by Tracey Lawton
©
2009
http://www.OfficeOrganizationSuccess.com
Have you ever stopped to think what would happen to your
business if your PC were to crash? Would you be able to continue to support your
clients and/or generate income in the event of a computer failure?
If
you run an online solo service business having a system in place that automatically
creates a back-up of your PC's files and folders is essential. It's not just older
PCs that are prone to glitches and complete system failures - it can happen to
newer PCs too! Whatever age your PC and/or laptop is, you need to ensure that
you have a system in place that will automatically back-up your critical files
and folders should anything happen.
And to make the back-up
process smoother, critical files and folder should ideally be stored in one place
i.e. ALL files/folders relating to your business should be stored within the My
Documents folder; downloaded programs should be stored in a downloaded programs
folder; and any password and login data should be printed out as well as being
stored within your My Documents folder.
So, what is the
basic system you need? I recommend that you have two file back-up systems in place:
-
An external hard drive that you back-up to each day; and
- An off-site
back-up service, such as an online data back-up service, that backs up files automatically
as soon as they've been updated.
Just stop and think
for a minute how something like a hard drive failure would affect you and your
business if you hadn't got a recent back-up of your work; not just your day-to-day
work but all your software programs too?
I'll share a story
with you about one of my clients who had some computer problems. Her laptop had
died, and she said to me during one of our weekly check-in calls:
"I
haven't backed up my desktop. So if this goes, as well as the laptop ... I'm sunk."
How
would you feel if you found yourself sunk? If you don't have any back-up systems
in place I suggest you take action now to avoid being in that same situation.
Unfortunately I had an incident where my hard drive failed and needed to be replaced.
Fortunately, I'd backed up all my critical work the day before on to CDs, but
I still spent a lot of time recovering and downloading files and programs which
I hadn't backed up. Lesson learned!
The system that I had
been using involved backing up files and folders to several CDs i.e. one for clients,
one for accounts, one for business etc. It was time-consuming and a bit of a fiddle;
consequently I didn't backup as regularly as I should!
For
a system (any system, not just back-up systems) to work it needs to be simple
and easy to maintain, and once it's in place should run like clockwork.
As
a result of the situation I was in I created some new backup policies. I needed
a more reliable system - one that was simple and easy to maintain, and would run
like clockwork once I'd set it up.
My back-up system now
consists of:
- An external hard drive that I back-up to at the end of
each day;
- An online back-up service that automatically backs
up my files, offsite and that I can access from any PC with an internet connection
if I need to.
In addition to having this back-up system
in place I also have my desktop computer connected to an automatic battery back-up
so that if the power suddenly goes out I don't lose the work I'm currently working
on. I have four minutes to save and shut down the PC in the event of a power outage!
I
recommend that you implement at least one of these back-up systems NOW! Both would
be better. And get your desktop PC connected to an automatic battery back-up too!
