If you’re like most small business owners, you likely go through the day thinking you’re pretty invincible when it comes to the contents of your web site and all of the associated files. You likely think that these thing are always going to be available to you at any hour of the day. If so, you’d better think again. Your data can be lost in any number of ways – from anything from a spilled cup of coffee to equipment failure. Irretrievable data loss happens all the time.
Fortunately, there are ways for you to mitigate the potential loss data loss or destruction can cause. By following the five strategies below, you’ll significantly reduce the chances of falling victim to the very expensive proposition of losing your data:
1. Use Removable Storage Devices
Back up your data on a regular basis to a removable storage device, such as a hard drive, zip drive or even a flash drive.
2. Partition your hard drive
This involves splitting your hard drive into different sections. By doing this, you can securely back up one part of your hard drive to another part. If one partition goes bad, your data will be safely backed up on another.
3. Burn your data to a CD or DVD
CDs and DVDs can hold roughly twice as much as zip drives and take up a lot less storage space.
4. Use a remote backup service
The great thing about using one of these services is that your data is all backed up off site. If your business ever has a fire or some sort of natural disaster, your data will be safe and sound in another location. These services aren’t just for large businesses as you can find them for as little as $10 a month. Of course, the amount you pay will be directly tied into how much data you are backing up, but these services are very definitely worthwhile if you’ve got too much data to back up regularly on your own and want the piece of mind of knowing your data is safe, no matter what.
5. Back up your OS
Back up your operating system on a regular basis. Windows Vista has a free backup tool to handle this for you. If you don’t have Vista, or your OS doesn’t offer a way for you to back it up, you can get software to handle this for you. One such package is ZipBackup. It’s available at zipbackup.com. It costs $39.99. but does have a free 30 day trial so you can check it out before buying it.
Do yourself a favor an implement these 5 strategies into your normal daily business routine. Doing so will end up saving you a significant amount of time and money at some point down the road. It’s not a matter of if – it’s a matter of when.
