How to Develop a Backup Strategy to Prevent a Data Loss

Backup Problems

Preventing a data loss in practice turn outs to be quite difficult task because what happens when suddenly the PC does not start up any more? Or even worse: there is smoke coming out of your PC and you do not have a clue what has happened. This is when you realise that you have made a backup and you are one of those luckily persons who can restore his data.

Research has shown that backups are made ones or twice a year (on a consumer level). This really means that at the time your back up is a half year old the chances are that you have lost a considerable amount of data. Keeping your back up, up to date is one of the key elements in reassuring your data is safe guarded.

How to backup your files offline

It’s often in the way we use backup storage media and the significance of the meaning of the word back up that is the mean problem of selecting the right backup strategy. Using only one backup storage media limits the way you can backup your data and increases the change of losing that data while it’s stored on only 1 media. Having your data stored in 2 places gives you the change of restoring the second copy of the data when you lost you data. Now this comes with the challenge of keeping that second copy up to date. By developing the right backup strategy you will be able to that.

Setting up your offline Backup Strategy

The trick is to stick with one backup storage media that has a specific purpose within your back up strategy. In order to do this you can divide Backup storage Media in 2 main groups:

Active Data storage Media: This backup media is used for all data you use on a regular basis which needs updated frequently

Passive Data storage Media: This backup media is a copy of all your active data

Examples of usable Backup storage media:

Active Data Storage: cd-rw /dvd-rw blue ray/USB Sticks/ Ext Hard drives.
Passive Data Storage: Ext hard drives/Servers, Raid 1/5/ systems

Search for your suitable back up storage media that you can use as a passive or active back up method. Nowadays you can store your data on various storage devices, such as USB Memory sticks that can store data up to 16 GB. Also the modern MP3 players have built in space to store data files up to 80 GB. USB Memory sticks and MP3 players are easy to use and adaptable to all kind of PCs. The main advantage is that you can take it with you and download the files to your passive backup system directly. Also a CD/DVD RW can be an also a good method to back up your active data temporarily. When you use it as an active back up media it enables you to write and delete files or use it as a passive back up media only. After choosing your active / non active backup media you can implement your own way of back up your valuable data.

Advice: Always keep your important back up data in one place with one purpose. Use the right back up storage media and stick to the procedure on how to use that storage back media in the right way.

Implementing your offline backup strategy

After choosing you back up media that fits your requirements you have to set up your own procedure. In general active backups are made at least once a week or on a daily basis when need be and Passive backups are made in, for example, every 6 months.

Making a time frame of when you going to back up your files and administer them. Make a back up only when you need to or make a weekly back up from all your files. There are various decisions to make:

• What do we need to back up?(Files/ Programs)
• What kind of backup software do I want use?
• What amount of Data do we need to back up ( 1- 200 GB)
• What timeframe do we choose the back the data up?
• What kind of method is effective to back up my data?(USB, external hard disk, server)

When answering these questions you will find that you are developing your own back up strategy using the right media appropriate for you data storage needs.

How to handle a Data Loss Situation with Servers/ Raid systems

A data loss situation is usually characterized by the sudden inability to access data involving a previously functioning computer system or backup or the accidental erasure of data or overwriting of data control structures.With this blog I will try to shed light on data loss within servers and raid environments and give recommendations what to do.

Server/Raid Data Loss situations

The symptoms related to physical or logical issues can be many. You can have a sudden server crash during operation or power up. Also it is possible that one or two hard drives are offline without any warning in advance.In another situation, you can have a Raid controller failure that makes the hard drive(s) inaccessible. Depending on the kind of (raid) server that you are running it can make definitely things more complex to find the right solution.

From a simple looking Windows 2003 server (with one hard drive) to complete server racks (Raid 1, 5, 1+0) it all depends on what kind of system you are running that reveals how serious you data loss can be. Every different server systems comes with their own diagnostic programs and there are several ways possible of communicating with the hard drives. Also there are various settings that can be used to analyze the hard drives and raid controllers. Some diagnostic programs can read/write on the hard drives, others have options to only read from the hard drives.

Find out together with the provider of the server/raid what you can do and cannot do when analyzing your raid system. The last thing to take into consideration is to think about the logical structure of your data. A UNIX system manages the data differently than a Window System. Especially when you are reconstructing or rebuilding a Raid/Server this might be the difference if the data can be recover or not be recovered by a data recovery company.

Recommendations: what you can do!

Always remain calm and see if you have a contingency plan in place, if not follow a step by step procedure where you do not alter anything on the server without first having talked to a specialized engineer(s).

• Try to access any log files that exists on the Raid server ·
• Try to determine the scope of the damage ·
• Try not to restart the Raid server too many times ·
• Try not to restore any back up. ·
• Try to get a 360 view of your possibilities (solutions overview) ·
• Try not to go for a quick fix because of time purposes/ pressure ·
• Try not to directly the implement /recommendations solutions given.(never on the damaged live system).
• Try not to rebuild the raid configuration if there are any doubts (this must be a last resort)

Before implementing a solution

Think if the solution you about to implement can be made undone afterwards. Once the solution is being implemented you do not often have a second chance to try something else. Let experts guide you through the whole process and you can bring down the risk of never be able to access your data again. In a worst case scenario start making images from all other drives that you think they work and try any solution with those hard drives. In that case you are not working with a live system and you always can return to the original situation.

Recommended people you should have around you in a time of crisis:

1. Local provider of the server (technical engineer)
2. Provider of the Raid Controller
3. A data recovery provider

With this blog info I hope you always can reduce the risk of having a data loss witin your server environment. Be calm and try to be as analytical as you can be. Take calculated risks and be careful because sometimes the tiniest thing can be overlooked and can have a huge impact in the whole data recovery process