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Strategies for file server data recovery

Disaster recovery concerns a set of policies, procedures and technologies which can be used to recover data in the event of unexpected data loss.

Disaster recovery concerns a set of policies, procedures and technologies which can be used to recover data in the event of unexpected data loss. A comprehensive disaster recovery plan should involve measures to not only restore data but also prevent and detect incidents of data loss.

Roughly speaking, there are three types of disasters which may affect your file server storage:

1. Human error such as an administrator forgetting to copy a path or accidentally deleting a folder

2. Hardware or network failure which means a specific folder or even an entire drive becomes inaccessible

3. A natural disaster such as a storm, flood or earthquake causes damage to your storage infrastructure

Planning

Key to preparing for disaster recovery is defining and implementing an effective plan. Statistics show that for every $1 invested in disaster mitigation $4 is saved in response and recovery times.

In addition to potential cost savings in the event of a disaster, an effective plan can provide a number of additional benefits to your business. For example, knowing that a plan is in place provides the business with a sense of security and helps guarantee business continuity.

Potential legal liabilities which may arise from data loss in the event of a disaster are also significantly reduced as are the costs associated with this.

Disaster recovery plans should be tailor-made to the business and there is no one right type of plan. However, all good plans should contain three basic control measures.

Preventive measures focus on implementing policies and procedures to mitigate the risk of a disaster affecting your data. For example, a UPS may be used to protect against power failure or a firewall to defend against malicious attacks.

Detective measures are those measures implemented to identify potential disasters which may lead to data loss. This can include implementing technologies to assist with this or simple practical measures such as installing fire alarms.

Corrective measures are the specific steps that will be put in place to correct and restore the system after a disaster occurs. The goal of corrective measures is to return the get the system operational as soon as possible after the disaster.

Strategies

There are a large number of strategies which can be implemented to ensure data protection. The decision on which specific strategy should be implemented will depend on many factors including costs, technical limitations and the amount and nature of the data stored.

These different strategies can be roughly broken down into two different categories:

Backups are a copy of the organization’s current operational data. These backups may be made to tapes and sent off-site periodically or automatically copied to a disk stored off-site. It may also involve replicating the data off-site which means only the system needs to be restored after a disaster.

Cloud solutions can be used in a similar manner to backups or systems which can replicate on-site and off-site data centres or keep both the data and system replicated which can allow continuous access even during a disaster event.

Implement a File Archiving Solution

Managing hundreds of gigabytes or terabytes of files can quickly become a nightmare. However, industry statistics show that over 50% of a file server’s contents are old and unneeded files.

Backing up files which contain redundant and unneeded data is a disaster in itself. Implementing a file archiving solution such as SISCIN can help you to avoid this in a number of ways:

Automated policies: SISCIN has automated policies that can free up space on your file servers to make your disaster recovery faster and easier. Files that meet your policy criteria are automatically copied to a file archive on lower-cost storage where they are compressed, encrypted and stored for automatic retrieval.

Stubbing: The original file can be left as is or be replaced by a tiny 1K shortcut link “stub” that automatically retrieves the file from the archive. This process is seamless to end-users and means they can still access their files without any disruption.

Instant file recovery: if a user deletes a file or folder and needs it back, the archive copy can be recovered with just a click. If hardware fails, files and folders can easily be restored to a new location as FileArchiver keeps a copy of your important files encrypted and compressed.

For more on disaster recovery, disaster planning and how SISCIN can help your business, get in touch with the team from Waterford Technologies by clicking here now.