Data Loss can be devastating. It could instantly take a small or medium size business from “Open for Business” to “Out of Business” in an instant. On a personal level, it can wipe away weeks, months and even years of critical data where there is no means of accessing or recreating the valuable information.

However, there are preventative measures that can be taken to ensure that you do not fall victim to the unfortunate circumstance of loss of data. As a data recovery lab, we know. We just took a direct hit from hurricane Wilma. Hurricane Wilma was “Not our First Rodeo”, and more than likely, will not be our last.

We are also seeing an increase of drives on a local level that have been affected by this natural disaster, just as we did after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Hearing stories on a daily basis of data loss, I thought it to be only fair to share some of our preparations of how we (as a Data Recovery Lab) survived as a business, and had basically no loss of business continuity. Fortunately, the only loss we did have was the actual day that the hurricane hit and we all watched the devastating destruction from our homes.

Here are a few of the procedures that we as a data recovery lab, put into place, yet once *again* this year, prior to landfall of Hurricane Wilma.

• We are fanatical about backing up. Keep in mind that our business is based upon hard drive failures. If you can imagine it, e.g. Fires, Floods, Mechanical Failure, User Error, we have heard it. The thought of a category 3 hurricane barreling towards us, was not a pleasant one.

• Ensure that you have “Backups of your Backups.” Always keep a current backup offsite for absolute worst case scenarios.

• Prior to vacating the premises, Make Backups of Critical Data, Verify that all electronics are plugged into UPSs’ (as they should be) power down and unplug from A.C. if possible. (Including Telephone and Modem Lines.)

• If possible, elevate all electronics and electronics equipment off of the ground. Even with Flood Insurance, Insurance providers will draw the line between “Wind driven Rain”, and “Rising Water”.

• Last but certainly not least, remain calm and approach any Computer Failure/Data Loss with a rational and sensible approach. A majority of hard drive failures, and data loss resulting from them can be successfully overcome, if proper measures are taken. There are numerous previously published articles that outline what NOT to do when faced with this type of potential crisis. Consult a professional data recovery lab to see what options are available for you, before it is too late.

With a Natural Disaster such as a category 3 hurricane approaching, there are exterior preparations as well. (Hurricane Shutters, Non-Perishable Foods, Water, for at least 3-4 days, Ice, Flashlights, Batteries, and Battery operated Radio or TV for News Alerts.) Anyone who lives in a hurricane prone area should already know these basics.

Hopefully, by taking these tips to heart (and mind), your business and/or place of business will not be “Gone with Wind!”

Brian Cain Eco Data Recovery 4115 Burns Rd. Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 1-800-339-3412 561-691-0019 http://www.EcoDataRecovery.com

brian@EcoDataRecovery.com

Back when I was a grade school kid, a couple of times each semester the fire alarms, announcing a firedrill, would shriek. We would all jump up from our desks and march, single-file to our appointed spot outdoors. The goal of those fire drills was to teach students how to react if a disaster struck; instead of the chaos that would occur when hundreds of kids try to escape from a burning building. A safe, orderly evacuation would certainly reduce the number of casualties.

In recent years sudden, unforeseen, disastrous events have devastated populations around the globe. Terrorist attacks in New York, London and Madrid, tsunami in Asia, and hurricanes along the gulf coast have all cost individuals, businesses, even whole geographic regions dearly.

I’ve seen a number of recommendations to help people prepare for disasters in various media, but every business has to prepare for a disaster also. If a disaster never hits you, be thankful, but if one does occur the business should be able to reopen afterwards if you have spent just a little effort on contingency planning.

Naturally your planning should include redundant off-premises backups of all computer files to insure you will be able to resurrect inventory records, bank account records, tax records, accounts receivable, accounts payable, human resources, training manuals, etc. It is also vital to be able to connect with your staff in case of an evacuation or natural disaster. A business that is well prepared for disasters should be able to connect with personnel using multiple methods – cell phone, land line, email, and all the staff should know how to connect with management so the business is able to continue after order is restored. .

