Today’s standalone PCs come with very large hard disk drives, 4GB, 6GB, 8 GB and more of internal storage. And yet users who don’t have the administrative security of a network backup protocol don’t adequately consider how they will back up all that data to protect their company’s most cherished asset – information. Small businesses are the most consistent risk takers here, as if they didn’t have to worry about losing customer files, receivables records, product cost statistics, strategic planning models, Bill of Materials details, etc.

There are two parts to effective backup practice:

1. The first is having a sound company policy that states clearly that critical data will be backed up daily. Use several generations of backup for added protection from faulty tapes and accidentally backing up corrupted files. The practice we follow in our office uses 6 tapes and looks like this:

• Beginning of week 1: complete backup all hard drives containing programs or data onto Tape 1.
• Each day in the following week: backup all files modified since the weekend onto Tape 2.
• Beginning of week 2: complete backup all hard drives containing programs or data onto Tape 3.
• Each day in the following week: backup all files modified since the weekend onto Tape 4.
• Beginning of week 3: complete backup all hard drives containing programs or data onto Tape 5.
• Each day in the following week: backup all files modified since the weekend onto Tape 6.
• Beginning of week 4: Begin the cycle again, starting with Tape 1. And so on, and so on.

2. The second part is being able to back up your data automatically, without an operator in attendance. That means backup that turns on, backs up, and turns off without your intervention. And without your having to remember, and take the time to do it, and lose the use of the system’s full capability while the process is taking place. Unattended backup means backup that usually takes place during the night, when the business is closed. Unattended backup means backup that does not require a second tape to complete. And that, my friends, means buying a PC with a tape backup capacity that is equal to your usable hard disk drive capacity.

How large is that, exactly? Seagate Technology makes an internal tape drive that will hold 4GB of data (8GB compressed), priced at $330 to $390 according to PC Magazine (Seagate TapeStor Travan 8GB). The drawback is speed, and a full 8GB of data might take all night to back up and then some. A higher speed –and higher cost – option is a removable hard drive. While they don’t compress data, the best of these devices move as fast as internal hard drives and hold up to 5GB of data as of this writing. The cost of one such unit (Summatec MobileDrive) was $120 plus $560 for a 5GB cartridge.

Make your data backup automatic, not occasional, with smart use of hardware and unattended backup options. That way the next system crash horror story making the rounds won’t be yours.