When the unthinkable happens and data goes missing, it is human nature to panic.
For small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs), data loss represents financial disaster as it causes downtime and loss of revenue since these companies often lack the proper policies, procedures and equipment for proper data protection.
Remember the heavy rains that hit Singapore in December last year? Businesses, including many SMEs, suffered productivity losses from a range of reasons - from employees turning up late for work to computer systems damaged when their offices were flooded.
Here is how SMEs can safeguard the confidentiality of their data, restore lost data, and manage backups without burdening the employees.
Data storage
It used to be possible to save your data on a few floppy disks. Now, it is no longer possible with the massive requirements for file storage. So where are you going to store all that data and how can you ensure frequent automatic backups without slowing down your network traffic?
Before deciding on the type of data storage to use - from the myriad storage media available - ascertain the storage capacity your company needs. This should be based on the amount of personal documents, volume of e-mail and system settings for the users.
While many SMEs simply rely on the internal hard drive of their PC or laptop for their storage needs, the deployment of a Raid (or Redundant Array of Independent Disks), with built-in redundancy to safeguard data over multiple hard drives, gives effective, expanded storage capacity.
SMEs can protect their valuable data using magnetic tape, external hard disks (above) and DVDs or CDs. -- Photo/ SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY
Data backup
Would your data survive if a virus contaminated your computer? What if a fire or flood struck your office? And how long would it take to get your information system up and running again?
The extent of data backup can vary depending on the needs of the company. Some examples: magnetic tape, external hard disk and DVDs or CDs. Again, the choice of the backup media will depend on the space requirement for the data to be backed up.
Data should always be kept and tested on regularly to ensure that the most current versions are saved. Also, store the backed-up data in a separate, secure location from the parent copy. If a fire or flood strikes the office, the backup copy will not be destroyed as well.
Data recovery
If, however, your company does lose its data, how can you ensure that no further damage is done to the affected computer. And to successfully recover the lost data?
There are many commercial products available. But using such products without really knowing how to get the maximum out of them could lead to the missing data becoming lost for good.
The best practice is to turn off your computer and seek professional help. Attempting to recover the data on your own could, in fact, damage it. And that data could be the mission-critical information that is vital to the longevity of your business.
- Bill Margeson is CEO and co-founder, CBL Data Recovery Technologies Inc.