All the above plans are not worth the paper they are printed on unless the disaster plan is updated and practiced regularly, just like those fire drills we endured as kids. The fire never hit my school and a hurricane may never hit your business, but if you have periodic fire drills you will be well prepared and confident the business will survive.

Larry Galler coaches and consults with high-performance executives, professionals, and small businesses since 1993. He is the writer of the long-running (every Sunday since November 2001) business column, "Front Lines with Larry Galler" Sign up for his free newsletter at http://www.larrygaller.com Questions??? Send an email to larry@larrygaller.com

Although you may not list it in on your IRS form, information is your business’ primary asset. From your customer database to your financial records to your proprietary product information, information is the key element to maintaining both the day-to-day operations of your business and its long-term viability.

Unfortunately, as the sophistication of technology increases, so do the risks to your business. Viruses, hackers, and natural catastrophes can all attack your business information. At best, this renders your business inoperable for several hours or days. At worst, the loss of business information can cause you to go out of business.

Lest you think that information loss could never happen to your business, statistics reveal that the problem is pervasive and, oftentimes, devastating. During any given year, over five percent of PCs will have some type of data loss, and almost a third of PC users have experienced the loss of all of their data at some point in their lives. Almost two-thirds of companies that experience catastrophic data loss go out of business within six months. Of those companies that test their back up tapes, more than three-quarters have found problems with the tapes.

In order to minimize your company’s exposure to the risk of data loss, you should create an organizational culture of security and implement a security program that helps the company prevent and recover from data loss due to viruses, hackers, and natural catastrophes.

Just as you would store your most precious documents in a bank safety deposit box, you should store your company’s most important data with online backup services and use secure offsite backup.

According to SERVARE, the premiere company for online offsite backup services that are secure, affordable, and automated, you should consider backing up the following types of data:

* Databases and information that allow you to serve customers and maintain your market competitiveness. In other words, if you lost this data, you wouldn’t be able to fill customer or supply chain orders or provide client services.

* Information that manages your revenue generation, such as accounts receivable, and vehicles for customer ordering and payment acceptance.

* Data that controls your cash flow, such as your accounts payable and supplier payments.

* Data that, if lost, could result in additional expenses, such as employee downtime and late delivery penalties.

* Proprietary information that could be stolen or compromised.

* Data that is affected by governmental regulation, such as the Freedom of Information Act.

SERVARE’s online backup services protect your business’ information from data loss by utilizing advanced file encryption before transmission; quick, safe, and secure transmission to their online backup servers via a secure high-speed Internet connection; automated backups; flexible recovery capability; and scalable storage that grows as your need for storage grows.

With an offsite backup, you’ll rest easier knowing that your information is secure.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Visit this Computers Website and Majon’s Computers directory.

On 28 of December a severe Windows security flaw, WMF Flaw, was detected, in all Windows versions from Win98 to WinXP, no fixing patch exists yet. Using it, anyone can do any malicious action with your computer, steal or even erase your data.

This article will help you understand what it is and how YOU can fix it until Microsoft releases a patch.

By Washington Post: "Computers can be infected simply by visiting one of the Web sites or viewing an infected image in an e-mail through the preview pane […] even if users did not click on anything or open any files."

"Microsoft said in a statement yesterday that it is investigating the vulnerability and plans to issue a software patch to fix the problem. The company could not say how soon that patch would be available." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122901456.html

How severe it is: "This vulnerability can be used to install any type of malicious code, not just Trojans and spyware, but also worms, bots or viruses that can cause irreparable damage to computers," said Luis Corrons of Panda Software.

In a security advisory posted on its Web site, Microsoft confirmed the vulnerability and the associated release of exploit code that could compromise PCs, and listed the operating systems at risk. Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP, Windows Server 2000, Windows 98, and Windows Millennium can be attacked using the newly-discovered vulnerability…

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/912840.mspx

BlogAutoPublisher support expert comments on the situation, advising a cure:

"The vulnerability is in the Microsoft Windows Graphics Rendering Engine, that is why the exploit affects Windows versions from Win98 to WinXP.

