PCSOFT Blog

PCSOFT has been serving the Smeaton Grange area since 2005, providing IT Support such as technical helpdesk support, computer support, and consulting to small and medium-sized businesses.

To Backup Your Business’ Data, You Can’t Rely on Tape

To Backup Your Business’ Data, You Can’t Rely on Tape

These days, it’s unheard of to run a business without some form of data backup and disaster recovery in place, no matter how basic or crude. In a worst-case scenario, you could lose so much more than just your business’ data. All of the future ramifications of such an event compound and can snowball into a situation that makes it borderline impossible for your organization to recover. Therefore, the best way to approach this situation is to make sure that it doesn’t happen in the first place.


For a long time, the most prominent data backup solution took advantage of magnetic tape to store data. The cassette would then be stored either off-site or on site to be used in the event of a disaster. These tape backups are also subject to user error, so unfortunately, they cannot be as reliable as a solution that is automated. As such, tape backup pales in comparison to the gold standard of data backup and disaster recovery, BDR, which takes advantage of the cloud.

When it comes to tape backup, the lack of automation really hurts its chances of being a viable solution. An employee would have to set a tape backup so that it could be successful, and without doing so, no backup is taken. Since there is no room for user error, tape backup is naturally an inferior option compared to the automated systems you get from a network-attached BDR. If someone fails to set the tape backup, an entire day’s worth of data could be put in jeopardy.

Tape backup is also far from the ideal solution because it is limited in its ability to really help your business. Since tape backup is too resource-intensive to happen more than once a day, it has to be done after-hours when there is less strain on the network. This means that more data could potentially be lost. Furthermore, physical tape backups can be destroyed by fires and floods or corrupted by hacking attacks. They can be destroyed just as easily as the rest of your organization, and as such, must be stored off-site for maximum recovery potential.

Just about all of the issues that you might have with tape backup are resolved by working with a BDR solution. BDR technology allows your organization to keep downtime and data loss to a minimum. BDR can take backups as often as every fifteen minutes, making it the ideal solution to an organization that can’t risk losing anything (hint: that’s yours). Since data is stored off-site in a safe location, you don’t need to worry about external sources messing with your odds of survival.

To get started with BDR, reach out to us at 02 98730080.

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You May Have a Backup, But Could it Be Better?

You May Have a Backup, But Could it Be Better?

Data backup is important for businesses that want to keep their data safe in the event of a disaster scenario, but each organization’s specific needs will vary. One thing is important to keep in mind, though, and it’s that your business can’t afford to not have data backup. In other words, you need to be prepared for any situation so that you aren’t left wondering if you’re ready to deal with a disaster scenario.

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A Physical Backup Has a Place in Your Overall Strategy

A Physical Backup Has a Place in Your Overall Strategy

Physical data backup can be a key part of data backup and disaster recovery. Even if you utilize the cloud for your business continuity solution, there can be no discrediting the importance of having physical data backup. A simple physical data backup can be effective under the right circumstances.

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Backup and Recovery is Essential for Today's Business

Backup and Recovery is Essential for Today's Business

How confident are you that your business could survive a worst-case scenario? Organizations should always be ready to go in case they are struck by overwhelming odds, be it a hacking attack or a natural disaster. How would your business respond to a disaster scenario? Do you have a business continuity plan put in place so that you can guarantee your organization survives to see the light of another day?


A business continuity plan consists of much more than just data backup and disaster recovery, though. It includes having a plan to keep mission-critical staff and personnel safe in the event of a disaster, as well as ways to stay in touch with your staff and get back in business as soon as possible following the disaster. If your business fails to eliminate downtime, keep key personnel safe, and restore crucial data, any random threat to your business continuity could put your future in jeopardy.

We’re going to discuss one of the most important parts of business continuity in detail: data backup and disaster recovery. With a BDR solution, you’ll be one step closer to keeping your business running following a crippling incident.

