Data backup
Keeping backups is probably the most important data management task. There is a real risk of losing data through hard drive failure or accidental deletion.
It is therefore recommended to keep at least 3 copies of your data, for example, original, external/local, and external/remote, and have a policy for maintaining regular backups.
When considering your backup strategy you need to know:
- Whether all data, or only changed data, will be backed up. (A backup of changed data is known as an "incremental backup", while a backup of all data is known as a "full backup").
- How often full and incremental backups will be made.
- How long will backups be stored.
- How much hard-drive space or number of Digital Video Discs (DVDs) will be required to maintain this backup schedule.
- If the data is sensitive, how will it be secured and (possibly) destroyed.
- What backup services are available that meet these needs and, if none, what will be done about it.
- Who will be responsible for ensuring backups are available.
© University of Edinburgh, 2011. Used with permission.
