Protocol16 services both residential and business customers for computer repair and services throughout Portland. One of the biggest things we see, on a normal basis, is that people are not backing up their data.
Why Backup
This may be old news, but the more people hear it, the more likely they are to do it. Backing up data can save your bacon in almost every way. Here are some examples:
- License keys – Backups allow you to retrieve license keys for software that you have installed. How many of you have a hard-copy backup of your license keys? We know we don’t have everything either. Cost can also be attributed here in case you can’t locate licenses for software you have installed – you may need to repurchase software.
- Pictures, documents, etc – family or product photos, documents containing works of art (if you’re a writer) or even customer invoices. Losing these can cause both heart ache and heavy losses, on the business side.
- Lost productivity – We don’t know about you, but when our computer isn’t working, we pace the room. Computers, these days, are everything. Losing a computer and not having a backup can cause days of lost productivity, even more if you’re a business. Businesses lose the productivity, the cost of the technician to reinstall everything (whether it’s Protocol16 or your own technician), the cost of the worker that is supposed to be using that computer running around everywhere else, etc. If your computer happens to be the billing/invoicing computer, then you can lose past invoices, current billable time, etc. Lots of money…
Types of Backups
Did you know there are actually several types of backups? They each do two different things and can help or hurt you, depending on the situation:
- Full – A complete set of all files you wish to back up. Think of this as your ‘reference set’. This helps since you have a full-on backup of your entire data set in one place. This hurts since it can take up a lot of space.
- Incremental – A backup of those files which have changed since the last backup of any type. This helps since you can spend less time to backup what has changed. This hurts because it can take more time to restore things, since you need to restore everything in order, it can also make digging for specific files a pain.
- Differential – A backup of those files which have changes since the last full backup. Similar to incremental, it picks the files that have changed, but with the express difference that it’s since the last full backup. This can help since it also takes less time to backup everything. This hurts because it can take longer to backup than incremental, can take up a little more space because it’ll backup more redundant type files, etc.
Locations
The backup location can make a huge difference as well. What happens if your business gets broken into or your house burns down? Those backups will most likely disappear as well. If you’re storing baby pictures or customer records, this can devistate you or your business. Here are the types of backups:
- On Site – This is where your backups are stored right next to your computer, or in the same building. This helps since they’re right there and you can do things quickly. This hurts in the above situation where your backups can disappear.
- Off Site – Your backups are stored at a physically different location. This can be at a neighbors house or even a business owner’s home. This helps since the backups won’t disappear, burn up or get stolen. This hurts since it can take hours, or days, to restore from an alternate location from across the internet. In some cases, your backups can be mailed directly to you as well.
Ways To Backup
- Automated – There are a few things out there that can automatically backup your computer for you. There are programs, mobile hard drives (with software added), web services (like Carbonite), and even network automated backups like the Apple Time Capsule and Western Digital’s MyBook. With the automated solutions, you can usually “set and forget”, up until you need something back.
- Manual – Manual backups can be a pain, but sometimes they’re needed. Automatic backups, while helpful, can backup a lot of information that doesn’t need to be included. If you’re a professional, a full backup should happen nightly or more often. But, in cases where you’re editing sensitive data (like an Accountant), you should backup the files manually to a different location as well.
Protocol16 Recommends
For consistency and easiness of backups, Protocol16 recommends an off Site, automated, differential backup with a local automated full backup solution in place as well. That’s right, Protocol16 recommends having two solutions. This allows you to ensure that, no matter what happens, you’ll always have a backup handy.
The automated local backup should be run at least once a week, for residential customers. For busineses, a minimum of once a day, usually a night. For business customers that rely upon databases and specific records on computers that need to be up to date and live all the time, this may need to change to multiple times a day.
The remote automated backup should be performed at least once a week, in either case. This assures that you have 2 layers of protection in case something happens.
Cost
Cost is an issue, we completely understand that aspect of anyone’s life. Cost for a local backup is usually $100 or less, for residential use. This is typically in the form of an external hard drive. At the moment, Protocol16 is testing backup solutions for customers, we’ll have a recommendation out shortly.
For businesses, this can be anything from a $100 consumer based item to a server that costs several thousand dollars. Please speak with us about solutions for your business. You might be surprised at what we can come up with.