BACKUP TIPS By Christopher Odediran

Backing up data has never been easier. All kinds of data backup devices have been introduced in the last few years - and they are cheaper and efficient. These devices, such as network attached storage, USB flash drive, and DVD-RW, are simple but very effective tools to keep a duplicate of critical computer information in a restaurant operation. Experience has shown, however, that many operators have yet to capitalize upon these latest technology while they wait for the day of disaster, which strikes sooner or later. This article will assist you to understand the basic facts that will help save your data.


Avoid Disaster, Backup Your Data!

Many users don’t perform routine backups of computer data, especially in the busy environment of a restaurant. For the most part, we get away with it, as computer failure rarely occurs, and when it does, the data can still be recovered from the hard drive. On certain occasions, we deal with operations that are not so lucky - when the data cannot be retrieved from the hard drive. Don't think you cannot face a similar circumstance. Just as a new car can develop malfunctions, the hard drive on a new computer can fail. And when it happens, you will regret that adequate care was not taken before the crash occurred.

Imagine losing all your Positouch check files, credit card batches and archive information, or email messages, contact list, those documents and Quickbooks information, payroll and employee records, or your music. The list of things you cannot afford to lose is too long to even conceive not having them. Because they are such importance to the existence of your business, why take the risk of not having a regular backup?

What most computers don't realize is that critical data can be lost in the twinkling of an eye. And if that happens, how, for instance, would you rebuild your payroll data if there is no backup? Backing up data is one of the most important tasks in the operations of a restaurant, believe it or not.

To help you with achieving an effective backup plan, we will categorize the steps under the kinds of questions you would likely ask if you are just starting with maintaining a computer backup.

Why Backup?
Backing up is as important to a computer as car insurance is to a car owner. You are backing up to avoid heavy penalties in case of disaster. It is your insurance that critical data is not lost forever for simple reasons like the spill of the coffee, flooding, fire or a stroke on the keyboard.

What to Backup
The items you would back up depend on what is important to you. Ordinarily, it would be expected that your email messages, contacts, restaurant POS data, employee information, documents, spreadsheets, presentations and the like should be backed up.

For Positouch, you may want to backup your credit card, SC , Checks and CC folders. Be careful that such backup need to be safely kept so that you do not infringe upon the Payment Card Industry requirement that any information containing credit card transactions should have restricted access.

Generally, you want to back up files generated through Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, Works, Quickbooks, PowerPoint, Publisher and Peachtree. In addition, depending on each restaurant, you could back up music files and third party applications folders.

The following are the file extensions for file types that are usually needed from backup.

When to Backup
You can backup daily, every other day, weekly or monthly - depending on what type of files you are backing up and how important it is to keep them up to date.

How to Backup
To do backup, you either have to use software, hardware or both. Many newer computers will offer at least a CD or DVD burner, which you can use to back up data to a removable disk. Here are the backup methods you can employ:

DVD or CD-RW
Every office computer we have sold in the past two to three years has a CD burner. If yours is a non-Positouch or an older computer, you may want to use any of the other methods below. With a CD or DVD burner drive, you can either manually copy specific files and folders to the CD or DVD or schedule a backup to a rewritable disk. Software such as Roxio, Sonic and Nero can be purchased to do the copying if not already installed. Alternatively, Windows XP has an in-built burning software. CC Productions can also help set up a Positouch utility called Posisync to backup your data to a rewritable disk at a regular schedule.

USB Flash (Jump) Drive
USB flash disks have become very popular and affordable in the past year. These are tiny devices that you just plug to your computer to provide you a removable drive in 'My Computer.' You can pick up a 1 GB USB flash disks for about $14 -$30 at a nearby electronic store. Copying files to a flash disk is as easy as copying to a floppy. It is better you use Windows Backup utility to schedule backup to a flash disk that will be permanently attached to the computer. Posisync utility and some other applications can also be used to automate backup. Microsoft has just released a backup tool called Sync Toy, which does a good job of backing up data between two locations on the computer.


Network Drive
A network drive is just another computer on the same network. When a drive is shared on another computer, it becomes available to be used just as if it is on the main computer. All that needs to be done is to 'map' to that shared drive to become another drive on the main one. Since Positouch systems usually involve more than one computer, it is possible to map a drive from one computer to another and backup data from the source to the destination mapped drive on the network. In a typical installation, CC Productions already has such configurations working to backup Positouch data. It is advisable that if you have other data that is important but are not core Positouch data, they should be backed up across the network.

Online
If you have broadband Internet service, you may want to explore some new affordable online backup options. One of such online services is provided by Mozy (www.mozy.com), which provides a free service that allots 1GB to 2GB of online storage space and includes simple backup software that takes care of almost everything. For just $4.99 a month, Mozy provides unlimited storage online. Other companies that provide similar service online include Carbonite, xDrive, SOS Backup and iBackup. xDrive.com provides up to 5 GB for free.

Network Attached Storage
Network Attached Storage are new types of storage devices that are also network-enabled and appear on the network as if they are computers. A network storage drive has a network device that may be wired or wireless. The network location it provides when properly configured becomes a good place to backup data to. They come in many flavors - either as simple little drives or giant computers designed for the enterprise. You can buy one for as little as $200.

CC Productions offers IT consulting for data safety and other solutions. For more information, please call our office at 1-800-507-5554, Extension 1.