Where is your data?

Disaster recovery is often the last thing a company thinks about or plans for and in reality it should be one of the first things.

Disaster recovery is often the last thing a company thinks about or plans for, and in reality, it should be one of the first things.

Fire, flood, and theft happen on a daily basis and few companies are prepared for the consequences. For those who are prepared the recovery time to bring your business back online is minimized. If however, you haven’t planned for such an event the results can be catastrophic for your business.

Things to consider

• Do you have a regular and tested backup?
• Is your backup stored offsite in a secure location?
• Can you access your backup anywhere, anytime?
• Where will you restore your data in the event of a total loss?
• Keep your data in North America!

Doing regular restores of your backup is essential to any good disaster recovery plan. Just because a backup report indicates that your file backup was successful doesn’t always mean that your data is safe. Tapes degrade and hard drives get bad sectors. Restore some random data on a weekly basis to ensure that your backup media is still reliable.

Storing your backup in a secure location seems like a no brainer however often tapes and external drives are left behind at the end of the day or week. Even worse they can often be left in a car where theft or damage from the elements (cold or heat) can occur. The safest way to store your data is by using an online backup solution as this automates the process and eliminates the element of human error.

Having one person take your data home is dangerous as they control the fate of your company in the event of a disaster. Never allow someone to take the data home unless absolutely necessary. An online backup solution or an offsite safety deposit box should always be used to secure your data.

Have an alternate location available to restore your data. In the event of a total loss an alternate location will at a minimum let your staff access important data either directly or via VPN. The key is to limit dwww.thedunhamgroup.com you have decided to go with an online backup solution ensure that the company is based in Canada and that your data remains in Canada. The last thing you need is a dispute arising with an overseas company when you are trying to restore your data after a disaster.

Let The Dunham Group Inc help you plan your disaster recover solution. Contact Jeremy McMaster today at 905-312-8444 (ext 106) to setup an appointment and avoid disaster for your company.