The consequences of data loss are severe. As much as we hate to think about them, there are a multitude of acts of God or man that can disrupt computer and network operations and cause a loss of access to data.
In the event of a failure of critical technology, the only thing standing between your business and the permanent data loss may be your backup and disaster recovery mechanism.
As reported by the National Archives and Records Administration. 60% of companies that lose their data close down within 6 months of the disaster.
You might be thinking, “I’m safe! I have redundant hard drives on my server as well as a mechanism that backs up critical data and stores multiple copies of my data in geographically dispersed locations. Not only that, I monitor my back up system to ensure that backups complete on a regular schedule, so I have absolutely no reason to be concerned.”
Not so fast!
Have you done a test restore lately?
As IT professionals, we can assure you that backups fail surprisingly often. The backup system may appear to work, the monitoring agents might indicate that backups completed successfully, but when tested, we often discover that the backup data is corrupt or otherwise unrecoverable.
This is why it is important to regularly test the disaster recovery mechanism by performing a restore of data. Simply retrieving and manipulating a random file from your backup mechanism provides reassurance that data can be recovered when needed.
“Isn’t ISOutsource doing this for me automatically?”
If ISOutsource is currently performing remote server checks, we are doing a test restore of your data from backups on a monthly basis. If your primary consultant has a monthly (or more frequent) scheduled visit, a test restore is likely on the menu every month.
But if your relationship with ISOutsource is “Don’t call me, I’ll call you,” then it is best to assume that we have are not doing backup test restores. You could be exposed to significant risk.
If this article has you concerned, and it should, have a conversation with your primary consultant from ISOutsource about backup and disaster recovery strategy TODAY.
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