You’re probably familiar with the concept that backups are important. Everyone company that has a website, or corporate email, or digital sales records, or a blog, needs to have backups. If you have something important stored digitally, the in-use copy should not be the only copy. But do you know how often you need to update your backups?
Your backup frequency should be based on how often your data changes. Think about how often the data in question is updated, and think about how problematic it would be to lose the most recent version. Here are a few guidelines:
* Financial transactions and inventory lists should be backed up several times a day
* Email accounts should be backed up every day
* Blogs and news site backup schedules should be tied to the frequency of new posts
* If you have a static website, create a new backup every six months, and before and after major updates
You should also consider how many old backups to store. You’ll want to store at least two – the most recent backup, and an older reliable backup that you know will work if it’s restored. The reason you can’t just store the most recent one is because it may contain the same problem that prompted you to need the rollback in the first place. Problems like corruption or hacking can find their ways into the most recent backup before they’re noticed. If that happens, you’ll be very glad you have that older backup from a month or six months ago.
If you have the capacity to store more than two backups, go for it – that just gives you more options to choose from when you need to make a restoration.
Austin Technology’s Managed IT Services can help you manage your backups, keeping your data safe and secure so you don’t have to worry.
