A Tornado? In Birmingham? In The United Kingdom? Unthinkable!
Yes, in July 2005 (while I was putting finishing touches to my cave-house in Spain) my house, along with many of my neighbours' houses was struck by a powerful tornado that literally tore up the streets. Leaving people homeless as their homes were bulldozered (with all their possessions inside).
Thankfully, my house was still, pretty much intact and won't be being demolished but I work from a home office. I have lots of critical data and information on my computer - marketing information, accounts information, key contacts, books in progress to name a few. If my house was bulldozered (and I didn't have an adequate off-site backup system) I would have lost the lot. As it was, I was still able to access my key files even from Spain.
But how would you fare? What if your computer went kaput this very minute? What if a freak accident, theft, or natural disaster literally destroyed your computer and you lost all your files? Would you be able to get back up and running with minimal fuss or would your business be crippled for a long time to come?
No one wants to think about it, but in light of recent world events it makes sense for every company to have in place a business continuity plan. This might include installing a backup generator for power, having a second office available for re-location, and ensuring your insurance policy is current, relevant and up to date.
Some of the above may be more applicable for larger companies, however one element that's 100% critical for ALL businesses regardless of size, is to keep an up to date copy of your computer files.
Files can be lost instantly by a power surge, fire, flood, theft, virus and of course the most common risk - human error (i.e. accidental deletion)!
This information is the lifeblood of your business, and needs to be backed up regularly. Unlike your office or the computer itself, your computer files cannot be replaced, yet without them you have no business.
For most companies, files to be kept safe will include:
* Databases
* Client records
* Presentations
* Invoices
* Emails
* Historical work archives
* Research
* Digital photos
A simple risk assessment question to ask yourself:
"How long would my business survive if the files on my computer disappeared right now?"
Unless you have a current 'back-up' or copy of your information it is quite likely that your business will cease to operate for some time, if not indefinitely soon after. In our business our database (of people like you) is extremely important. It's taken years to build up and is irreplaceable. Which is why we have taken active steps to protect it.
There are a number of ways for you to make back up copies of your information, and these methods can be divided into 2 main categories.
1. Manual processes, which use recordable media such as tapes or disks.
2. Online backup services, which use your Internet connection to transfer data.
Manual processes rely on you carrying out the backup, rotating the media and then removing it off-site every day. Consequently they can be labour intensive, costly and in addition the media can be unreliable (i.e disks can be scratched). You don't need me to tell you that doing it this way is certainly not lean. It's a boring, time consuming, yet critical task, that's not automated (but should be) that simply gets in the way of you doing your real work while putting you at unnecessary risk. See the 'Pain or Gain' chart in your free Lean Marketing Detox eBook for a recap.
For this reason, many companies are now signing up to online solutions, which via a small piece of software backup your information securely and automatically each day for you.
Furthermore your information is stored safely off-site so if and when disaster strikes your files are completely safe and can be instantly restored to any machine.
It's human nature to think, "it'll never happen to me", however it is more accurate to think, "when will this happen to me?"
Don't gamble with your business, back it up today and keep it safe.
For our online data backup we use and recommend www.DepositIt.com, why not check them out and make sure to set up a backup plan as soon as you can. You never know when disaster will strike!
'Dangerous' Debbie Jenkins
debs@debbiejenkins.com
(c) Copyright 2005 www.BookShaker.com
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Data Recovery: Beginners Tips
Right now you probably in a lot of mental pain, and all you're concerned about is recovering your data as quickly as possible - so we'll refrain from comments on the wisdom of regular back ups. The time for preventative measures has gone - the issue at hand is data recovery.
First - a simple tip could save you a lot of money. Take out your rolodex and get hold of your tech-savvy friends. If you're in luck, they'll offer to help, and if you're really lucky, they might even have some disk recovery software.
If you're out of luck, then get out your wallet or purse out now... because this is going to cost you. Also, be prepared for a lot of time being wasted - data recovery can take a long time.
The first thing to establish is what exactly is wrong with your hard disk:
Let's see if we can eliminate the worst scenario. Listen closely to your hard drive - is it making any sort of weird noise, such as scratching, scraping, ticking etc?
