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ENTER HAMLET
Hamlet: To be, or not to be, that is the question.
That is the famous lines so much of the population of this world know, about half-way through William Shakespeares play Hamlet.
Hamlet worried about whether to be or not to be. You may be more preoccupied with whether backup or archiving is better for protecting your data, or you may not (I feel like the second of those options, is often the case). You (hopefully) know you need to secure your data, but how? This blog post examines some of the different benefits of both options.
For hundreds of years, businesses have kept important information on paper. They stored important records and notes in nearby filing cabinets for easy access. Sometimes the papers are in the correct folders, sometimes they aren’t (an experience we have all suffered I feel). Sometimes, the folders themselves decide they want to go to
When there are too many files to close the cabinet drawers properly, and I you have sworn too many enough times when trying to yank one out, someone would do a big cleanout. Older, important documents would get boxes for the basement or another storage area. They might still be needed for tax purposes, compliance requirements, or other reasons. But you didn’t need those files readily accessible any longer.
A similar scenario is true of digital records and data. You can backup it up to recover from hardware failure, cyberattack, ransomware, or a disaster event. Or you might choose to archive the data for space management and long-term retrieval needs.
Deciding Between Backup and Archive
When it comes to the right form of data storage, you’ll need to weight the following:
- the period of time you need to keep the data
- what protection from loss or illicit access your method provides
- whether the data can be easily restored or retrieved
- how accessible, searchable, and quickly available the data will be
- any industry or compliance standards that need to be met
A backup is a copy of your current data. On a regular basis, you’ll make a copy of the data to provide you with a starting point in the event of a disaster, be it malicious or not in nature. You’ll decide how often to backup said data based upon how often the data changes and the important of data currency for yourself, or your business.
Backing up data, an operating system, or application files doesn’t delete the originals. However, your older backup may be deleted when you make the new copy depending on the system and configuration of your backup itself. If it doesn’t destroy the previous copy, it can allow users to go back and review / recovery earlier versions of said data. Make sure you know the impact of your backups, and how they work. If you have a bad assumption on how they work, you may make bad decisions on whether they can help you recover form a loss or not.
It’s not a bad idea to have several backups. In a previous post (Tech Insight: Facebook is for Sharing, Not Storing), I mentioned a ‘3-2-1’ backup strategy. With this method, you have 3 copies of your data, and have a higher tolerance for failure than a less robust method.
Archiving puts a copy of business data into long-term storage. This is the data equivalent of moving that box of files to the basement. In many cases, the archived version becomes the only available copy of that data.
The archives’ permanent record of data may prove useful in future legal disputes. Archived data is often tagged to enable for a streamlined search down the road. Moving information to archive can only improve processing speed and storage capacity of your production computer systems.
While a backup may be overwritten, archived data is generally not altered or deleted (in fact I would argue that it shouldn’t be possible, or at the very least it shouldn’t be part of the standard process). In fact, it’s often physically disconnected from the computer or network. So, you’ll turn to a backup to restore your data if necessary, and to archives to retrieve information data.
Key Takeway
Both backups and archives can prove useful. It’s not going to happen every day, but entire digital archives can be lost if a server drowns in a flash flood. All the paper backups can be burnt to cinders in an electrical fire. That external hard drive could be stolen or crushed by falling debris in a hurricane.
It’s always best to avoid having a single point of failure. Both backing up and archiving data is a smart precaution. Ensuring continuity by preparing for the worst.
My Final Thoughts
I know all too well how easy it is to be complacent with your backups, I see it happen all the time. But I have also lived
I obviously have a unique, and very extensive history of experiencing the impact that data loss can have upon individuals and businesses, thankfully. I have seen it put companies out of business, and put incredible strain on relationships. It’s because of my experiences that I consider data and its preservation priceless, and it’s why personally, I have a 6-layered approach to protecting my data:
- Original Source (My Laptop)
If my laptop dies, I know that through my iCloud and SilverSync backups (see Item 2 below), I can go to any Apple Store, and be back up (pun intended?) and running fully functional with all my files and applications within just a couple hours. And yes, I have done this as a full test before, and while I did sweat a little, it worked perfectly. - Initial Backup: iCloud (Personal) and SilverSync (Business)
I know that if I delete or lose a file somehow, I can recover them easily. iCloud is limited in it’s ability for this, however SilverSync (offered by our good friends over at SilverPoint System Ltd.) allows for versioning, and reverting back to previous copies of files as needed back to the original. It’s also Canadian based, so none of your data is kept outside of Canada (a requirement for businesses going to electronic storage, that is often overlooked). - Encrypted Local Backup: Airport Time Capsule (Entire Laptop)
This is my second line of defence for file-level recovery and restoration for any of my personal data. It works well, and I wish Apple had not stopped selling these because (in my opinion) as a personal backup solution they are great. Plus, they provide double-duty as an Access Point (yes, they are monstrous). - Encrypted Local Archives: Network Attached Storage (Personal)
I take snapshots of all my personal data at periodic points in time, and archive them on my Network Attached Storage (NAS) device. These snapshots provide me a recovery point, that should my first 3 levels of protection fail to allow me to recover something, I can always revert back to these archives as a failsafe. - Backup of NAS Archives: Cloud Storage Provider
Three of the first four methods above are susceptible to failure should we have a disaster in our home. The iCloud and SilverSync backups are independent of both my home, our offices, and our local datacenter. But things do happen, and my ultimate failsafe to cover me against an issue with iCloud, SilverSync, and a facility failure is my Archived Cloud Storage (it costs me less than $10 / month currently). It would take a while to pull down an archive, and restore it to a system, but it’s doable in my most extreme circumstance.
Honestly, if this is how I’m restoring data, I have other more pressing matters to be upset about, I’m sure. Either that, or I really have fled to Mexico…
So for anyone who has made it all the way to the end of this article, congratulations. You are the only person who has
But in all seriousness, I hope all of these topics I have mentioned lately make us all stop and think about our backup or archiving strategy, and if nothing else hopefully saves someone somewhere from losing data that is important to them.
Not sure how you should or want to proceed, or if your methodology is sufficient for your risk tollerence? Reach out to me via Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn and I’d be happy to discuss.
