How to Prevent Data Backup Errors?

Data Backup Errors

What Should You Do to Prevent Data Backup Errors?

Many people will experience data loss at least once in their lifetime. Knowing this fact is even more important than making sure your data is backed up. If you back up correctly, you won't need to recover your data.

In this article, we tried to explain the importance of data backup by discussing some of the questions we mentioned below:

• Why are backups necessary?
• Main causes of data loss
• 3-2-1 backup rule and how it helps prevent data loss?
• What are the most common reasons for backup failures?
• How to prevent backup failures?

Why Are Backups Necessary?

Data loss can have different consequences for each person. The importance of lost data depends on what its value is to the person. Losing a few music or video files that can be easily downloaded from the internet may not be the end of the world for some people. On the other hand, losing a copy of your only daughter's wedding or your doctoral thesis that you've been working on for years is a data loss that no one would want.

The same applies to companies. If a company loses data that can be recreated or easily recovered, data loss may not seem like a problem. However, when critical business files are lost and cannot be quickly recovered, this can cause serious problems for companies, including possible fines and legal sanctions.

Therefore, it is essential to ensure that both individual and company data are backed up. However, unfortunately, even the backups made can fail…

In a survey conducted by Tekniknokta Data Recovery earlier this year, 33% of respondents (current and former data recovery customers) had never backed up their data in 2018. However, although the majority of respondents had backed up their data, only 43% were able to recover 75-100% of the data in the backup when needed. This meant that the majority of users could only recover 75% of their data from the backup they made.

What are the common causes of data loss?

Deleted or formatted data: Many users accidentally delete their data from storage devices. If you click too much, your data can be deleted!

Computer viruses, malware and ransomware: In recent years, these types of software have become a serious threat to every computer user. If your computer system is not securely protected or if you visit a website containing a virus, your data can be infected, corrupted, or worse, encrypted.

Simply put: You can no longer access your data!

Corrupted files: Your files can be corrupted for various reasons: software failure, logical errors, power failures, etc.

Hardware failures: Data loss can be quite easy due to hardware problems. For example, Hard disk internal platters rotate at speeds of more than 5000 revolutions per minute. Therefore, they are quite sensitive devices. They can fail even as a result of a small impact on the external case. In addition, HDDs and SSDs have a limited lifespan. They are likely to fail after a few years of use. If you hear a different sound from your HDD, it's time to definitely replace the HDD. Transfer your important data inside to a safe place.

Being attacked: If your computer or system is under attack, it is likely that at least some or most of your files have been encrypted, modified, or destroyed. Browsing the internet without a proper firewall or anti-virus software is very risky and can cause more data loss.

3-2-1 backup rule

To prevent data loss, the 3-2-1 backup rule should be applied. This rule simply states that the user – whether personal or company – should store their important data in 3 different places.

In addition to the original data storage (your computer, NAS, server or storage), you need to back up in two different places. Both of these should be in different technologies; One can be a CD, the other can be Cloud.

Most common reasons for backup failures

• Backup software didn't work
• There wasn't enough space on the storage device for backup
• The backup profile didn't cover the entire device, data structure, all folders, etc.
• The external device was only connected to the computer, server, or storage occasionally, and the backup was created manually, not automatically
• The computer or storage device was not turned on when the backup was created
• Files were lost before the backup was created

How are backups protected against failure?

Tekniknokta Data Recovery experts have seen quite a lot of data loss and data recovery cases in their customers due to backup problems. Therefore, they warn everyone to pay attention to the following points:

• Invest in a backup solution and take time to create a backup plan
• Decide on the backup interval that best suits your needs. (The longer the interval, the data may not be current enough.)
• Make sure backups run regularly according to the specified schedule.
• Check backup reports for error reports or a failed backup
• Regularly test and check hardware, backup software, and backups