| Our computers have become almost indispensable | | | | probably corrupted, too! But what if you would've used |
| ministry tools. What would you do if the worst | | | | a different strategy and kept an archive of your |
| happened and you had to function without your | | | | backups for each month of the previous year? You |
| computers? Would your ministry survive? | | | | could then easily go back in time to the month when |
| This article is the first in a 3-part series on how to | | | | you knew the Excel file was still working and restore |
| protect your ministry from serious computer-related | | | | that copy...the issue would be quickly & easily |
| loss. This time we're going to focus on protecting your | | | | resolved. Time travel can be pretty useful sometimes! |
| critical data with effective backups. In the next two | | | | How to Make Effective Data Backups |
| installments, we'll cover the basics of network security | | | | If you have multiple computers networked in your |
| and finally what you should know about software | | | | office, keeping all your data in a single location (like a |
| license compliance. | | | | file server) and backing that up every night is the |
| Ineffective data backups really do have the potential to | | | | recommended way to perform backups. I would also |
| hurt your ministry. Here are some frightening statistics: | | | | recommend using a 20-tape rotation, which gives you |
| 31% of PC users have lost all of their files due to | | | | the ability to "go back in time" up to a whole year (in |
| events beyond their control. | | | | various intervals) to restore important files. |
| 60% of companies that lose their data will shut down | | | | You should also keep the most recent copy of your |
| within 6 months of the disaster. | | | | backup off-site (i.e., at another location away from |
| Armed with the right knowledge, you can protect | | | | your office). This is critical because if your building |
| yourself and avoid becoming another statistic. | | | | burned to the ground, your data backups would be |
| Back Up Your Data! | | | | destroyed right along with it. With a recent off-site |
| Most people would agree that computer data is one | | | | copy, you could restore what you need on new |
| of their most valuable organizational assets. What | | | | equipment and get back to the business of ministry |
| would you do if all your donor and accounting files | | | | quickly. |
| were suddenly gone forever because a hard drive on | | | | I recommend using enterprise-quality backup software |
| your server crashed? This could also happen through | | | | to perform your data backups. Good software, like |
| disgruntled employees, accidental deletion, corruption in | | | | Veritas Backup Exec and Computer Associates |
| one of your software programs or even because of | | | | BrightStor ArcServe will schedule everything for you, |
| an attack from an outside hacker. The first line of | | | | run automatically and keep logs of everything that |
| defense in protecting your ministry data is to perform | | | | does and doesn't get backed up. These programs can |
| regular backups. | | | | also notify you by email (or some other method) when |
| What exactly is a backup? It's when you make a | | | | a backup is finished, if it was successful and whether |
| copy of your important data and keep it in a safe | | | | or not you need to address anything. Aside from a little |
| place, so you can restore that data if it ever becomes | | | | ongoing monitoring, everything can be automated. All |
| necessary later. The most common method of | | | | you have to do is remember to change tapes every |
| backing up data is to use a tape drive and backup | | | | day. |
| tapes. I'll have some important recommendations for | | | | If you're a home office or small office user without the |
| you later in this article, but the critical thing to | | | | resources to do tape backups, a ZIP drive, an external |
| understand is that you MUST do something...any kind | | | | hard drive, a CD/DVD burner or even one of those |
| of data backup is better than none at all. If you ignore | | | | cool little USB jump drives that fit on a key ring would |
| your data, it just might go away! | | | | all be options to consider. There are also services that |
| Back to the Future | | | | let you do online backups over the Internet for a |
| Remember the 1985 movie "Back to the Future"? Just | | | | monthly fee. These are good options, as long as the |
| like the character in that film used a sports car to | | | | amount of data isn't too large. Some services you can |
| travel back in time, you can take your ministry back in | | | | check into include Remote Data Backups, U.S. Data |
| time, too. Instead of keeping just one backup copy of | | | | Trust's LiveVault Online Backup Service and iBackup. |
| your data, you should set up a system that keeps | | | | Another Form of Insurance |
| copies of your data for set time intervals (every day, | | | | Backups are really like another form of insurance. |
| every week, every month, every quarter, every year, | | | | What kind of problems would you have if your ministry |
| etc.). Use a different tape or disk for each backup you | | | | data was wiped out? Could it be replaced at any |
| make and then label them by date, and you will soon | | | | price? With a relatively small initial investment in |
| have a library of archived data backups you can | | | | equipment and some ongoing monitoring and |
| restore from as needed. | | | | maintenance, you can practically guarantee that your |
| Why go through all that trouble? Well, suppose you find | | | | critical data will be available when you need it. |
| out that a very important Excel spreadsheet is now | | | | Protecting your data by effective backups is only part |
| corrupted and you can't open it. You haven't used it for | | | | of the solution. Next time we'll talk about some simple |
| several months, and your backup strategy has been to | | | | steps you can take to protect your network against |
| keep writing over the same tapes every week. | | | | hackers, viruses, disgruntled employees and other |
| Chances are all the backups of that Excel file are | | | | potential vulnerabilities. |