Do I really need to Backup my files?

How many times has your heart missed a beat or two when your computer, or an individual program or application, does not start or crashes? Having a secure and safe backup of all your important, valuable and often business critical data, is essential. In fact for a company it is part of your corporate responsibility.

Types of Risk

The risk to your data comes from many angles and each business needs to weigh up its own risk and put in place measures to mitigate and manage that risk. Risk can come from:

• Computer and application failure (including hard disk crashes)
• Power failure (have you a UPS in place and is the battery holding its charge OK.)
• The coffee factor. a mug of freshly brewed hot coffee tips over on your desk and manages to run into your computer or one of its components.
• Flood, fire or other building damage. Self explanatory...
• Virus and Malware - An everyday risk that can be mitigated somewhat by using recognised anti-virus protection and malware systems.
• Theft - apart from the loss of your computer there is also a risk of business sensitive information getting into the hands of your competition.