Backup Cautions

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With the array of tools and solutions now available, data can be backed up and restored with greater ease and reliability than ever before, but a couple of important warnings should be kept in mind. The first is that backup is a secondary, not a primary, security solution. Having to rely on a backup is an admission of failure. It does not replace tools that monitor the health of disk drives or other device components that can predict and prevent disk failure, nor does it eliminate the need for an undelete utility. While the big disasters attract all the attention, 90 percent of the time the files that need to be restored were accidentally deleted by users. Using an undelete utility is much simpler and quicker than restoring a file from a backup tape.

Another important point: The result you are looking for is not just a quick and easy backup, but a complete and accurate restore; therefore, a test restoration of data should be performed regularly, at least once a month. One company I worked for, for example, had dutifully made backup tapes for years. But, as the tape drive grew older, its drive belt started slipping which caused the tape to move at uneven speeds. It was not a problem to record the data, but later, when files had to be restored, the tapes would no longer synchronize. It is unlikely that such a situation will happen again, but always be sure that you will be able to get your data back when you need it.

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