This week, one of our main production computers went down, causing a bit of a hiccup in our normal operations, but things went a lot smoother than the last time this happened. Some planning and regularly backing up our data helped us immensely, and we even learned some new things this time around that will make the next computer-failure event go even smoother.
It’s a fact – computers go down. Hard drives crash. Data gets lost. What can you do for your business to ensure that when this happens (yes, when) you will have a seamless continuation of your operations?
Here are some tips:
Back up regularly. Back up to a CD, USB drive, external hard drive, tape, whatever. But make sure you back up!
Take a backup with you. It’s common for people to back up to an external hard drive sitting right next to their computer, and just leave it there. But if there’s a natural disaster, or flooding, etc. then that drive will do you no good. Take a copy home or anywhere off-site, and swap them every so often.
Consider having a duplicate computer. An old, unused computer will work well in an emergency. Load all of the applications you normally use onto it, so in the event of computer failure, you can just plug it in and be ready to go.