How safe is your data?
By Scot Mewbuorn and John Garrison

Good habits in backing up data can save you from information losses.

Having technology available in computers, PDA’s and smartphones has become common. The main question that we need to ask ourselves is, “With all the technology available, where is my data being stored, and is it safe?”

In today’s world, computers have infiltrated into our daily lives. Desktop and laptop systems can be found in not only our homes and offices, but also controlling your vehicle and/or tractor, and now can be found in your cellular phone. The uses for these computers are too numerous to mention, but think about what types of information that you store on them. Financial records, crop yields, livestock records, family photos, important addresses. What would you do if all of that information disappeared?

For many of us it could mean disaster and significant financial impact to operations of our farm and personal lives. When was the last time you made a backup of the information on your computer for safe keeping? And, are you really keeping it someplace that is safe? Here are some suggestions on how to back up information and safely store it.
Taking the premise that most readers are using Microsoft Windows in one flavor or another, let us focus on that operating system in the basic form.

For Windows, Microsoft has included its own backup software with the operating system. The shortcut for this in Windows 98 up to Windows XP is located by clicking:  START => PROGRAMS => ACCESSORIES => SYSTEM TOOLS .

Clicking on the “backup” icon will open the backup application. A window will open and a list of activities will pop up. Your choices will be backing up: 1) my documents and settings; 2) everyone’s documents and settings; 3) all info; and 4) let me choose.

 Depending on which choice you make, a certain amount of your system is identified for the backup process. This will determine the size of the backup and the number of CDs or DVDs you will need. The next important step is to name your backup. Generally this can be just the word backup followed by the date (i.e. backup09012006).

All backups can be stored to the local hard drive, but this is discouraged as a hard drive failure will render your backup useless and inaccessible. It’s a better bet to save backup information to a CD or DVD burner. Or if you don’t have a burner, a USB thumb drive of 2 to 4GB will store most users files without trouble. CDs will store about 700 megabytes and DVDs will store up to 4.7 gigabytes. Once the files are backed up to your media, whether CD/DVD or USB drive, the next step is to remove those files to a safe location. It’s best to store them away from your computer. Storing them outside of your house or office is best. By removing them from your house, you minimize the chance that they might be impacted by the same disaster that happened to your computer. Some people believe that their fire proof safe will save electronic media and CDs. While this may be the ideal haven for your papers, it is not recommended for CDs or DVDs. Heat, especially the high intense heat from fire, causes the CDs or DVDs to warp, making them totally useless. Fire safes transfer heat after their heat resistance rating has reached maximum tolerance. Paper can withstand these temperatures without igniting for some time, but plastic has a much greater vulnerability to temperature.

Compact disc survivability has been tested and failed—backup files don’t survive extreme heat in fire-proof safes. So choose someplace to store your backup media that you have easy access to, but secure enough that not just anyone can get to your data files. You may want to consider a close friend or family members home or a safe deposit box. One additional consideration is that CD/DVDs are rated as able to store the information for 100 years.

Backup needs
What you should be backing up, at least on your desktop/laptops, are these folders: “my documents,” any financial software files such as Microsoft Money or Quicken and any personal information or any other files that you cannot live without. Backup software provided by Microsoft or other vendors can backup entire folders and/or single files. The key is getting on a schedule and taking the backup files away from your computer. In doing so, should anything happen to your computer, reinstalling your software should be the only headache you have.

Whether you are storing your backups on CDs, DVDs or a USB Thumb drive, removing the backup to another location is paramount to the total backup/restoring strategy. The most logical, secure location is in your bank’s safe deposit box, but this is the least likely to be used due to the time and trouble involved in getting to the bank. Most people prefer to store the backups at the home of a relative or two. Keep two backups of the same data if you want a fool-proof system.

And you’ll need to keep the backups in rotation. They should regularly be updated. A rule of thumb for frequency is to judge how far back you can survive without too much hardship and loss of information. At the corporate level, data is backed up on a daily basis, at home a weekly schedule would normally suffice. With livestock and financial data that can change on a daily basis, it would be beneficial to increase the frequency of data backups.

While no one wants the frustration that is caused by a computer failure—or disaster that destroys your personal property—a good backup will help to ease some of your concerns.

Scot Mewbuorn is the IT Services director for MFA and John Garrison is the technical support manager for MFA.