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| Dale's welcome |
I see it or hear about it everyday. Another business owner who had a server crash, laptop stolen or lost, or went to restore files only to find out that the last backup they had was from January 2007. Our businesses rely on compters heavily – sometimes too much. So you need a bullet-proof plan to backup your data locally, as well as at another location. And you need to do a weekly “What if?” exercise to see if you’re covered – “What if a hurricane flooded my office?” “What if a fire broke out next door and damaged my office?” You should also test your IT staff or backup vendor every month. Make a backup of a file, delete it, and ask them to restore it. They must be able to; there are no excuses for failure here! What if the file was your QuickBooks file? Customer database? Months of client e-mails? A day of lost business can cost you thousands. Backups cost a lot less, so make sure your backup system is failure-proof! |
| The 411 on backups |
The 411 on backups We’ve said it before but it bears repeating: Backups are critical! You can’t slack on doing backups, because that’s when you’ll need them the most. And you can’t overestimate their importance, because once data is lost it’s lost forever. That’s the short-and-sweet. Now here are some usable tips. How to do backups yourself Yes, you can do backups yourself. There are many viable DIY options, pieces of hardware, and backup services that can help. For example, some small businesses have a portable hard drive and run a back up before they leave each day. This may take a little time, but it’s cheap. When you do backups yourself it’s very important to test, test, and test some more. How? Run a backup, then open it to see if all the data is there. Easy! The importance of backups Quite simply, it’s a matter of having your data safe, secure, and always available. Whether you’re talking about work documents and e-mail contacts or digital images of your child or pet, most of your important data cannot be duplicated if it’s lost or corrupted. Benefits of an offsite server Offsite servers are essentially data insurance. They run backups for you and hold your data in an environment safe from physical threats (natural disasters, theft) and virtual threats (system crashes, hackers) – somewhere like our data center. Our offsite backups are easy and seamless once installed. We connect to the server(s) at your office and backup your files to our data center. We do this at the same, non-peak time each day without any effort on your part. Off-site backups can be used by anyone and can handle hundreds of gigs of data. Off-site backups are usually better than DIY backups. Why? Because once daily backups leave you vulnerable to data losses. They’re also not good at quickly recovering data. And if you don’t have an in-house IT staff, your backup may not get the regular attention it needs. Not to mention that doing it yourself takes time! How to tell if you need a DIY solution of offsite backup? We can help you decide! We’ve been doing backups for years and can help you narrow your options. Then we’ll set up the one that best meets your needs, and you can cross “GET A BACKUP” off of your to-do list. Just fill out this simple form and we’ll get in touch with you for a no-pressure, no-cost consultation. Or call us at (866) SPIDERHOST. We’re here to help! |
| In the news |
Disasters are bad enough without the added stress of lost data. Check out these news stories to see how others are preparing their data to withstand disasters: Hurricane drives interest in online backups Hurricane preparedness for businesses, part one: Disaster recovery planning |
| Case study |
This month’s featured case study showcases a national company that replicates each location’s data via automatic backups to ensure business continuity in the event of disaster. Take a peek and see how they worked with Spiderhost to meet their unique needs. But don’t think you need to be a national company to need or afford regular backups! We have solutions for every business and every budget. |
| Horror story |
This month’s IT horror story clearly demonstrates the value of regular, reliable backups – and the agony of not having one in place when you need it most. Unfortunately, it’s a true story. |
| Suggestion box |
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An Innovative IT and Internet Services Provider, Spiderhost delivers customized, best in class technology solutions to small and mid-size businesses that fit their unique needs and individual budgets. With a robust suite of Internet products and services, Spiderhost combines technical elegance, high performance, security, and economical operation for maximum positive impact. Spiderhost enables companies to affordably overcome challenges, freeing up time, money, and energy to focus on their core business. For more information, please visit: www.spiderhost.com. 142 W Lakeview Ave., Ste 2090 | Lake Mary, FL 32746 |