No, this post is not about going backwards, or some euphemism for taking a step back to review things.

This post is about one of the most important and yet most ignored subjects in small business today.

It is about your most important business resource, which is your . . .

backup [889] (Photo credit: brianjmatis)

DATA.

That’s right . . . your invaluable business data.

Most small business owners do not have any backup of their computers

And many are now using ancient computers that are about to crash and burn at any minute!

Computer hardware is not infallible and can fail without notice.

Storing all this data without good backups is a recipe for disaster.

• emails
• Book Keeping and Accounts
• Customer Records
• Supplier Records
• Contracts
• Procedure Manuals (do you have one?)
• Marketing Materials
• Passwords
• etc

But what inspired this particular post is the story I heard recently from a client.

Here’s the background . . .

They had only one computer in the business.

It was an 8 year old laptop.

It was not a quick machine to start with, but . . .

The hard drive was continually running at about 98% full, so performance was even slower.

Nothing was cloud based – it all resided on that one computer.

Did I say, a recipe for disaster?

Did I say, all eggs in one basket?

One day they went to show me something on their computer, and it was so slooowwww! I started asking questions.

I encouraged them to invest in a new laptop and an external hard drive to do some backups . . . which fortunately they did.

But not before the following story unfolded . . .

I had explained that one reason their computer was running so slow was that the hard drive was full.

They had files from 8 years ago that they no longer needed, so they decided to have a big cleanup and cleanout.

In the mad frenzy of deleting files, they inadvertently deleted some important stuff that they needed, including files and emails.

Deleted and removed from Trash folder!

So, permanently gone.

I got the panic phone call . . . what can we do?

I referred them on to a computer tech friend of mine – Adam Gibb from www.ajtech.biz – who fortunately was able to recover the data that they thought was permanently lost.

Adam then helped them set up with a new computer and external hard drive.

Not only disasters

So you don’t have to be on the lookout for disasters affecting your computer systems, such as:

• fire
• theft
• hardware failure
• virus and hacking

You also have to be careful of accidentally deleting the wrong files.

I cannot say this enough times . . .

MAKE SURE THAT YOU HAVE GOOD DATA BACKUPS

And multiple backup options – don’t rely on just one.

There are so many inexpensive options these days with:

• cloud based data servers with free capacity
• external hard drives
• automated backup software
• IMAP email accounts

Need help with any of this?

Call Adam Gibb on 0402 054 743 or email him on [email protected]

www.ajtech.biz

Well, that is quite simple really!

.

Watch this short VIDEO

Blaine Kyllo on the importance of data backups – CBC News.

Data Backup Importance from Ryan Metr.

What should you do now?

1. Check your data security.
2. Not sure, check with an expert.
3. Want some help or ideas? Just contact us at Hotpink Websites now.

Or, CLICK HERE if you need a new website – Website Enquiry.

Quote

Believing oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind.  -data
~ Star Trek quotes 

Remember – Backup, Backup, Backup

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