Data Backup– It is an admitted fact that today everyone has important data, and nobody wants to lose it. It does not matter if this data is just of one bit or span over gigabytes. All that matters are how safe and reliable it is. There are times in our general routine where backup strategies do not only give us peace of mind, but they are also a tool for long terms success.
It is the same as having a backup parachute in skydiving. The only purpose of this backup parachute is to serve the “just in case” scenario. The same applies in the case of a data backup and recovery system. In general terms, it is a process of making redundant copies of the data on some secondary storage device. This secondary storage device can be anything like an external hard drive, USB drive, compact disk, tape drive or any cloud storage system.
Just in case any catastrophic event such as drive failure, system crash or accidental deletion of the data occurs, data backup will come to the rescue. With the enactment of the powerful backup method, none of the unfortunate events will let the users stay inaccessible to their important personal or business data.
Advantages of the Backup and Recovery Strategy
Data backup solution is basically a one for all rescue strategy. It has the capability to deal with any kind of data loss situation. Furthermore, the inclusion of recovery mode makes it the first line of action against the post-data-loss scenario.
Generally, it won’t be wrong to say that while backup service prepares for the worst-case scenario, recovery provides the way of recovering from the worst-case scenario. Apart from the countless benefits of the backup process, the following are some of the key advantages:
Quick Accessibility
Quick and vigorous access to the data is one of the greatest advantages of backup and recovery systems. An effective backup and recovery plan will let users access their important files, irrespective of any unfortunate incident. Even if something unfortunate like drive failure occurs, users will still be able to access their files within seconds.
This accessibility becomes easier if backups are being performed on the cloud service. With this, the users will not only be able to access their store backups in a minimum possible time, but they will also be able to access their required type of data from anywhere in the world. They will just need an internet connection and their data will instantly be in front of them.
Protection against Power Failure
As computers require electrical power to operate, their dependency on the power source is inevitable. This thing makes computers to be susceptible to extreme situations like a random blackout or power outage. A sudden power outage can sometimes become so fatal that it can even demolish the backup copy on the hard drive.
Having a contagious backup and recovery strategy can save users from any such unfortunate incidents. Regular backups will keep on backing up the data, and if something happens, still that data be available to recover point in time.
Data Versioning
Data versioning enlightens the way teamworking is done. It lets the project manager and the team consult back to the later versions of the files if they feel that the updated one has bugs. In case documents get deleted, then instead of losing the entire work progress, they will be able to recover the last saved version of the file or document.
Using data backup and recovery, data versioning is carried out effectively, as at first full backup of data will be made. From then onwards, there will be incremental backups and will keep previous versions of the subjected file for some time. Depending on the user preference and backup service provider, file versioning can be customized to meet the user’s needs.
Added Anti-virus Protection
Cyber-attacks, computer viruses, and ransomware attacks are some of the bitter realities of the internet. The amount of devastation these things cause keeps on increasing. They are collateral enough to corrupt user’s files. In some cases, it has also been noted that they cause permanent deletion of the files.
In this lieu, using anti-virus software is a more straight forward and most sought solution. But critics suggest that they consume unnecessary processing power and slows down the system. The usage of anti-virus programs can easily be bypassed with the employment of rich backup and recovery systems. With this, even if a file has been corrupted or has been deleted, the user will still be able to recover the concerned file or document.
Safeguard against Hard Drive Failure
Hard drives are the most common primary storage device in any computer system. There are number of reasons due to which there exists a probability that hard drive may start to malfunction. In some cases, it has been observed that after a prolonged malfunctioning, hard drive fails. Being an electronic device, malfunctioning makes sense but when it comes to the data, such malfunctioning becomes unaffordable.
Obviously, it is something that none of us can control. The only thing that we can do is to prepare a contingency plan. What else can be a better contingency plan than a backup and recovery mechanism?
By having a backup plan, the user’s data will be copied over the designated secondary storage medium. This situation will let the user land at the opportunity where if the primary storage device gets failed, data won’t get lost.
Protection against Operating System Failure
Operating system failure is one of the prime reasons for a system crash. There are basically two reasons due to which the operating system fails. Foremost reason can be improper memory allocation. Other reasons can either be a software corruption or recursive application errors.
Such errors can be much more damaging than any other damage, because in other damage, hardware replacement may let the system to work normally. But here, the system won’t even operate. However, such situations can easily be tackled with data backups. As soon as OS gets recovered, users will see their data in the same manner as it was before operating system failure.
