Tag Archives: backup

Don’t bother backing-up your computers
(unless you’ve actually tested recovery)

Posted on February 23, 2012 by cheeks

This post is from guest blogger Peter H. Mantos of Albuquerque business consultancy Mantos Consulting, Inc.  (Also a long-time SWCP customer) The business community is well aware of the need to backup critical computer systems. However, very few small businesses have actually tested their backup system by performing a recovery. Business managers operate under a false assumption that they are protected from the worst. This article explains some common reasons that “successful” backups fail to meet business continuity needs. It encourages business owners to ensure that information technology (I.T.) systems can be recovered through actual testing. 1. INTRODUCTION You’re smart. You know that while wise use of computers (information technology, or “I.T.”) offers competitive advantages, they have now become a requirement, a “necessary evil” to stay in business. You also know that I.T. sometimes fails and without it, you are dead in the water. So, being smart, you do your backups; perhaps even regularly and even automatically. Perhaps you don’t back up every computer in the office every day or every week, but at least you back-up your important data; maybe even using an offsite service or by taking copies offsite. Good for you! But have you ever tried to recover using those backups? If not, don’t be smug about being backed-up! Many people have been unpleasantly surprised when the fickle finger of computer fate strikes. Some find that the backups don’t really restore the data or the functionality they … Continue reading →

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15 Reasons Why SWCP BUS Is Your Best Backup Option for the New Year

Posted on December 17, 2011 by jnelson

The end of the year provides an excellent occasion to review your backup strategy. Consider how your life would be affected next year if all the files you worked on this past year suddenly vanished. As anyone who has suffered such an event knows, a dead hard drive, stolen laptop, or stepped-on flash drive can turn your world upside-down. Because once that data is gone, it’s gone for good. A New Year’s resolution of “Never lose a file again” suddenly makes a whole lot of sense. Granted, there are plenty of backup options available, online along with tape and hard drives, CDs, and so forth. Some are cheap, others expensive, but for maximum security, most methods require that you discipline yourself to remember to copy the files or change out the tape or disk and physically take them someplace else every time you time you work on them. This is both inconvenient and because it’s so easy to forget, risky as well. Uploads online to distant data storage centers may solve some problems, but remote, big box service providers don’t have options a local service does such as using removable drives, technician setups, and in-office help.  A combination of both is needed. In trying to make surviving such disasters as data loss easier, Southwest Cyberport has developed SWCP BUS, an online backup system which is combined with our famous neighborly, local service. We are confident that this gives the SWCP … Continue reading →

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