Since the beginning of the Information Age in the 1990’s, you’ve probably heard the words “data backup” mentioned – or maybe you lost data because you didn’t backup files. Loosing all your data, that you spent years developing and accumulating, is an unexpected disaster for any business.  Today, backing up your data is both easier and more complex because of advances in technology. If you’re a busy small business owner pulled in many different directions, these 5 quick tips will help you protect your company from loss of critical data.

#1 – HAVE A PLAN

Failing to plan, is planning to fail. You don’t need a complex plan, but you should have some idea of how to react if you have a data breach. You’ll also want to have a data restoration plan in place, because users can’t access a database when it’s being restored.

#2 – BACKUP OFFSITE

You can back up your data to either the cloud or another physical offsite location. While the cloud works well and is widely used by small businesses across the country, it often has hidden costs associated with it, and you must have online access. Having your data backed up to another offsite location under your ownership might be a great option to eliminate subscription costs and be more in control of accessing the data when you need it.

#3 – DEVELOP A ROUTINE

Back up your data DAILY. You can setup your backup program to create backups automatically, so it won’t stand in the way of daily operations. While this may seem like an overkill, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

#4 – TEST YOUR BACKUP

You don’t want to be surprised when you try to restore data after a loss. Test your backup by restoring your data. You should test large volumes of data weekly, and an entire backup every 6 months.

#5 – DO IT TWICE

Follow this best practice – have an original copy of your data offsite, and then back it up again at your server onsite. You may even want to have a 3rd backup at a location far away, just in case you get caught in a large disaster like tornado, flood, fire, hurricane, or earthquake.