A client with years of computer experience recently decided to format an old external hard drive. They used onsite backups for years. He had 2 external drives plugged in and chose the wrong one. He wiped his backups that were on that drive and other files that weren’t backed up elsewhere. Once he realized what he’d done, the formatted drive was immediately removed so it wouldn’t be written over again.
When he got the drive to us, it appeared okay externally but had errors on the internal drive that the client was not aware of at the time. So we had to repair the drive before we could even address the issue with the overwritten files. Finally we were able to recover the data that was not part of the full system backup.
It took 3 days of computer time to recover what we could from the formatted drive. Also, the names of the files were overwitten in the process of repairing the drive. Since our techs don’t know the client’s method of storing and naming files, it is generally the responsibility of the client to rename the files which they want to keep. This will add hours of recovery time on the client’s side.
A good way to prevent this is to have an online backup system in place. For businesses we use an online backup system called Cove Data Protection. For an in-depth look at how Cove Data Protection works, check out this video.
Cove Data Protection makes an image of the hard drive and backs up changes as they are made. It is a set it and forget it type of software. Should a file or files become corrupted or lost, they can be recovered in a few clicks either by the end user or through Nay & Associates, LLC. If the entire computer crashes or is lost due to a natural event, fire, flooding, tornado , etc. the entire computer recovery can be made onto another computer.
Cove Data Protection encrypts the data on the local computer prior to being sent over the internet and encrypted again at the server level.
Cost is a consideration. With on premise data backup, there is the cost of the additional hardware, the upkeep of the hardware and backup software. There is always the potential for backups to be lost, stolen, corrupted, or destroyed.
While online first backup, such as Core Data Protection, may seem like it is more expensive depending on the amount of data to be stored and recovered, it actually reduces the cost and risk for the business by reducing personnel time. It also removes the issues of scheduling backups, performing the backups, checking the backups to make sure they are not corrupted and maintaining the software plus protecting hardware from damage.
Over the past few years, we’ve actually had to recover files, systems and servers using Cove Data Protection. It was a straightforward process every time.
How exciting is data backup for you? If it’s up there with watching grass grow and paint dry, I’m right there with you. But you still need to cut the grass and paint rooms on occasion. Data backup is not the most exciting thing to talk about but it is a necessary evil.
We are here to help prevent the loss of your business and to help you avoid unnecessary stress.
If you are interested in learning more about securing your computer systems send an email to jnay@jimnay.com. You can also call or text us at 615-443-4842.
All the best,
Jim Nay
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