Not everyone who makes backups can be safe from unforeseen events. In most cases, the incidents that lead to data loss occur without warning and were highly improbable for us until they happened. And in many others, carelessness and lack of control mean that when incidents of some kind occur, there is no longer any possibility of recovering the lost or damaged files.
In this post we want to explain what are the main mistakes we make when making backups through the most common risks.
1. A virus gets into your computer
One of the risks why you should make automated backups is the possibility of a virus entering your computer. Not knowing the nature of the virus, it is impossible to know what files it will affect, but it can endanger important parts of the system, as well as the files you want to keep.
2. A power failure occurs
A drop in electrical voltage is extremely damaging to hardware. If it is occurring on a regular basis, you should have a technician check the condition of your electrical system, as brownouts can damage your computer. It goes without saying that if you are working on your computer and a power failure occurs and the computer restarts, unless the program you were working with automatically makes copies of the files in progress, the work you have done and not saved will be lost.
3. Disk damage
The deterioration of the hard disk can also be the cause of losing files that you had stored there. In some cases it is possible to recover, but it is always best to be in the worst possible situation and try to have a backup that you can restore in case you have to change the disk.
4. Computer restarts by itself
When the computer restarts itself as a result of a problem with the CPU, or any other type of incident, the risk of losing files with which you had started working is great. Therefore, if you have a system that makes automated backups you will be able to recover those files in a recent version.
5. Your external hard drive got malware
There is no point in backing up to an external hard drive when it ends up infected by the virus on our own computer.
6. Your backups are in the same place as your files.
When the backups you are making are located for example on your server, which is also where your website files or your software are located, you run the risk that if your server suffers some kind of mishap (as a result of a cyber-attack, a virus, etc.) you cannot easily recover the files you had saved on it.
7. A fire breaks out
This is the situation that is perhaps least anticipated, but when it happens, everyone starts to wonder why they hadn’t taken it into account. If you store your files on your computer, but accidentally a fire breaks out in your office and the computer burns down and the hard drive ends up unusable, what will become of your files?
Our office must of course have all the protocols and fire safety measures in place, so that even if a fire does occur, the equipment can be prevented from burning as quickly as possible. However, this is not always possible and therefore it is very important that we count on this eventuality.
If a fire does occur, it is worth remembering that the last thing to think about is saving external hard drives, or any other device used to store backups. It is best if the copies are in the cloud and thousands of miles away from the site of the fire.
8. You are forced to format
Another circumstance in which you may find yourself is that you are forced to format your computer, since due to an incident you find it impossible to log in. In many cases, this can be solved with the help of our computer support, or by calling a technician to access your computer remotely. But if it is absolutely necessary to format the hard drive to recover your computer and you do not have the possibility to access it to save your files, it is always easier and more convenient to have external backups.
These 8 elements are essential to keep in mind the importance of backups. As we say, you never remember how much you need them until one of these incidents happens. And of course there are others that we have not outlined here.