Backup Tactics: Data Backup Scheduling-00-360

Since HDDs don't crash daily, the very procedure of backing up is not something that you can see immediate effect of. Nobody wants to waste money on storage media to keep backups that will never be used.

Therefore, proper scheduling is very important for any backup scheme, as it allows you to use a reasonable amount of storage media while retaining high level of data protection.

Automatic data backup

The first and the most fundamental part of any backup routine is automation of all backup-related operations. Don't even think of doing backups manually – disasters always choose the worst time to happen, when you forget, or for some reason miss backing up. Determining new and modified files, filtering, compressing and transferring (in accordance to your preferred backup type) – everything should require the least attention from you.

The principle is always the same: make a full backup (either file-based backup of all drive contents or a complete drive image), make several incremental backups, and then repeat. It's OK to use rewriteable media (e.g. record backups to DVD discs), but if you do it, make sure to set some media rotation scheme, in order to avoid situation when something fails and you're left without backups.

Data backup scheduling

In a well thought out and well developed backup program it is possible to schedule backup tasks to be repeated with any desired intervals: throughout a day, each week, on specific day of the month, etc. It is advised to schedule backups for the time when your computer is on, and to not forget to change removable media, if you choose them for your backups.

The final step of planning your backups is to enable verification of data backup.

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'Backup Tactics' is a series of articles about different aspects of data backup and disaster recovery, based on real-world examples from both home and enterprise environments. Alexander Rassokhin is an IT-expert and technical writer of Novosoft LLC which is a developer of its own backup tool for Windows PCs.
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