The Wisdom of Backups

Every business should make daily back-ups and store the back-up tapes off of your premises.

In February 1996, two of our clients experienced major difficulties. In the first case, the building burned down, including the computer hardware and the back-up tapes which were kept on a shelf above the computer. Fortunately, an older back-up was stored in the home of the manager. The client relocated and replacement hardware was delivered and installed, but months of data has been lost.

In the second case, the premises of our client were broken into by thieves, specializing in office equipment. Stolen were the computer, terminals, printers, modems, fax, and photocopier. They also tried to remove the safe but due to its weight, they gave up. That was fortunate, because the back-up tapes were stored in the safe. Our office was informed at 9:00 am, and immediately after the police completed fingerprinting, we installed one of our office demo systems, restored the previous day's back-up, and the computer users were back in business to the total amazement of the insurance adjustor.

The point is this: while nobody can predict the situations mentioned above, you can have contingency plans. That means making a daily back-up and storing the back-up tapes off the premises. Always. We wish you safe data processing.