No matter how well you treat your system, no matter how much care you take, you cannot guarantee that your data will be safe if it exists in only one place. The chances of data loss are much greater than most people realize, and far too great to risk.

How important is your data?

You can respond to this question with words, but the steps that you take to protect your data are the real answers. People lose large quantities of data-because they have no backups-only to respond by complaining about how important the data is.

Why wasn't it backed up?

If it matters enough to get upset over losing, it's worth protecting, and backups are an essential part of data protection.

Why data backup is neglected?

They don't understand how important data backup is, because they haven't had a disaster happen to them yet.
They don't know how to use backup systems.
They feel that doing the backup is a time-consuming chore and they can't be bothered.
They forget to do them because they don't have a routine for doing backups.

Why Backup?

Most unfortunately, there are some things that people only take seriously after they have personally experienced the pain that results from not taking them seriously. Backups definitely fall into this category. Most people are relatively nonchalant about them until disaster strikes. Thereafter, they are much more diligent about backups. (but after the damage is done.)

Here's a mental exercise that you can do to help you understand how important backups are. Take a look at your PC and think about what is on it. Think about your data and your programs. Consider how much time it took to create the data, and to set up and tweak your PC so that it works the way you like. Now imagine that one morning you go to your desk and the PC has vanished without a trace. What will you do?

If you had insurance on the hardware, perhaps in a week, you'll get a new Computer...my point exactly. A new computer. This means a new hard drive, which means, no previous data. Information stored on the computer can not be restored or recovered once it is lost, unless it is backed up. Most people, who take this exercise seriously, begin to take backups much more seriously. Fortunately, for most people, this exercise is only a mental exercise, but don't think it can't happen to you in the real world.

Recovering from a disaster such as a total disk crash or theft of a computer can be a very traumatic event, much more than most PC users realize. Yes, the event would still be traumatic, even if you have systematically backed up all of your data. However, you would still have your data, therefore, a majority of the turmoil, and the amount of time for the business recovered would be tremendously minimized.

The pain of recovering from a disaster is almost always very high, and the costs associated with recovery are primarily spent on the time that is required to recreate the lost data. For even a small business, this can run into the thousands of dollars very quickly.

If you still aren't convinced, consider this report from the University of Texas, Center for Research on Information Systems.

Those Who Lost Data in a Disaster:

50% are out of business within two years...
Nearly 50% never reopen their doors at all after the disaster!

If you do any sort of reasonable amount of computing, it is only a matter of time before you, some day, need access to backups of your data or programs. There are many different risks to your data; most people just think of the infamous, dreaded disk crash. This is a real risk due to the technology used in data storage, but there are many other ways that you can easily lose data on your PC. In fact, the list of risks below is far from exhaustive, though it covers the most common problems.

List of Risks

Hardware Failure
Memory Errors
System Timing Problems
Resource Conflicts
Power Loss
Software Failure
File System Corruption
Accidental Deletion
Virus Infection
Theft
Sabotage
Natural Disaster

Where can you get help?

USmibn can setup a reliable backup system and implement an effective backup strategy that will allow the most flexibility and reliability in recovering from potential disasters.