Data Backup | The importance of a Backup Strategy

 

Everyone is aware of how important is save and store important data on our devices, but not everyone knows the importance of backing up those most value files to avoid futures headaches. 

 

Be negligent in backing up data could lead to numerous and irreversible issues, the first thing it can come to our minds is data lost. Obviously, in case a data breach or just for a malfunction o a drive, don't have a backup could cause a data lost. But if we think from a business point of view, there are way more reasons to have a regular backup strategy. From the relationship with clients or investors -as no one want to do business with a company that have lost important data after a unexpected event-, to improve productivity having a archiving of past data, and even in certain fields to achieve with the law in tax reporting and audits matters. 

 The strategy:

After mention why is important  to backup, let's focus now in how to design a good backup strategy.

There a multiple ways to approach to a backup routines. But back ups can be divided in 3 ways to perform:

• Full Backup: Completely backup of all the data stored. It provides a great protection but the times and resources needed are very significant
• Differential Backup: It is an update of the last full backup, it just updates the  backup with the data added since the last full backup was performed. Even if another differential backup was performed in between. It is slightly inefficient, as it can copy files that they were already copied during the first differential backup.
  
• Incremental Backup: It is more efficient than the differential backup, as it only save the changes made since the last backup of any kind was performed. Leading to less time and resources requirements. 

 There is not a golden rule of how to develop a backup strategy, but a good start can be to make a full backup per week for example on Monday, and perform a incremental backup as a day basis the rest of the days. This strategy find a compromised between solid security and a optimal time and resources consuming

Well, now we know how to program our backups, but the next big question probably is popping up: Where should I store my backups?. Once again there is not a golden rule, but there is 3 possible scenarios of how to store it:

• On-site Backup: Basically is stored on the same building as the original data. This type of backup has its pros and cons. It is easy to recover data even if the network is down, but in case of a problem on the location could make both the data and the backup get corrupted
• Off-site backup: It is stored the files on a different location. It is more secure that a on-site, but recovery from a data lost can be a longer process.
• Cloud Backups: Like in off-site backup, the data is stored on a different location provided by a third party but with a direct connection through internet. One of its most important advantage is you can have the backup sync between your network and the cloud backup. As a con, those services cost money and it depends of the size and budget of the company and the amount of data that needs to be stored, it could be unaffordable.
  

A good recommendation for maximize the security of the security of the backup as before, is to tilt towards a hybrid strategy. Have a programmed backup on site as a daily basis, and also contract a cloud backup stored services like Azure or AWS. These services provides multiples benefits. AWS for instance, ensures a live 24/7 access to the backup data, thanks to their well design cloud network that provides a redundancy of the data in more than one close data centre to the company's location.

 

Data recovery:

But what's up if the data lost occurred before we planned and applied a solid backup strategy? Well we still having some tools and procedures to try to get our data back.

It can sound obvious, but the very first step should be to check the recycle bin, even though the space on it is limited, there are a huge chances that if a file was deleted by mistake, still can be found on the recycle bin. It is also a good habit to check the emails, maybe you shared it in some point, or even check if you have a synchronized cloud service enable like Microsoft One drive.

If nothing of the mentioned before worked, it's time to resort to data recovery software. On this point, it is crucial to operate carefully, try to not save or install any software(even your data recovery software), as by mistake you could overwrite the deleted file. A good plan is to use a portable version run from a USB flash drive. 

There are many options of both free and pay data recovery software. But in many cases a free one is more than enough. Software like:

• Recuva: Specialized in undeleted files that have bee marked as a deleted. 

• TestDisk: Designed to recover lost partitions or to make non-booting disks bootable again.
• PhotoRec: Designed to recover lost files including video, documents and archives from hard disks, CD-ROMs, and lost pictures  from digital camera memory.

As I mentioned before, there is also paid options, like Stellar, Kroll or Disk Drill. But their prices, all over £60 pounds make them a bit overprice for a normal user.

Once again, the best option to avoid to need a data recovery software is to planned a good backup strategy and last but not least, think twice before delete an important file!