| From time to time, we hear about one of
our clients had serious computer problems (sometimes
thought of as computer crashes) which caused them to
loose considerable data from their computer files. While
this is certainly a major inconvenience, it turned out
to also be a very major problem in these two instances.
That problem arose because the clients had not made
a reasonably current backup - from which they could
have restored the data that had been lost.
While
we realize that the need to make a backup on your
computer is not something new, we have come to also
realize that many people may be treating backups somewhat
casually and not completing them regularly - if at
all.
Please
keep in mind that making a backup for protection purposes
is not only important in the case of fire or theft.
In fact, its biggest use is to restore data when there
is a technical problem on a computer - and these technical
problems can be somewhat simple or can be catastrophic.
It
is our recommendation that all data on computers be
backed up daily. We suggest that you have a few disks
or tapes available so that the backups can be rotated
over a period of a few days. An ideal situation would
be to have one disk/tape for each day of the week
and rotate them so that you would always have potentially
seven different days worth as backup.
Some
people may ask why we recommend multiple tapes - it
has to do with the fact that occasionally a back up
may not have been successfully recorded and if you
should be using one disk and/or tape, you have no
assurance that the backup will be good when you need
it.
Furthermore,
we recommend that you periodically restore from the
backup that you have been making to see that it has
been working properly from a procedural perspective.
There have been times when people have been making
backups, but having never checked them, did not realize
that the very procedure that they were following was
inadequate or incomplete - with the result that the
backups were not useful.
It
is not our intent to be a prophet of doom with this
reminder, but we do know first hand the grief that
can arise if data is lost and then has to be restored
manually for any length of period of time. If you
should have further questions about this, or if you
need to have some guidance with respect to making
the backups, you may feel free to call us. On the
technical issues particular to your computer, you
may also wish to contact whoever has assisted you
with the set-up and programming of the computer.
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