How Much Data is Being Backed Up?
If you ever need to ask the question of how much data is being backed up by your organization, you’re likely not backing up enough of it. You should be backing up all of your data, or as much is feasibly possible, so that you ever have to question whether or not a hardware failure robbed you of the most important data your business holds. Even losing something as simple as contacts can be a considerable annoyance, as you will then have to waste time collecting them all over again.

Traditional tape backup takes complete backups of your data, but it only does so on a limited basis. PCSOFT’s BDR solution can back up data more frequently, and only updates backups when files have been changed, making it a much more convenient and less straining solution for the average small business.

How Often is Data Being Backed Up?
Your data will only be so helpful if backups are only taken every so often. For example, tape backup only takes one big backup at the end of the day due to how it works. Since the process is rather intensive, it must happen after hours, lest it threaten your organization with downtime. This leads to a conundrum--take backups more often, or lose out on productivity due to your infrastructure being slowed or brought down by intensive, frequent backups.

A cloud-based BDR solution allows your company to take much more frequent backups without sacrificing uptime. Since the backups only occur for files that have been changed since the last backup was taken, they can happen more often--up to as frequently as every fifteen minutes. This lets you minimize data loss in the event of a disaster.

How Fast Can You Restore Data?
In the event of a data loss incident, there’s no time to waste. You need to get back in action as soon as possible so that you lose minimal time, resources, and assets. Yet, this is often more difficult than it seems, as you might not even have an infrastructure left to restore data to, if the disaster is bad enough. Even if you have tape backup, you’re looking at several hours or days to restore your business’s infrastructure completely, which isn’t an option if you’re looking to minimize wasted time.

PCSOFT’s BDR solution allows your organization to restore data directly to the BDR device, providing you with the opportunity to get back in business as soon as possible while worrying about replacement hardware later. This minimizes downtime and keeps your business active, despite overwhelming odds.

Does your business need a BDR solution? PCSOFT has your back. To learn more, reach out to us at 02 98730080.

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Disasters Come in All Sizes

Disasters Come in All Sizes

Each organization has a different definition for how they define a disaster. One business might feel that they can get away with losing a few files here and there, while another might need every file to be secure and protected against data loss. Regardless, the importance of being able to define the severity of a disaster cannot be underestimated, as you will need to properly gauge just how much hot water your business has landed in before it can pull itself up by the bootstraps and push forward.

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How to Protect Your Business with BDR

How to Protect Your Business with BDR

How would your company react to the worst-case scenario of your technology failing during a critical moment? By this, we mean a server unit failing or a hardware failure causing a catastrophic loss of data. There are other situations where you experience a similar loss of data, including natural disasters that completely destroy physical infrastructure; yet, the end result is the same, and it keeps your business from functioning as intended.


Even something as simple as a hacking attack or user error could create complications for your company, impacting operations to the point where your organization can’t even run. In situations like these, it’s imperative that your company has a data backup and disaster recovery solution put into place. In practice, however, data backup and disaster recovery are two very different things. Both of them are crucial to the continued success of your business, though.

Data backup has traditionally taken advantage of magnetic tape that stores data. The reels are then kept on-site where they can be used in the event of an emergency. While these might sound adequate on paper, tape is actually one of the most inefficient ways to back up your data. In a worst-case scenario, you could lose as much as an entire day’s worth of data, and it could take hours to fully restore operations. Of course, all of this is still assuming that the natural disaster or data loss event wasn’t also enough to destroy the tape that you rely on to initiate a restoration. All of these combined factors make for a horribly inconvenient and difficult way to back up and restore data.

The ideal solution to your business’ data backup and disaster recovery woes is to implement a cloud-based backup and disaster recovery (BDR) tool from PCSOFT. Cloud-based data backups can happen more frequently because they take advantage of what are known as snapshot-based backups. These backups only occur for information that has changed since the last one was taken, which means you get more frequent backups throughout the day--often as every fifteen minutes. Since you’re taking backups more often, you will lose minimal data during a disaster. Plus, your data will be stored both on-site and in the cloud, ready to go for whenever you need it most.

