the 3 principles of data backup
Because you need to know that your data is safe you must follow the 3 principles of data backup. You will never have heard of these principles before because 2009 was the first time they have been officially published and sent to Small Businesses. If the principles are followed you will keep your data safe.
1 Data has to be on different devices.
2 The different devices have to be in 2 different locations
3 There has to be different versions of the files
They are backup “rules” and you can check how safe your own backups are when tested against the 3 principles.
Data has to be on different devices.
The data being backed up has to be copied or backed up to at least two different devices. Having your data on two different devices is the minimum that should be considered. Backing up or copying data to the same hard disk would be pointless if the hard disk failed because you would be unable to restore your data. Backing up to the same device does have some value in that corrupted data could be restored. A good example of different devices would be that you backup your data onto tape, the two different devices being the original copy and the one on the tape. Other devices could be flash drives, hard disks, CD, DVD or remote data centres on the Internet.
The different devices have to be in 2 different locations.
In practical terms this means if you backup to tape then you need to take the tape off the premises for safe storage. If the place where your computer lives goes up in a fire then the backup data will be in a different location. In practical terms, if you backup from one hard disk to another hard disk in the same computer and there is a fire or you suffer from theft, your backup is lost also. Other safe ways are backing up to the Internet and backing up to an external hard disk that can be taken off site.
There has to be different versions of the files.
Data files can get corrupted and you may need to go back to a previous version. The more versions you have the better. I would suggest a minimum of 10 versions.
Kevin ackland