Cloud backup best practices

It's an unfortunate reality that the drawbacks of local backups often outweigh their benefits. This is why organizations are turning to cloud backups. If your firm has decided to do the same, make the most out of your IT investment by following these best practices:

Classify your data according to importance

Not every bit of data needs to be backed up. In fact, your business won’t miss the bulk of your data at all. However, a portion of your company’s data will either be critical to the successful operation of your business or must be stored in compliance with applicable data regulations, such as HIPAA. Taking the time to rank your data by priority will mean no money wasted on cloud backup fees and appreciable savings down the line.

Refrain from using cloud storage and file sharing as cloud backup

While cloud storage and cloud backup may seem like the same thing, they have different purposes. Cloud storage lets users keep files online instead of on their devices, which means the amount of data they can keep won’t be limited by the capacity of their gadgets. Cloud backup, on the other hand, is a special type of data storage that enables you to quickly restore data in the event that your primary copy is lost or stolen, or becomes inaccessible. Regular cloud storage is not designed to do that.

At the same time, some people mistakenly think that sharing online files is practically the same as creating backups. Sharing a file only grants others access to the same file — it does not give them copies of the file. Therefore, if a shared file has no backups and is deleted, no one will have a file to open anymore. 

Know the laws that apply to data that crosses international borders

Since regulations regarding how data privacy is upheld and who owns data may be different from country to country, it may be best to back up data in the country where that data was created. However, this assumes that backup service providers are created equal. If, let us say, you don’t trust the local provider or find it more financially advantageous to back up data in a different country, then, by all means, let the data you’re backing up cross international borders. Just know the legal ramifications before doing so.

Regularly test your backup system

Don’t back up files and just hope for the best should a natural or man-made disaster strike. You must test your backup system regularly to ensure that it will work as intended when you need it to work.
 
One way to do this is to assign a machine to receive automated data restores. That machine can have a program that determines whether the restore fails to push through to completion or results in corrupted data.

Back up your backup

Backups are not immune to deletion, theft, and corruption, so if the backed-up data is extremely important, then it may be best to back up that backup. Doing so increases your chances of having usable data in case both the original and backup copies are compromised.
 
This post aims to help you manage your cloud on your own as well as show you how much expertise and effort is required to do so. If your business’s forte is not IT, then let our cloud experts at SimplyClouds serve you. From setting up your cloud to managing your cloud backups, we’ll do everything in our power to ensure your firm succeeds. Schedule a free consultation with our cloud specialists today.