It’s 10pm. Do you know where your data is?

Data. Small bits of information clustered together to make Word files, documents,pictures, MP3s, HTML etc. We work on our computers every single day never sparing a thought for all those millions of chunks of data spread all over our hard disks. The data is there and it does it’s job.

Until of course the data is not there anymore.

72 hours ago I suffered from massive data loss. There were no hackers involved. No power surges or lightning strikes. Just wear and tear on my hard disk. 20 Gigabytes of business and personal information gone forever. Passwords, HTML files, ebooks all gone. I didn’t lose any sleep though. Why? Simply because this was my secondary hard disk that was only used as a backup drive. All my critically important data is safely stored elsewhere.

Picture this scenario. You sit at your computer, turn it on and nothing. Dead. You’ve just lost everything you’ve worked on for the last 12 months. All your Adwords campaigns, website templates, ebooks, Excel files. Everything. How do you feel? How do you go about recovering?

70% of companies who suffer serious data loss go out of business within 12 months.

The truth is that most people never recover from losing all their data.

What can you do to prevent this happening to you? Backup.Backup. Backup. Use a backup system.

How do I backup my data?
You could use a zip drive, a CDR/DVD writer, a USB drive or a secure online storage service. Using any of the above is far better than using nothing at all and hoping for the best.

Data loss cost US businesses in excess of 18 billion dollars in 2003.

How often should I backup my data?
You should backup all important data on your PC at least once a week. An easy way to do this is to use a rotating backup system. Get 4 blank disks. Label these disks Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4. At the start of the month make a fresh copy of all your critical data on the Week 1 disk and continue this process on Week 2, 3 and 4. Following this procedure ensures that no matter what happens your stored data will never be more than 1 week old and you’ll also have 3 other copies of your data stored away that are less than a month old. Simple. Effective.

What software do I need?
Microsoft Windows has its own backup software included. Apple Mac users can take advantage of Apples Backup software and iDisk backup service.

How soon should I do this?
Now. Even using floppy disks start the process of backing up your data today. The sooner you start the safer your data is.

Human error and hardware failure account for 76% of all data loss.

The cost of recovering from a major hardware failure such as a hard disk crash can be massively reduced by keeping a backup of your data.

You’re worked hard to build up your business. Don’t throw all that hard work away by not taking the proper steps to safeguard your critical information.

When I started my research I thought that this was going to be a rinky dinky system, and not able to control the ascpects that I was looking for.  I was soon learn that I was wrong.

I was not interested in setting up an entire domain, and more interested in a standalone NAS server.  I found the Acer Apsire H340 and I quickly purchased it online.  When the unit arrived, I was pleasantly surprised at the level of control that I had over the system, and that I was able to place 4 2 TB drives into the unit.

Although the unit doesný have a proper raid configuration, I have been able to setup different backup types on machine, and the files are copied to different drives that are hot swapable.  The noise coming from the unit is very low, and it is on all the time, as I primarily use it as a Media Server.

Installing the client onto my laptops enables me to easily connect to it, and have automatic backups of my machines performed and completed simplifing my life.

Since the drives are setup as shares based on types, connecting to the them is a snap even for unseasoned users.

I’ll go into the admin functions a little more as I use them more, and give you more info shortly.

A NAS is a device that sits on your home network, and it allows your to have a centralized location for all your files to sit.  NAS stands for Network Area Storage, and that’s exactly what it does.  It is a self contained box that plugs into your home netowrk, normally into your switch or router, and it provides a place to dump common files.

People use NAS devices for storing Photos, Music, Movies, and other programs.  Some NAS devices will allow you to have access to the files from remote locations as well.

These devices can be used in a variety of configurations, and normally hold atleast 2 Hard Disks.  They will allow for RAID configurations, such as:

RAID 0 – Striping – Faster Data access as data is written across both disks.

RAID 1 – Mirroring – copies the files from Disk 1 to Disk 2

RAID 5 – Striped Disks with Parity – Copies the information across the disks, but keeps one for parity information.  Requires 3 disks at a minimum.

RAID 1+0 – Mirrored Data Set which is Striped – Minimum of 2 Disks needed.

Most NAS devices will only allow for 2 Disks (drive bays) to be added to the unit, but there are 3 disk versions which are normally a lot more expensive.

Having a NAs in your network is a great way to not only share files across multiple computers, but also to have a place to store files, so they are not residing on your personal pc.  The best application is to use the NAS to store images of your hard drive, so if you ever experience a crash, your data can easily be recovered.

So what do you use your NAS for?  Do you have a favorite manufacturer?

Your not alone.  A lot of people don’t know how to effectively use them, and they can be a great tool for backup.  However; that being said, it should never be your ONLY form of backup of your system.  System Restore points should be considered the front line of your backup solution.

System Restore points can be made in Vista or Windows 7 by opening the Control Panel and choosing System.

Select on System Protection

Here we are able to choose the specific settings of our backup.  Choose configure, and Select the following options:

Restore system settings and previous versions of files.

The amount of Disk Space that is used, is up to you.  I would  normally recommend about 10% of your total Hard Disk.  Once these options are enabled, then your system should be backing up the data. The default for the task in Windows is to run at midnight each day.

***NOTE***

I do not consider this to be a full backup of your system, however; if used correctly this can be used as one component of a full backup routine for your data.