Most information today is in electronic form, saved on your home or office PC (or server).  Even if you are not in the computer business, it’s important to have a backup of your electronic records, software, pictures (such as scanned copies of your Passport and other ID).  For any size environment, we recommend the following setup as a bare minimum to protect your electronic assets:

1. Purchase a file server, also known as Network Attached Storage.  They are relatively inexpensive, and can save the files of all your devices (laptop, desktop, servers, phone).
2. Purchase a backup software that will routinely copy files to the file server.  It’s important to use something robust, not likely what is provided with your HP laptop.  It needs to do backup over a network, and run constantly (scheduler).  Many file servers such as Intel and others will come with software that doesn’t need to be purchased separately.
3. If you do not have a network setup, many file servers now have wireless access that devices can connect to, be sure to check this before selecting a backup device.
4. For more redundancy, purchase an external Blu-ray DVD burner.  Blu-ray discs can hold up to 128 Gb per disc, but commonly hold 25Gb to 50Gb.  Backup should be done to the file server on a daily or weekly basis.  On a monthly basis (depending on your needs) backup to the Blue-ray discs.  In case of EMP data may be corrupted on the file server (although it’s less likely if it’s turned off), however it will not affect data on the DVD.  Also even if you have a large amount of data, discs are lightweight and could be grabbed in a pinch in case of evacuation.

While it may be time consuming to recreate your existing system, software can be recovered or repurchased, but your personal files cannot be.  In corporate situations another layer of redundancy is suggested, a real-time mirror server in another location.

Another reason for this setup is that it’s secure.  If your network is secured by a system such as Fortinet, the only way your data can be compromised is by physical breach.  This is not the case with cloud based backup solutions.  Due to the security scandal, companies are re-thinking where they keep their data.  Why not simply in their own private file server?  This was old practice, but with proliferation of large cloud providers such as Amazon AWS companies became complacent and went with the cloud as opposed to building their own infrastructure.

Selecting the devices should depend on the circumstances, and if ordering on Amazon or Tiger Direct reviews will assist in selecting the best quality file server.  Do not buy a refurbished file server!  The best file server uses Solid State Drives because their rate of failure is near zero, whereas magnetic hard drives will fail given enough time.  But an SSD file server is more expensive.

Contact GIH for customized support setting up your own backup system.  Some sample equipment below:

Backup Tools