Preparing for Disaster Data Recovery

The thought of having a disaster whether natural or otherwise is scary enough but when you think about all that will be lost, it is even scarier. No matter what kind of disaster you have, there will not only be data lost but also human lives. Human lives cannot be brought back but if you have the right plan in place, you can recover all your lost data. Of course we never want any kind of disaster to happen but as soon as we become lax and not prepared, that is when it will happen, when we least expect it.

Not only does the government need to prepare but also the IT organizations all over the world and private citizens do as well, just in case. No doubt the government has disaster plans already in place as do IT organizations as a matter of fact, the most people in the world who lose data due to a disaster are private citizens and small businesses. The main questions are, are you using a backup system and if so, are you backing up everything you need to? Assuming you are using a computer for your files, as most people do, how are you backing up your personal and or business information?

Years ago, backing up took forever, storage was expensive and there was never enough space causing you to have to either go buy more or delete the files you have no room for.  Now however, it is much less expensive, you can get Terabytes of space in a small external hard drive, making it pretty much unlimited and it only takes a matter of a few minutes to backup an entire system. It also used to be that people thought they only needed to backup personal data, photos, personal webpages,  etc. but if you were involved in a disaster and the only thing you had time to grab was your external hard drive, how would you access it without your system CDs or operating system CDs and applications.

Not only is it vital to backup personal information and data, it is even more vital to backup your online business. In the case of a disaster, what if your server went down and you had to go with another one to keep your business up and running. Would you have all the necessary files to send to the new server? Not if you have not backed up everything. If your only means of earning a living is your online business you must backup the entire website. That includes bookmarks and email addresses as well as emails that have customer information so they can be contacted as soon as the disaster passes.

Probably the most important thing after everything is backed up is making sure you can recover all that data. If your computer was lost in the disaster, you will have to buy a new one. In that case, you need to make sure that the external hard drive you have everything backed up on will be compatible with the new computer. Before you buy a new computer, make sure and know what your OS is so you will be able to get a computer that is compatible with that. If you do these things, it should not take you long to install your OS and browser on the new computer, install and recover all your data and get back up and running.

Author Bio:This blog was provided by QeH2.com. For more information on data safety and data recovery, consult QeH2 for backup disaster recovery planning services.