Deleting backups is always a sensitive issue. Why you should delete backups? What happens if you need them later? What is the best way to delete them?
If your company has decided to make online backups, it is important to take these aspects into account in order to be able to store and use your backups in the most appropriate conditions.
Why delete backups?
The first thing to be clear about is for what reasons you should consider deleting backups.
Very old backups
Is the fact that the copies are many years old and ancient a good reason to delete them? It depends. Those copies may no longer be useful as such, but the data they contain can be integrated into a data analysis program, which in turn should have a backup.
On the other hand, very old backups are also undesirable if the files being stored are unusable. That is, their usefulness should be taken into account, if they are not items that are just taking up space. For example, it may be useful to keep data from 10 years ago (even if the invoice itself is not stored). Although they are no longer usable and we have no tax obligation to keep them, they can be useful for the company’s history.
Backup copies of non-relevant files.
Sometimes it is necessary to delete non-relevant backup copies. It is not convenient, for example, to store working documents or diagrams that are unnecessary for the analysis and management of the company. Many times this information has been stored in a disorderly manner on hard disks and then ends up in our cloud backup system.
This type of copies with unstructured and not very relevant information should be eliminated. And it should also be assessed whether it is worth keeping the original document.
Infected backup copies
Backup copies that have been infected by some type of malware should also be removed, and as soon as possible. In a company’s history, there may have been open doors to malicious programs that could have affected backups as well.
The most appropriate thing to do in these cases is to create a new backup of the affected files, if we keep the original, and remove the backups from the system. You should also check if there have been more affected documents and how to proceed in this case; we recommend that you request our support services.
Backups of former employees
It is possible that a worker terminates his contract with us. His computer would probably be filled with a lot of stored documents, some useful and some not. If the company has a good computer network and centralized systems for storing relevant information, the work documents that employee has worked with are probably not important.
In any case, it is a good idea to check. If we have software where we store budgets, tracking sheets, invoices, etc., and that information has already been copied to our systems, the information left on the hard disk of the employee’s computer is irrelevant.
In these cases, there are methods to reset a computer to zero, far beyond formatting the operating system. This would allow the company to protect itself, for example, from industrial espionage if, for example, highly relevant data has been stored on that computer.
Repeated backups
Although it is not a disadvantage to have redundant backups, we must examine to what extent it does not lead us to waste resources. What level of redundancy should our security system have? The best thing to do in these cases is to analyze the dangers and carry out a security audit of the company.
Redundant backups can come in multiple formats and media: there can be encrypted and unencrypted copies, there can be copies in the cloud, on an external hard drive or on other computer equipment. The important thing is that everything is done rationally and according to criteria of savings, security and usefulness.
Badly structured backups
In the case of poorly structured backups, the big problem is the difficulty in identifying each file. This can make the backup itself useless, since in case of the need to restore it, the process to find out which file it is, would be long, tedious and complex.
The function of backups is to save you time, not to take it away from you. That is why we believe that if you previously had systems in place to create backup copies, but the information is not well structured, it is important to review the situation you are in and see if the information can be structured.
Do you have a backup system and don’t know when you should delete backups to save space? We invite you to contact us if you need help.