What Is Data Backup? Ensuring Data Safety and Business Continuity

Organizations value the resilience of business continuity operations because they fortify against potential and unforeseen business disruptions.

Data backup and recovery are the centerpieces undergirding the reliability of business operations. Besides enhancing operational predictability, data backup also fosters customer trust and patronage.

This is because reliable data backup can safeguard intellectual property and proprietary business information, including the data privacy of personally identifiable information (PII).

This article highlights how data backup ensures the security and safety of your organization’s data.

What Is Data Backup, and Why Is It Important For Businesses?

Data backup involves creating and storing copies of data separately to restore it in case of loss from crashes, viruses, deletions, or disasters. Such backups are vital for businesses for various reasons:

Protect Against Data Loss: Regular data backups can help recover and protect data from accidental deletion, hardware failure, or cyberattacks.

Business Continuity: Having a data backup ensures that business operations can continue with minimal disruptions in the event of a disaster.

Compliance with Regulations: Some industries are required by data privacy laws and regulations to retain and protect certain data types for a specified period. Regular backups can help meet these legal and regulatory requirements.

Secure Customer Trust: Customers trust businesses with their data. Regular backups assure customers that their data is safe and secure, thereby strengthening customer relationships.

Financial Protection: Data loss can disrupt operations, leading to financial losses. In contrast, backing up data is a proactive measure that can save significant recovery costs after a data loss incident.

Overall, data backup is a fundamental part of a business's risk management strategy to ensure data accessibility, reliability, and integrity.

What Are the Different Types of Data Backups?

There are three commonly recognized types of data backups, all of which have their own benefits and drawbacks:

Full Backup

This is the most complete and comprehensive type of backup, in which a copy of all a system's data and files is created. The full backup method offers the highest file security level, ensuring that all data is protected. Full backups generally create a replica of all the data and files within a system at a specific point in time. This means that every file, folder, and application on the system is copied and stored in a separate location.

The main advantage of a full backup is that it allows for complete restoration of the system to its previous state in the event of data loss, corruption, or a system failure. This makes it an ideal choice for businesses and individuals who require maximum data protection and cannot afford any data loss.

However, full backups also come with certain drawbacks, with the primary disadvantage being that they require a significant amount of storage space and more time to complete compared to other options. This can disrupt business operations, especially if backups are performed frequently.

Despite this caveat, full backups remain a popular choice for many organizations due to their comprehensive nature and high level of data protection. They are often used with other backup methods, such as incremental or differential backups, to create an all-inclusive backup strategy that balances data protection with storage space and time requirements.

Incremental Backup

This backup method copies only the data that has changed or been updated since the last backup, whether full-scale or incremental in nature. This backup method focuses on efficiency by storing only the data that has been modified or added since the previous backup, regardless of whether that backup was full or incremental.

Consequently, this process is quicker and requires less storage space. However, data recovery can be more time-consuming as multiple incremental backups may need to be processed in addition to the last full backup.

Therefore, the complexity of data recovery is a trade-off for the benefits it provides.

Differential Backup

Similar to an incremental backup, a differential backup copies data that has changed or been updated since the last full backup.

In other words, a differential backup will always copy all the changes made since the last full backup, regardless of whether those changes were included in an incremental backup. This is why differential backups typically require more storage space than incremental backups, as they will often copy the same data multiple times.

However, the trade-off for the increased storage requirements is that differential backups can be faster to restore than incremental backups. This is because differential backups only require restoring two backup sets: the most recent full backup and the most recent differential backup. On the other hand, incremental backups may require multiple backup sets to be restored, depending on how many incremental backups were performed since the last full backup.

Therefore, differential backups are often a good choice for organizations that need to be able to restore their data quickly but also have the storage space to accommodate the larger backup files.

How Often Should Businesses Back Up Their Data?

The frequency of data backups for businesses can vary depending on the type and amount of data they handle, but a standard recommendation is to perform backups daily. For companies dealing with critical and frequently changing data, backups may need to be carried out more regularly—potentially multiple times a day.

Some businesses use real-time backup (also known as continuous data protection), which instantaneously backs up data whenever it changes. Ultimately, how often a business should back up its data depends on its specific needs, operations, and the regulatory climate under which it operates.

The Best Practices For Secure Data Backup and Recovery

Regular Data Backups: Ensure that data is backed up regularly. Depending on the volume of data and its importance, you might need to back up daily, weekly, or in real-time.
Use Multiple Backup Methods: Implement the 3-2-1 backup strategy — three copies of your data, stored on two different types of storage, with one copy stored offsite.
Automated Backups: Automating your backups helps decrease the potential for human error and ensures backups are carried out consistently.
Encryption: Data should be encrypted during transfer and when stored to protect it from unauthorized access and maintain confidentiality.
Use a Reliable Backup Service: Whether it's a cloud or physical backup, ensure you choose a reputable and reliable backup service with solid security measures.
Regular Testing: Regular testing of backup and recovery processes is key to ensure that the system works as expected and that the data can be fully recovered in the event of a loss.
Offsite Storage: Offsite or cloud backups provide another level of safety. They are especially useful when physical locations may be compromised due to disasters or accidents.
Maintain Up-to-Date Software: Keeping your systems and backup software up-to-date can protect your data from the latest threats and potential system bugs.
Disaster Recovery Plan: Establish a detailed disaster recovery plan that outlines the steps to take if data is lost and how to recover it.
Retain Multiple Versions: Keep multiple versions of backed-up data. If a file is corrupted, you can revert to an older, uncorrupted version.
Update Your Backup Strategy: As your business evolves, so should your backup strategy. Constantly reevaluate it in relation to your current business needs.

