The evolution of data storage moves on and what were considered adequate data backup techniques from the last decade now need to be revisited. Not only are data storage devices changing, but the concepts of how that data is protected are expanding.

It wasn’t long ago that small businesses primarily stored word processing documents and spreadsheets on their network servers. Those documents were small in size and didn’t take up much space even when dozens of iterations of the same file were created regularly. Over time, companies began to build databases to manage their bookkeeping and customer information which not only consumed more space, but it added a new dimension of criticality.

With advances in disk storage technology, the raw capacity of small business computer systems has increased from hundreds of megabytes to hundreds of gigabytes. With the ability to store more data, companies can store document images, faxes, digital images from cameras, video, audio and more. The variety and amount of data continues to grow each year.

However, the most commonly used backup system in small business has been tape drives using a standard tape rotation to allow for reasonable archive retrieval and offsite backup. However, tape drives have had to keep up with the increased volume of storage. With drives in the $800+ range and cartridges in the $35 range, it’s easy to see why hard drive-based backup would get some attention. External hard drives are available for less than $130 for 500 GB of storage.

Moving the data backup strategy to disk-based requires careful consideration. The backup software will need to be reviewed, but even more importantly, the rotation strategy will need real attention. Since external hard drives usually connect via USB or FireWire connections, configurations must be made to verify consistent operation. After all, this is a backup system.