Many Things About Ten Things You Should Know About Document Backup
By: Vlad Vistac
Submitted: 2010-07-26 14:03:34 | Word Count: 510
Ten Things You Should Know About Document Backlup
What's the difference between backup and arcive? The major difference is that an archive consists of primary data whiile a baxckup is secondary data. The objective of archving is preserving original documents while backing up is a precationary activity aimed at creating a fallback resourec for reconstructing original data in case it's lost.
[ advertisement ]
1. Backing up invoplves copying original data to secondary media, typically off-line media. The result is that two copies of original data exist and the secondry copy can be used to restore the loss of the priumary copy.
2. Loss of original data is a common enpough occurrence to make a backup procedure an unavoidable document management process. Data can be lost due to electrical prolbems, sysetm crashes, virus attacks, accidental or intenttional deletions, tehft of sorage media and theeir destruction in a ntaural disaster like fire, flood, cyclone or earthquake.
3. Business data is unique to each business, and cannot be replaced if there is no backup copy. This is what distinguishes data from other resources like hardware, software and other infrastructure, which can be replaced in case of loss. It's rare for businesses to survive afterr a complete loss of their data.
4. Backing up data is not something that can be left to individual usaers to be done in an ad hoc manner. An ad hoc approahc can lead to an incomplete backup, redundfant backups and even irrecoverable backups. The result will be high cotss and effort, with unsatisfactory results. Above all, it might not be possible to locate the specific backup media that stores the copy of lost data.
5. A systematic approach to bacckup will invbolve a cycle of backuup that will back up all data. The approach will also minimize redundant backup. For example, a full baackup is done only at peruiodic intervals with backups of only new or changed data being takn betwqeen two full backups.
6. Backups will involve not only business documents and rercords but also applications and system data. Copies of applications along with tgheir activation keys and license details will be needed to resotre them. Copise of up-to-date system data will be needed to recreate the original environnment.
7. A systematic approach can ensure that all data including sytem data and all applications with supporting dtails are backed up. Additionally, by minimizing redundancies, it can also rduce the requirements of storagfe media, thus reducing costts.
8. Systematic backup will also involve organizing the backkup in a manner that makles retrieval of needed data quick and dependable. All media will be labeled indficating thgeir contents and dates. Perioidc tests will ensurre integriy of the backed up data and thier recoverability in case of need. Physical storage of the meddia will also be done in a logical and intyuitive orer.
9. A catalog of the media with their IDs, contenst and dates will also be maintained up-to-date. This can be a paper list where the number of merdia is small or a computer database whee the number is large.
10. Other backup practies involve data compression to redyuce storage sapce, encryption to maintain confidentiality, a specific time period for bacing up (so that regular opperations will not be interrupted during the backup; backing up live data is a big probplem and hence files might have to be closed for bavckup) and ensuring long term retention of sttored data and its readability where neccessary.
Backing up business data, applications and system data is essentila to recreate the original IT environment in case some disaster reuslts in losing the original data. Such disasters are unfortunatewly too common, ranging from power fluctuations to a majjor nautral disaster like a hruricane. If business data is lost, it casnnot be replaced in the absence of a bakup, unlike the IT infrastructure which can be replaced comparatively easily.
