Disaster Recovery isn't something most people want to think about, but when the time comes, you want to be ready. One question every business needs to be asking is "How would we respond to data loss?" It normally comes in the form of a failed hard disk or server. Modern Drives are designed to be fast and reliable, but failures do and will occur if given enough time. Every business needs to be ready to respond to recover their data quickly and efficiently with minimum impact on their daily operations. All critical information should be stored on redundant arrays that are designed to recover from a single drive loss. This will allow your business to continue operating after a drive loss with no impact at all on its crucial data. With redundant arrays, bad drives can be replaced and the redundancy can be restored without even shutting off the server.

There are instances however, when even a redundant array isn't enough to recover from a major system failure. This could happen in the event of a natural disaster where even an entire building could be destroyed. Off-site backups are normally incorporated in a plan for on-site scheduled backups. Daily backups to external disk or tape media can be automated and media can be rotated offsite on a predetermined schedule. A plan for on-site and off-site backups should always be in place to make sure you have a way to get your business back up and running again if disaster should ever strike.

iTech Atlanta has utilized several different methods of backup depending on the needs of our customers.  They are outlined below:

Tape Backup - The traditional method of backup is using tape backup media.  This could be done with DAT or DLT media depending on storage requirements.  This method is widely accepted due to its successful historical record as a backup/archive  procedure.  Unfortunately tapes can be very problematic and are sequential (meaning the tape must be scrolled to the file requested), the tape read/write heads must be cleaned frequently, a comparable hardware reader must be used to restore the media, and the procedure can be very frustrating for some users.  Also the tape read/write devices and media are very expensive.

Removable Disk Backup - A more recently emerging method of data backup is disk based storage.  The cost of hard drives has come down considerably making disk-based backup a viable alternative to tape media.  Other than price, this backup method has many advantages.  The media is easily portable and can be accessed using any machine, no special software is required to access the backup data, files can be accessed and restored quickly and easily, and disks can easily be removed for storage offsite.

Dedicated Backup Server - A dedicated machine can be installed onsite to handle backups.  It would normally consist of a local redundant disk array using low-cost, high-performance SATA drives and removable disk media for offsite storage.  Frequent backups are stored on the local RAID volume and data would automatically be pushed to the removable volumes based on a preset schedule for offsite storage.

If your business isn't currently utilizing a backup and disaster recovery strategy contact iTech Atlanta to devise a solution for you today. We can leverage technology to provide you with the most cost effective backup strategy to allow you to focus on your business and not worry about your backup needs!