Not Knowing This About Data Backup Can Cost You Plenty

Pop Quiz:

If your server suddenly crashed and ALL your data was erased, how long would it take before your business was back up and running as usual?

If you think that because your data is being backed up, either locally or to the cloud, you’ll only be down for a short period of time, think again. Depending on what happened, your business could be down for days or even weeks. Here’s why:

When an old server breaks down or becomes totally inoperable, data saved onto external drives or to the Cloud cannot just be loaded onto a brand new server. The new hardware and software environments are totally different and often do not easily support restoration from older equipment. Having backed-up data does not guarantee a quick recovery. Success also depends on the viability of the backed-up data. If the data is unusable and cannot be restored, your company will suffer.

Did you know: 93% of companies that lost their data for 10 days or more filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster, and 50% filed for bankruptcy immediately. (Source: National Archives & Records Administration in Washington.)

When looking for a solution to protect your business from catastrophic data loss, there are four important things you should look for:

1. The solution should provide a local onsite device that backs up data from servers and workstations including full images of the server to facilitate fast local backup and restores.
2. The ability of the onsite device to function as a server with the click of a mouse to support your company’s operations should the server go down for extended periods of time.
3. Offsite storage to secured, certified data centers using anti-corruption technology to ensure the health of the back-ups. The server’s data and images are safely stored in the Cloud in case the onsite appliance is damaged in a disaster.
4. The solution should have Bare Metal Restore (BMR) capability. BMR allows you to restore server data and applications onto entirely new hardware in a fraction of the time it would take to fully provision a new server regardless of the differences between your old and new equipment. This technology works with workstations as well. This capability alone will save you a massive amount of time and allow you to quickly get your IT operations up and running. BMR can reduce recovery time from weeks and days to just hours.

The focus of EVERY business owner and management team should be BUSINESS CONTINUITY. Just having a backup of your data is not sufficient. If this is all you have, your business is at risk.

XSolutions offers IT Backup/Disaster Recovery systems for businesses of any size. Call us at 845-362-9675 to discuss your company’s needs.