How Often Do You Need to Back Up Your Files?
Computer professionals always perform regular, scheduled backups. They may back up essential records once or even twice a day, and back up less important files on a weekly or biweekly basis. They may also perform complete system backups on a weekly basis. Companies will keep most of these backups on site or on a network for easy access, although they'll also send copies to a more secure offsite location.
Most companies don't need to follow such a rigorous schedule, although your backup schedule should depend on what your business does and how important your data is. Every company, however, should use some kind of backup schedule — it's a great way to guarantee that you don't forget a backup. The guidelines below give you tips to consider when creating your own backup schedule:
- Back up your most important files at least once a day. In some cases, such as vital database files, you may want to back them up even more often.
- Move backup media to a secure location (a fireproof safe or cabinet, an offsite storage area) on a regular schedule.
- Use software to manage your backups. Good backup software can save individual files that you choose, it can automatically save all files that have changed since the last backup, or it can back up the entire system on whatever schedule you select. Many online backup services offer scheduled backups.
