How do you backup your important files?

After much thought I decided to make May our Backup and Disaster Recovery month. As I try and come up with content a question popped into my head, what do you do to protect your important data files?

1. Nothing
2. Backup to tape
3. Backup to disk
4 Online backup service
5. Other

I can tell you that I back my personal files up to a USB hard drive weekly using the Windows 7 scheduled backup utility. EnC partners are using everything from nightly tape backups to backup to disk systems that transfer the local files to offsite storage facilities every 15 minutes with virtualization of downed servers on the backup device (the ultimate backup system).

What do you do?

Email on your iPad

On April 27th, Kerio announced new support for the Apple iPad. Kerio Connect now allows users to access email, calendars, and contacts on the new iPad, expanding the choice of mobile devices that help increase employee productivity.

“After using Kerio Connect on the iPad it's clear that businesses that are committed to the Apple ecosystem will certainly collaborate and connect even more effectively by integrating Kerio with the iPad mobile platform,” said Michael Crites, Project Manager at Iris Professional Services, a Preferred Partner of Kerio. “The platform agnostic advantage Kerio brings to the table rewards our clients with an unparalleled choice in secure mobile communications.” www.kerio.com/connect/wireless

Can you recover from a server failure?

Last month in our newsletter we posted a process to test your network backups that anyone could do. The importance of backups cannot be stressed enough, but if you never run a "fire drill" on them, how do you know if they are working?

Typically, the IT person is watching the logs on the backup system to verify the backups were successful. While this is wonderful we are all human and things do fall through the cracks. What if you business cannot afford a full time IT person, who watches the backups then? Who tests them? How often?

I suggest you take our challenge and see what the results are. The old "better safe than sorry" philosophy applies here.

I like the analogy of your home owners insurance, if your house burns down you are covered, right? What if your business data is destroyed, what then?

Windows 7 Tip - Shake 'em away

Ever had 10 Notepad, two Powerpoint and 50 Outlook windows open? Want to minimise all of them except the most important one? In Windows 7, you can grab the top of the window and shake it about to scare away all of the other open windows. Simple.