How Can Cloud Storage Be Used for Data Backup?

Cloud storage can be used for data backup by creating a copy of your data and storing it on remote servers that third-party service providers usually host. Here's how it works:

Set Up Cloud Account: The first step involves creating an account with a cloud storage provider, like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3, among others. Depending on the service, you may get a certain amount of storage for free, with the option to purchase more if needed.
Install Software: Most cloud service providers offer desktop and mobile applications you can install on your devices. This software lets you choose which files or folders to back up to the cloud.
Schedule Backups: After choosing the files or folders to back up, you can generally set a schedule for when this happens. For example, you might choose to back up your data every night or every week.
Automated Backup: The cloud storage software automatically uploads copies of your files over the internet to the cloud storage servers at the scheduled intervals.
Access Anytime, Anywhere: Once your files are backed up to the cloud, they can be accessed from any location and device with internet connectivity, typically using the installed software required to access it.
Data Recovery: If you lose your data for any reason (like a computer crash or accidental deletion), you can restore it from the cloud backup. This process varies by service but usually involves logging into your account, locating the backed-up files, and downloading them to your device.

Remember that while cloud storage is helpful, it can't replace a comprehensive backup strategy. Always ensure you have local backups along with cloud backups. Some comprehensive backup solutions often include both local and cloud backup capabilities.

The Key Considerations For Choosing a Backup Solution

Compatibility: The backup solution must be compatible with your systems, whether you're using Windows, Linux, macOS, or another operating system.
Recovery Time Objective (RTO): This is the time it takes to recover data after a disaster or incident. The backup solution should favor a lower RTO.
Recovery Point Objective (RPO): This is the data loss a business can endure before it experiences significant harm. An ideal backup solution has a low RPO, implying minimal data loss.
Security: The backup solution should have stringent security measures in place, including encryption, to protect data from unauthorized access.
Storage Capacity: Make sure the backup solution can store all your critical data.
Scalability: As your organization grows, your backup needs may change. Therefore, choosing a solution that can scale to meet these needs is essential.
Cost: Price is a significant factor. The cost should be justified by the features and storage capacity offered by the backup solution.
Reliable Vendor: Choose a solution from a vendor with a proven track record of reliability and customer support.
Ease of Use: The solution should be relatively easy to set up, use, and manage, even for non-technical users.
Automation: A good backup solution will automate the backup process, ensuring backups occur regularly without requiring manual intervention.
Compliance: If your business is subject to data protection regulations, ensure the backup solution effectively complies with them.
Test Restores: Ensure the solution provides a way to test restores to ensure your backup works correctly.
Versioning Capabilities: The ability to restore earlier versions of files can be crucial in recovering from attacks like ransomware.

How Data Backup Contributes to Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

Data backups aren't solely for fulfilling regulatory obligations. In fact, backups play a crucial role in both business continuity and disaster recovery, giving your organization resilience against security or data availability incidents.

Minimizes Downtime: Regular data backups ensure that businesses can quickly restore their systems and minimize downtime in the event of a disaster.

Data Restoration: Backups allow businesses to restore lost data and continue operations seamlessly in the event of data loss due to various reasons, such as hardware failure, human error, or cyberattacks.

Business Continuity: Frequent and comprehensive data backups are key to ensuring business continuity because they preserve important business data, allowing operations to continue even after a disruptive event.

Risk Management: By backing up all critical data, businesses can manage the risk of sudden data loss. This is an essential part of any disaster recovery plan.

Compliance: Many industries have regulations requiring businesses to maintain certain records for a specified period. Regular backups help companies to comply with these requirements by ensuring they can recover essential data.

Protects Reputation: Having a reliable backup and recovery strategy in place helps maintain customer trust and business reputation by ensuring business operations can quickly return to normal following a disruption.

Learn How Fortra Data Classification Can Optimize Secure Data Backups

Data backups are not just about storing data but also about maintaining business continuity, aiding disaster recovery plans, and ensuring the smooth operation of the business.

With that in mind, by implementing a data classification solution to categorize data according to its importance and access levels, organizations can tailor their backup frequency, storage allocation, encryption protocols, and data retention timelines. Approaching backups in this way optimizes storage space, minimizes backup times, and ensures that the most critical information is readily recoverable in case of a data loss event.

Without data classification, it is difficult for organizations to differentiate between regulated data and non-regulated data, particularly when that data is backed up to the cloud. But a comprehensive classification solution like Fortra Data Classification, which classifies data based on content and context, means organizations can avoid unnecessary costs associated with retaining non-regulated data while protecting their most sensitive data that requires extra security measures.

Schedule a demo today to learn more.