You Say, “But My Critical Data Is Already Backed Up…”

Like most business owners, you’ve probably got a backup plan of some kind in place. But you should know: the failure rate for tape backup systems is 100%. In other words, all tape backups fail at one time or another. Plus, the success rate for external hard drives and inexpensive, automated backup services like Mozy or Carbonite are not much more reliable.

What’s unbelievable is that most people don’t even realize that their backup systems are going to fail or that their data can’t even be restored. What’s most dangerous is that many business owners don’t even know their data has been lost until it’s too late. That’s why we’ve heard so many stories of businesses losing millions of dollars worth of critical data! In most cases, these businesses already had some form of a backup plan in place, but didn’t know that it wasn’t working when they really needed it.

While you should have a plan in place to maintain your data backup locally, tape backups will NOT offer you security if:

  • Your tape backup drive malfunctions, making it worthless and impossible to restore your most critical data. IMPORTANT: It’s extremely typical for tape drives to malfunction with no warning.
  • Your office is hit by a disaster that destroys everything, such as a fire, flood, cyclone, or other natural disaster.
  • The physical tapes that hold your data become corrupted because of misuse or heat damage.
  • A computer virus corrupts the data you have stored on the tape drive. Some aggressive forms of computer viruses not only corrupt your data, but also keep anyone from accessing the data on the drive.
  • You or one of your employees accidentally formats the tape you use to back up important data, erasing everything.
  • A thief breaks in to your office and steals your equipment.
  • A disgruntled staff member erases your mission-critical data on purpose.
  • A sprinkler system in your office malfunctions and damages all of your electronic equipment.

The bottom line is, you don’t want to discover your backup system isn’t working when it’s already too late.