Backup & Secure | U.S. Geological Survey (2024)

FAQs

What is the safest place to back up your data? ›

All companies should prioritize backing up data, but it is an urgent concern for small- and medium-sized businesses. The risks of not backing up data can significantly impact daily operations for smaller companies, so being proactive and keeping your information secure is even more critical.

The Importance of Backups

Making backups of collected data is critically important in data management. Backups protect against human errors, hardware failure, virus attacks, power failure, and natural disasters. Backups can help save time and money if these failures occur.

The only way to protect your business from losing valuable data is to make regular backups. Important data should be backed up at least once a week, but preferably once every twenty-four hours. These backups can be performed manually or automatically.

What is the 3-2-1 Rule? The 3-2-1 Rule is a data protection strategy that recommends having three copies of your data, stored on two different types of media, with one copy kept off-site.

The 3-2-1 backup strategy simply states that you should have 3 copies of your data (your production data and 2 backup copies) on two different media (disk and tape) with one copy off-site for disaster recovery.

The basic concept of the 3-2-1 backup strategy is that three copies are made of the data to be protected, the copies are stored on two different types of storage media and one copy of the data is sent off site.

In reality, your computer could crash at any time and then it makes getting any documents back nearly impossible if they are not backed up properly. You could lose everything in an instant if you don't plan ahead. How it happens: Accidentally deleting files is one of the most common reasons that data is not secured.

Responsibility needs to be defined and communicated.

This doesn't necessarily mean everyone in the business will administer or manage the backups; managing backups usually falls to an internal IT or business systems team.

What happens to data if a computer crashes? ›

Data recovery is possible because most storage devices do not erase data immediately when it is deleted or overwritten, but rather mark the space as available for new data. This means that the data may still exist on the device, unless it is overwritten by new data or physically damaged beyond repair.

A proper backup copy is stored in a separate system or medium, such as tape, from the primary data to protect against the possibility of data loss due to primary hardware or software failure.

Common choices include internal and external hard drives, removable media, or cloud storage. One copy off-site—eliminates the risk associated with a single point of failure. Offsite duplicates are needed for robust disaster and data backup recovery strategies and can allow for failover during local outages.

The best way to backup your data before switching phones is to use a cloud storage service or a physical external hard drive. Cloud storage services, such as Google Drive or iCloud, allow you to store your data online and access it from any device. This makes it easy to transfer your data to your new phone.

The most appropriate place to store backed-up data is off-site on a secure raid device. This will ensure that the data is secure and protected, and can be easily accessed if needed.

Ideally, backups should be kept in a secure location that's not connected to the network, such as an external hard drive stored offsite or a cloud-based backup service. After gaining access to your network, threat actors may deliberately try to tamper with data backups to cause further damage.

You can protect your backups by storing them in a secure location, such as a locked cabinet, a safe, or a fireproof box. You can also use multiple backup devices or locations, such as a combination of external drives and cloud storage, to reduce the risk of losing all your backups at once.