Unlike other security vulnerabilities, this one allows a _data file_ to execute arbitrary code upon it being viewed. In other words, a (picture) data file can contain executable code to "help" Windows display it, and Windows will execute it unquestionably.

Your computer can be infected whenever Windows uses its default image viewer to display certain image types. This means there is a long list of applications that are vulnerable that rely upon the image viewer code. Windows uses this code when previewing images, for example.

*What YOU can do right NOW*, to secure your computer until a patch from Microsoft is released:

Go to Start > Run, paste there the following line: regsvr32 /u shimgvw.dll and press OK.

If everything goes right, you’ll see the following message: "DllUnregisterServer in shimgvw.dll succeeded."

It will disable the problematic dll, forcing all other programs to use their own engines, if exist. Keep in mind that this will disable thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer. One may experience problems with opening any image file after unregistering this dll.

(To reactivate this feature: Start > Run > regsvr32 shimgvw.dll)

We will send another update, when the patch from Microsoft is released, with instructions how to apply the patch and re-activate the feature."

And another important thing: since this is such a serious flaw, you may start getting phishing emails pretending to originate at Microsoft, urging you to do something with your computer, apply some "patches". Don’t do it.

Find the true information at microsoft.com or wait for the links at microsoft.com we’ll publish later.

Copyright 2006 Olga Farber Becker

Olga’s areas of research are internet marketing, blogs, RSS feeds. Find out 55 ways to use the Marketer’s Blogging Software Olga recently released: http://blogautopublisher.com

Introduction

Computer forensic examiners are responsible for technical acuity, knowledge of the law, and objectivity in the course of investigations. Success is principled upon verifiable and repeatable reported results that represent direct evidence of suspected wrong-doing or potential exoneration. This article establishes a series of best practices for the computer forensics practitioner, representing the best evidence for defensible solutions in the field. Best practices themselves are intended to capture those processes that have repeatedly shown to be successful in their use. This is not a cookbook. Best practices are meant to be reviewed and applied based on the specific needs of the organization, the case and the case setting.

Job Knowledge

An examiner can only be so informed when they walk into a field setting. In many cases, the client or the client’s representative will provide some information about how many systems are in question, their specifications, and their current state. And just as often, they are critically wrong. This is especially true when it comes to hard drive sizes, cracking laptop computers, password hacking and device interfaces. A seizure that brings the equipment back to the lab should always be the first line of defense, providing maximum flexibility. If you must perform onsite, create a comprehensive working list of information to be collected before you hit the field. The list should be comprised of small steps with a checkbox for each step. The examiner should be completely informed of their next step and not have to “think on their feet.”

Overestimate

Overestimate effort by at least a factor of two the amount of time you will require to complete the job. This includes accessing the device, initiating the forensic acquisition with the proper write-blocking strategy, filling out the appropriate paperwork and chain of custody documentation, copying the acquired files to another device and restoring the hardware to its initial state. Keep in mind that you may require shop manuals to direct you in taking apart small devices to access the drive, creating more difficulty in accomplishing the acquisition and hardware restoration. Live by Murphy’s Law. Something will always challenge you and take more time than anticipated — even if you have done it many times.

Inventory Equipment Most examiners have enough of a variety of equipment that they can perform forensically sound acquisitions in several ways. Decide ahead of time how you would like to ideally carry out your site acquisition. All of us will see equipment go bad or some other incompatibility become a show-stopper at the most critical time. Consider carrying two write blockers and an extra mass storage drive, wiped and ready. Between jobs, make sure to verify your equipment with a hashing exercise. Double-Check and inventory all of your kit using a checklist before taking off.

Flexible Acquisition

Instead of trying to make “best guesses” about the exact size of the client hard drive, use mass storage devices and if space is an issue, an acquisition format that will compress your data. After collecting the data, copy the data to another location. Many examiners limit themselves to traditional acquisitions where the machine is cracked, the drive removed, placed behind a write-blocker and acquired. There are also other methods for acquisition made available by the Linux operating system. Linux, booted from a CD drive, allows the examiner to make a raw copy without compromising the hard drive. Be familiar enough with the process to understand how to collect hash values and other logs. Live Acquisition is also discussed in this document. Leave the imaged drive with the attorney or the client and take the copy back to your lab for analysis.