The greatest asset that cloud-based BDR provides is that it can be restored to any connected device--including the BDR device itself--in the event of a hardware failure or similar disaster. This means that you’ll experience minimal downtime, which is a considerable benefit in itself. You won’t have to worry about finding a new server to replace your old one--at least, not right away. It provides your business with the sustainability to keep operations moving as intended, even under the worst circumstances imaginable.

To learn more about BDR, reach out to PCSOFT at 02 98730080.

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Data Backup is Much More Complicated Than It Seems

Data Backup is Much More Complicated Than It Seems

You must consider a series of worst-case scenarios if you want to protect your business in the long run. While various factors such as physical security, employee training, and network security can help you mitigate the majority of issues you face, what happens when each of these efforts fails? You know what they say--prepare for the worst and you’ll never be surprised by a data loss event again.

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How to Ensure Business Continuity, According to Financial Institutions

How to Ensure Business Continuity, According to Financial Institutions

Your business could stand to learn quite a bit from the way that financial institutions handle business continuity. Technology is a central part of the way that Federal Reserve Bank (FRB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) function, as well as the companies that these organizations oversee. Data loss and downtime are the arch nemeses of these organizations, so it makes sense that you look at what these organizations do to prevent it.


The FRB and SEC demand certain standards be met by any organizations that they are associated with. You can use these regulations to learn a bit about how best to protect your organization from data loss and downtime. Even if your organization isn’t legally required to meet these standards, it’s still a good way to prepare for a worst-case scenario.

Personnel
Human resources are one of the most important parts of running your business, as without workers, your organization doesn’t exist. It’s surprising how often they aren’t considered in a data backup plan. Therefore, you’ll want to ensure that you have identified key personnel and establish emergency contacts in the event that you need to make impossibly quick decisions. Also identify who is in charge of your business continuity plan, as they will be central to pulling it off in the long run.

Communication and Planning
Communication is also an integral part of any business continuity plan. You need to have a system set up to notify your team in the event of a disaster event, as well as have a hotline set up that allows employees to receive updates. Keep updated phone records and have backup communication plans in the event that you’re unable to use your primary one. Lastly, ensure that you have a way to contact your vendors and, most importantly, your customers, as they need to be aware of any issues that keep them from receiving any services rendered.

Technology Troubles
Technology plays an important role in the recovery process, just like it does during normal operations. You need to have a clear-cut process for recovering data, and you should be taking advantage of multiple locations for your data backup needs. More than anything, though, you should implement a priority list for your business technology solutions. This priority list should include the following critical assets: hardware (servers, network components, mainframe), software (applications, operating systems, etc), communications (network and telecommunications), data (files and records), operations processing equipment, and office equipment.

General Checklist
Here are a few more topics to consider that are often overlooked by businesses planning for disaster recovery:

  • An official declaration of a disaster scenario
  • An alternative location for operations to continue
  • Automated systems that can run manually
  • A maintenance plan
  • A way to practice the execution of your disaster recovery plan

If your business implements a poor data backup and disaster recovery solution, you will feel it when it comes time to actually respond to a disaster. You’ll lose time and precious resources scrambling to get things back in working order. A proactive stance could be the only way to combat a disaster scenario. To learn more about how to protect your organization, reach out to us at 02 98730080.

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How Easily Could A Freak Event Take Down Your Business?

How Easily Could A Freak Event Take Down Your Business?

Your business is much more vulnerable to dangerous entities than you’d care to admit. Think about it--all it takes is one unexpected event to cause untold amounts of chaos for your business. To make matters worse, these events are often outside of your control. Data loss incidents might be unpredictable, but they can be soothed thanks to a little bit of preventative management.

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