The damage from Hurricane Harvey has been heartbreaking. Sadly one of the casualties of the flood has been people’s data. Not just business data like customer lists, orders, and invoices but personal stuff like irreplaceable digital pictures and documents. While disasters aren’t preventable, data loss is.
From online forums and stories I’ve read, many business and residential customers thought they had a good backup. Apple’s Time Machine automatically backs up the computer to a hard drive connected to the computer. Windows 10 and earlier versions have a similar function. This isn’t enough and is insufficient as a primary backup method.
The problem, as I’m sure you’ve guessed, is that during a disaster everything near by the computer gets destroyed. Water gets everywhere and damages all electronics. While we don’t get many hurricanes in Kansas and Missouri, we’re not immune to water problems.
You might think the most common disaster on-site is some kind of natural disaster. It isn’t. It’s water. Just last week a client’s water heater broke flooding her basement. Her basement had a computer. Fortunately, she had an online backup, so she was fine.
Due to disasters that can occur on-premise, we always recommend online backups.
As I mentioned last week, our preferred vendor is Backblaze. For $50 a year they securely backup your computer in the cloud. Simply put, cloud backups protect you against all disasters. Backing up to a hard drive next to your computer isn’t the best way to backup your computer.
To encourage people to use a secure backup system, we’re installing Backblaze at no charge for clients. Just message us and we’ll set up an appointment for you. We won’t charge for the install; you’ll just owe Backblaze their yearly fee. We’ll even run a diagnostic scan while we’re on your computer at no charge. It’s just our way of making sure you’re protecting your important stuff!
Photo by J. Daniel Escareño