Pull the Plug

Heated discussion occurs about what one should do when they encounter a running machine. Two clear choices exist; pulling the plug or performing a clean shutdown (assuming you can log in). Most examiners pull the plug, and this is the best way to avoid allowing any sort of malevolent process from running that may delete and wipe data or some other similar pitfall. It also allows the examiner access to create a snapshot of the swap files and other system information as it was last running. It should be noted that pulling the plug can also damage some of the files running on the system, making them unavailable to examination or user access. Businesses sometimes prefer a clean shutdown and should be given the choice after being explained the impact. It is critical to document how the machine was brought down because it will be absolutely essential knowledge for analysis.

Live Acquisitions

Another option is to perform a live acquisition. Some define “live” as a running machine as it is found, or for this purpose, the machine itself will be running during the acquisition through some means. One method is to boot into a customized Linux environment that includes enough support to grab an image of the hard drive (often among other forensic capabilities), but the kernel is modified to never touch the host computer. Special versions also exist that allow the examiner to leverage the Window’s autorun feature to perform Incident Response. These require an advanced knowledge of both Linux and experience with computer forensics. This kind of acquisition is ideal when for time or complexity reasons, disassembling the machine is not a reasonable option.

The Fundamentals

An amazingly brazen oversight that examiner’s often make is neglecting to boot the device once the hard disk is out of it. Checking the BIOS is absolutely critical to the ability to perform a fully-validated analysis. The time and date reported in the BIOS must be reported, especially when time zones are an issue. A rich variety of other information is available depending on what manufacturer wrote the BIOS software. Remember that drive manufacturers may also hide certain areas of the disk (Hardware Protected Areas) and your acquisition tool must be able to make a full bitstream copy that takes that into account. Another key for the examiner to understand is how the hashing mechanism works: Some hash algorithms may be preferable to others not necessarily for their technological soundness, but for how they may be perceived in a courtroom situation.

Store Securely

Acquired images should be stored in a protected, non-static environment. Examiners should have access to a locked safe in a locked office. Drives should be stored in antistatic bags and protected by the use of non-static packing materials or the original shipping material. Each drive should be tagged with the client name, attorney’s office and evidence number. Some examiners copy drive labels on the copy machine, if they have access to one during the acquisition and this should be stored with the case paperwork. At the end of the day, each drive should link up with a chain of custody document, a job, and an evidence number.

Establish a Policy

Many clients and attorneys will push for an immediate acquisition of the computer and then sit on the evidence for months. Make clear with the attorney how long you are willing to maintain the evidence at your lab and charge a storage fee for critical or largescale jobs. You may be storing critical evidence to a crime or civil action and while from a marketing perspective it may seem like a good idea to keep a copy of the drive, it may be better from the perspective of the case to return all copies to the attorney or client with the appropriate chain of custody documentation.

Conclusion

Computer examiners have many choices about how they will carry out an onsite acquisition. At the same time, the onsite acquisition is the most volatile environment for the examiner. Tools may fail, time constraints can be severe, observers may add pressure, and suspects may be present. Examiners need to take seriously the maintenance of their tools and development of ongoing knowledge to learn the best techniques for every situation. Utilizing the best practices herein, the examiner should be prepared for almost any situation they may face and have the ability to set reasonable goals and expectations for the effort in question.

Carol L. Stimmel is a Certified Computer Examiner (CCE), co-author of The Manager Pool, and former Vice-President, Consulting of Gartner. She has worked in technology for over 15 years and has been involved in engineering, security, knowledge management, and the establishment of successful entrepreneurial ventures.

CITSF provides certified consulting services to the attorney marketplace in the area of computer forensics and e-discovery.

Visit CITSF on the web at http://www.citsf.com She may be reached at 303-819-2068 or carol.stimmel@gmail.com.

The hard drive in our computers right now stores all of our data, and our computer could not function without it. There would be no World Wide Web, email or even an operating system without hard drives. Since hard drives are so important, a hard drive crash is without a doubt the biggest problem that someone could face on their computer.

