup which be can performed daily, weekly or monthly as long as you have a reasonable tape rotation and store the tapes offsite it is an easy to use backup solution.
3. Online data backup: a popular choice for small and medium businesses as there is no need to purchase hardware or software, just a small monthly cost.
   If you want to know that your IT systems are in safe hands with a proactive solution to avoid issues and allow you to

If you would like some expert advice and support with data backup for your business call Severn Business Solutions on 01952 426127 or click here to visit their website.