If so, then your drive is physically damaged and the only hope that you have is to take it to a data recovery service where experts might be able to get your data off for you. These services are expensive and time consuming - so you need to make a judgement call as to the value of data on the disk:
If your hard disk sounds OK, then you stand a decent chance of recovering data yourself.
First you'll need to download some software to help you out.
Unfortunately, the better software utilities are not free, but the good news is that many allow you to try them out to see they can access the data. There are some freeware versions available but generally speaking these are not easy to use - no user interface / little documentation, or they are not very effective.
There's a list of recommended software on our site - http://www.recoverdatafiles.com - compare the different options then download a few of the trial versions.
Your next steps will be based on how your hard drive/s were setup:
Hopefully these tips will enable you to get all your important files back.
Once you've had some time to recover, please take a look at the various articles on our website - our goal is to make it one of the best resources on data recovery.
For the past 20 years, Jeff Walters' interest has been in making the most effective use of a business's information assets. He has lead several data-to-information projects : ABC Costing, analytical CRM, datamart /data warehouse development, and Balanced Scorecard.
For help with data-related projects, contact Jeff Walters through either site: Data Recovery, or Customer Relationship Management
First - a simple tip could save you a lot of money. Take out your rolodex and get hold of your tech-savvy friends. If you're in luck, they'll offer to help, and if you're really lucky, they might even have some disk recovery software.
If you're out of luck, then get out your wallet or purse out now... because this is going to cost you. Also, be prepared for a lot of time being wasted - data recovery can take a long time.
The first thing to establish is what exactly is wrong with your hard disk:
- Either your computer won't boot up, or
- Your computer boots up OK but you can't see one of your other drives.
Let's see if we can eliminate the worst scenario. Listen closely to your hard drive - is it making any sort of weird noise, such as scratching, scraping, ticking etc?
If so, then your drive is physically damaged and the only hope that you have is to take it to a data recovery service where experts might be able to get your data off for you. These services are expensive and time consuming - so you need to make a judgement call as to the value of data on the disk:
- If it's only your saved game data or downloaded music files you would like back, you're probably better off kicking yourself for not backing up, and accepting the data loss.
- If, on the other hand, it's a book or other type of information product that you've been working on for years, then send it to a data recovery service for an evaluation and quote - it usually costs nothing.
If your hard disk sounds OK, then you stand a decent chance of recovering data yourself.
First you'll need to download some software to help you out.
Unfortunately, the better software utilities are not free, but the good news is that many allow you to try them out to see they can access the data. There are some freeware versions available but generally speaking these are not easy to use - no user interface / little documentation, or they are not very effective.
There's a list of recommended software on our site - http://www.recoverdatafiles.com - compare the different options then download a few of the trial versions.
Your next steps will be based on how your hard drive/s were setup:
- If you only have a single hard drive that has not been partitioned or split into different "logical" drives, you'll probably need to attach the hard drive to another computer that has enough space to store all your data. This can be quite technical so if you don't have the skills please get a computer savvy friend to help out.
Another option is to purchase an external USB hard drive case. You can then simply slot the hard drive into the case and plug it into another PC using a USB port. - If you have a multiple drive setup and your computer boots up fine, then it will merely be a case of getting the downloaded software to read the files and then copy them to another drive - provided you have a drive with enough space on it. If not, you'll need to attach the hard drive to another machine with enough spare capacity.
- The scenario where you have a multiple drive setup, where the problem drive is the one that contains your operating system files is more tricky.
Look for a data recovery software package that has a boot disk option available. What this means is that when you start your computer with the boot disk in it, it will automatically run the data recovery program without trying to start windows. You should be able to see your files and then copy them across to another drive.
Hopefully these tips will enable you to get all your important files back.
Once you've had some time to recover, please take a look at the various articles on our website - our goal is to make it one of the best resources on data recovery.
For the past 20 years, Jeff Walters' interest has been in making the most effective use of a business's information assets. He has lead several data-to-information projects : ABC Costing, analytical CRM, datamart /data warehouse development, and Balanced Scorecard.
For help with data-related projects, contact Jeff Walters through either site: Data Recovery, or Customer Relationship Management
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