Every company in the United States stores important data. Google, Facebook, and Walmart are likely to be more interested in the integrity of their data than the family owned diner on Main Street. However, even the diner has customer and financial information and records on file– and losing these files would be a disaster. Data backup should be a huge deal for everyone. The standard procedure for data backup is the 3-and-1 Rule. Following this rule will, in itself, greatly increases the chances of your company surviving a data disaster. Here’s how it works:
The 3-and-1 Rule is simple– when you back up your data, you should make sure that there are at minimum 3 different copies of all of your files, and at least 1 should be kept offsite. Here’s an example that might pertain to your company: an office has a room full of servers that run the network. This is where all of the files are stored and accessed. This is simply where the files were initially saved and could just as easily be on someone’s computer. Across the room or down the hall, there is another set of servers that simply function as hard drives. These servers contain a copy of every important file on the primary servers. These servers copy the information from the primary servers every night, or whenever the company decides it should, depending on the importance and volume of data. Meanwhile, there is a building in a city an hour away that contains another set of servers that store the same data. The data is stored in three different places, one of which is offsite.
Why?
Implementing this rule makes sure your data remains safe. The chance of all three copies of the data being lost at the same time is so small it can usually be ignored. If something happens to the data on the primary servers, the files can be recovered from the secondary servers, and even if something terrible happens to both sets in the office, such as a fire or earthquake, the files can be restored from the servers that are kept offsite.
Data backup is extremely important and something for every company to consider. The 3-and-1 Rule is a great place to start because it protects a company from so many dangers all at once. Try implementing this technique into your company’s backup routine.