So you have just finished a big project for a client that you have been romancing for month. You have come up with a business model that is innovative and practical and sure to make money. You have done hours of market research and have saved the data obtained in this research on many different programs. You save your work and go home only to come back the next morning to find that a virus has attacked your computer and your new business model, and all of the research that went with it is gone. You must call the client and tell them what has happened causing them stress and making yourself look like an amateur. All this could have been avoided if you just had a good data back-up plan.
Having a good back-up system is critical to ensuring that your business runs smoothly. When searching for the perfect IT company to create your back up plan, it may be beneficial to know a bit about back-up systems yourself. There are two different types of backup systems physical and logical. A physical backup creates an exact copy of the database for the backup process. A logical back up process extracts every record in the database and stores it in a different format. Backing up data is not only useful in a disaster, but can also come in handy when trying to recover information from old data files.
A back up system involves extracting, restructuring it and manipulating data and will require the assistance of a professional IT company. The storage requirements will vary from company to company depending on size and the nature of the business. A good back up system should be part of a disaster relief plan and a company will want to do several test runs of the system to make sure that the it will work when an emergency hits.
A good IT company will understand your business well enough to come up with a backup model that will work well with your data and comply with any regulations to which your business may be expected to adhere. There are several different models they can use including a system of data repository, which will entail organizing your data using a number of different storage methods. If your entire computer system crashes they can use a system imaging model which records known good configurations on a computer system and stores them for later use. An IT expert may also choose to use an incremental back up system, which entails organizing the data into increments of change between points in time, or a differential backup system which saves the data that has changed since the last full back-up.
An IT company will also understand what data can be stored on and recovered from The Cloud and how The Cloud can be used in a secure manner. A good IT company will also offer redundant offsite backup in which files are encrypted during transfer and stored in an encrypted database in a secure area.
It is important to find an IT company that understands the nature of your business and is willing to work within your budget. It is also a good idea to find a company that is local and has IT experts available to make onsite calls.
Metro’s IT Consultant team can assist you with your back-up needs and make a disaster plan that is right for you. Call us today for a free network assessment our number is, 559-492-5985.