Hard drive crashes can happen for many reasons, and usually the owner is not to blame. One reason your hard drive can crash is because of a hard ware problem. See your hard drive is a magnetic disc that spins and has an extended arm hovering over it, to access any area, and collect the data. If the motor overheats and stops spinning or the arm fails to function, then your hard drive will crash and not be accessible at all.

Another way for your hard drive to crash is from corrupt system files, registry files and viruses. Viruses come in many forms as spy ware, ad ware, in emails and many other places all over the web. I recommend a good virus protection program from McAfee or Norton to stop those viruses and prevent your hard drive from crashing.

Now let’s say your hard drive has crashed, how do you determine the problem and can it be fixed? Well determining whether the hard drive crash is mechanical of software related is actually pretty easy. The flashing light on front of your computer case, that blinks when the computer is busy, is a good tool to determine the problem. If you see the LED light flashing, but the computer will not boot up, then most likely it is a software related problem, which means an operating system glitch or a virus of some sort. Lucky for you this usually can be fixed and all of your files can be saved, but I recommend only letting a professional try and fix it since the average person might find it to difficult unless they have experience in formatting hard drives.

Worst case scenario is if you don’t see the LED light flashing in the front of your computer case, this means your hard drive has not activity which basically means it is a mechanical problem. A mechanical problem in your hard drive can be fixed, but I imagine it is pretty expensive. It is cheaper to get a new hard drive then to fix it, but of course if you have important data stored on the broken hard drive that you must get back, then you really have no choice but to have a professional fix it. You local computer store should have the expertise to repair it, but if not just ask them who can.

I should point out also though, that advanced hardware and software standards in today’s hard drives tell you when your drive is about to crash and gives you time to back up your important files.

Overall, the best way to stop your hard drive from crashing is to not neglect it and take care of it. The most important care tip is to make sure you defragment your hard drive at least once a month. Your operating system should come with a defragmenting program that is easy to use. Performing a defragment on your hard drive basically takes your data and organizes it into more convenient places so that the mechanical arm can access data faster and with the least amount of movement.

Another way to protect your hard drive from crashes is to purchase a good virus scanner, preferably by McAfee or Norton, and keep protection tools enabled and perform a full system scan of every file on your hard drive once a month.

Some other minor precautions that you can take are to enforce a SPAM guard on your emails and delete your temporary internet files every once in awhile. You should also keep your operating system up to date by downloading updates for it as soon as they come out. Windows makes this easy, but I am not sure how easy other operating systems make this or if they even provide this option.

If you are a person who downloads a lot of files from the internet, then you need to exercise caution in what you choose to download, as hard drive crashes are commonly associated with faulty software from unknown sources on the net.

Of course the best way to save you a headache if a hard drive crash happens is to back up your data regularly. Data loss is the reason a hard drive crash is so hurtful, so if you back up your data daily or whenever you work on it, then if a crash happens you will have no sweat on your back. I recommend you save your files to a rewritable CD/DVD or floppy disc as soon as you get done working on it, especially if the data is business related.

Copyright 2006 Michael Cottier

Michael Cottier has upgraded and repaired hard drives for many years. Learn from his experience and do it yourself at: http://www.computer-customizing-guide.com/hard-drive-upgrade.html

There can be a power surge and outages at any time, which can cause you to lose unsaved data and important items on your computer. This can be frustrating and in some cases devastating. There are ways to protect your computer from power related disasters. All you have to do is get a UPS battery; this will be the best way to protect not only your computer but also your sanity if you use a computer quite often.

A UPS battery is a device that keeps your computer running with power in the event of a power interruption. To do this put a battery that provides power to your computer or other important electronics. When you loose power to your computer, UPS batteries will provide power to you for a short time to enable you to save the data you were working on at that time. You will usually have about fifteen to twenty minutes to complete the saving and shut down your computer properly.

If you have business documents and information on your computer, it is essential that you have one of these batteries hooked up to your computer. Not only will a UPS battery protect your computer from power outages, it will also help with power surges. Surges can harm your computer and do a lot of damage. It should make you feel better knowing a backup battery is protecting your computer.

