It is a well documented fact that backups fail at times even though they are considered critical for business continuity. Such failures happen when companies fail to keep a copy of the data outside in an offsite, remote location, away from the current network. IT admins and managers could avoid such issues with carefully pre-defined planning.

Frequent Backup Test

It is very common to find out that backups that are performed seemingly with out error messages, but later end up being unreadable when it is time to recover the data. Test the backup systems frequently in order make sure that backups are happening without any issues.

Test the files, folders, systems and servers regularly. You can run the backup tests once a week for a randomly chosen single file, once a month for a random directory and yearly for servers. Companies using multiple backup locations (for instance, cloud backup and appliance based, etc.) are required to test both systems, in the cloud and onsite.

Use Updated Technology

Newer backup technologies are always being developed; the newer versions are getting better and better and while the costs remain fair and reasonable. It is very important for the users to communicate with their service providers in order to learn about the backup servers, systems and networks. This will give the users an opportunity to avoid problems in data encryption and recovery. IT managers may utilise some applications like deduplication to reduce file sizes.

Deduplication is a well known process that helps to create duplicates of files with smaller size. This process is also effective because it enables the system to capture more snapshots in less time. It also further reduces the time period between snapshots.

Apply Systematic Incremental Backups

Older backup servers and systems may utilise full backups on a weekly basis; while daily incremental backups happening every night. This strategy is useful because it enables the system to update the data every night, without losing the files. However, it is necessary to ensure that data saved will be recovered in the original form, without any corruption, making sure that incremental backup is performed. New applications can consolidate each and every incremental backup into the full backup so that backups can be restored in only one operation.

Try Snapshots & Replication

These systems are considered more helpful for the enterprises because of the high level of redundancy, speedy backup creation, data protection, and data recovery. The users can easily develop multiple backup folders with the help of snapshots taken from the systems containing different types of files and folders. These snapshots should be preserved in prescribed systems in order to create the backups. It is also important to run the recovery tests after short intervals.

Prefer the Self-Service Portals

The need for data recovery arises mostly due to human error. Most users tend to restore data by themselves with out the need of an IT admin. This means, less admin intervention is needed. Develop a portal that allows restoring all types of files or folders from the networks and systems. The self-restoring portals have become very important for this purpose. These portals typically only allow the users to restore data (without changing or deleting them), thereby, providing do-it-yourself self-service with minimal risk.