Is Your Data Really Safe?

Backups are more than important. And if you are just storing the data on external USB hard drives and other devices you are missing an important aspect of your backup strategy. Yes, this type of backup is certainly necessary and can protect your data in case your computer ceases to function, but they will fail to help you if your office or home catches fire, is flooded, or experiences any other type of natural or manmade catastrophe. Or, maybe someone breaks in the property and damages or steals your external drive, computer, or other similar backups.

What you should be doing instead is storing your data offsite. An offsite backup is a kind of backup that is stored “in a separate location”- from where your main files are stored. So instead of placing your replicated files in two different hardware devices, you should store them in two physical locations that are far apart. This makes data recovery way easier in case things get messed up the original data storage site.

Business or work-related files obviously need to be backed up efficiently. Since data could be extremely critical, an ordinary backup system may not be sufficient to promise complete security. Hackers, spies, criminals, and delinquent employees may easily get their hands on the data and the company’s security will be compromised. Because traditional systems of backup can be easily stolen or copied, they are significantly vulnerable to threats.

A majority of IT companies make copies of their backups to removable media and then physically transfer that media to a far-away location or a third-party site, such as the Iron Mountain, etc. However, transporting physical media copies can prove to be a time-consuming, costly, and a risky process.

Fortunately, there is a much better solution. Data replication technology is widely used today by many business organizations to more safely and easily copy backup offsite. The solution encourages you to run backups and then safely replicate that data over the WAN to any far-off location, which includes public or private cloud networks.

Once every month (or couple of weeks), you can take that flash drive, bring it back home, and back it up prior to taking it back and storing it in a completely separate physical location. For really important data files – particularly ones that do not change too frequently, you may even think about storing an external hard drive or USB in a bank’s safety deposit.

When you choose to replicate your data offsite, you can expect the following benefits.

1. Reliability – As discussed above, in case of data theft from your traditional backup method, you can easily access the important information online.
2. Business continuity – Losing critical business data can be devastating as it wastes time and valuable resources trying to recover that data. Offsite replications decrease downtime. This is because if there happens to be an onsite disaster where the local hardware gets destroyed, then your clients will not drain business cycles in an attempt to compensate for it. You will quickly be able to restore their data back to its production-ready state. Additionally, those businesses that support offsite cloud storage, their customers will have easy access to their data, regardless of the device as long as it has an internet connection.
3. An added storage layer that is more cost – Efficient and scalable client data is ever-increasing, which means it is not scalable to keep buying more local storage so frequently. Instead, your clients can benefit from your cloud’s unlimited storage capacity and transfer their data there.

So, what are you waiting for? With so many offsite data replication options to choose from, there is no reason why you should leave your data unprotected.

We offer our clients ReadyVault Offsite as option. If you would like more information on this please contact us.

Braver Technology Solutions LLC