How Often Do You Backup?

"How often do you backup your data?" is a question I very often ask small business owners. Now, I'll admit that, as pickup lines go, that's an odd one. But for business owners, there aren't very many questions more important than that. Almost all businesses today rely on computer data to run their business. Whether it's their Quickbooks files, or those contracts, proposals, or other work-product they've been working on for weeks, that data represents the core of their businesses.

So it might be surprising to learn that, while 85% of computer users say that they're concerned about the prospect of losing their data, only 25% actually do regular backups! That's a scary thought, because some 70% of small firms that experience a major data loss are gone within a year.

Here are some questions to think about for your business:

• How often do you backup your data?
• Where do you back it up to?
• Do you keep the backup media somewhere near your computer, where it can get destroyed by the same catastrophe that wiped out your computer in the first place?

And here's one that even those who backup regularly tend not to consider properly:

• How often do you test your restores? (Hint: The time to test them is not when you've suffered a data loss, and need to get your data back now!)