UPS batteries are not expensive at all. They usually run anywhere from thirty to fifty dollars for a good one. You can buy these batteries almost anywhere. They are defiantly an investment to anyone who lives on their computer. It does not matter if you have business or personal information on your computer; it is worth saving with a UPS battery.

They are compact so that they will fit almost anywhere. You can have them under your desk, or on top of it. UPS batteries will plug into a normal three-prong outlet. They are reliable and safe for most home electrical systems. There is really no reason not to have a battery backup and surge protector like a UPS battery hooked up to your computer. It will be a device that you may never need to rely on, buy why take the chance? It is worth the few dollars to save your precious work.

For more information on the batteries, please visit =>http://www.rechargable-nimh-batteries.info

Almost everyone has experienced it at one time or another. The symptoms range from that clicking noise produced by an otherwise functioning hard drive or a hard drive that is simply no longer being recognized by the computer. The results can be devastating to the end user no matter whether that user is an individual with treasured family photos or a corporation with no backup of its server. Many people assume when their data is lost it is gone forever. However, with care and in the right hands, in many cases the data is 100% recoverable.

The first thing one should always do is stop using the failed media because doing so can cause further damage to the media making recovery more difficult. Many people attempt things such as reformatting or repartitioning a hard drive in an attempt to continue using it. By continuing to use failed media, you will be jeopardizing the existing data you wish to recover.

The most crucial action you should take next is to contact a professional data recovery company. These companies exist for a reason. They specialize in data recovery, and most have years of experience recovering data from failed media. Many of these companies offer clean room service, which is critical if the media needs to be opened for parts replacement. It only takes 0.5 micron of dust on the surface of a hard drive platter to cause permanent data loss.

Choosing a data recovery company should be done carefully. Beware of companies who charge a low flat fee compared to other companies. Data recovery can be expensive because of the tools and labor involved to recover data. There is no “easy fix” in most situations. Many times, a hard drive may need total parts replacement in a clean room using highly specialized equipment. For RAID recovery, there can be many labor hours involved in destriping the RAID in order for the data to make sense.

Data recovery is more successful when left in the hands of a professional data recovery company. Each case is different and falls into the category of physical or logical recovery with physical recovery being much more complicated. However, just because the data appears lost does not indicate it is permanently gone.

This article can be freely published on a website however it must not be modified in any way including the author bylines, and the hyperlink must be made active as shown below.

Andrea Stone is employed with ReWave Hard Drive Recovery, a worldwide data recovery company. Visit the company’s Data Recovery website for more information.

You only need to have a power surge once to mess up your entire life’s work on a computer. The precious hours that you spend on compiling information and doing important work can all be lost in one split second. With a UPS battery, you can save yourself a lot of aggravation and even may save your job.

You should have a battery hooked to your computer for protection. If you have a black out where you loose all power to your computer, the UPS battery backup will allow you precious time to save your date and shut down your computer properly.

A UPS battery will protect your system from some very terrible power problems. When there are power transients, which are brief surges in voltage caused by lightning strikes or when electricity turns off. UPS batteries will also help assist in line noise, which is when you have interference from electrical appliances.

All of the above power problems can damage your desktop and hurt or lose your data. A battery will provide power to keep your system running and give you the chance to save valuable data and allow you to shut down your system the right way. Some of the UPS batteries even include software that automatically saves and shuts down your system if you are not around when it happens.

UPS batteries are better then just surge protectors. They both are able to handle power surges, but a UPS battery will give you backup power. You will have the precious minutes that it takes to shut down your computer so that there is no permanent damage done to your computer and to the files on your computer.

If you do anything that has any importance to you or someone else on a computer, you defiantly need to have a UPS battery for your system. There is no other choice when it comes to protecting your job or personal information. UPS battery backups are not expensive and they can be purchase almost anywhere. It is a small price to pay when you know what it can save you in lost time and money.

When you are ready to get a battery backup for your computer, you can order one online or you can get them through catalogs or computer stores. No matter where you decide to buy your UPS battery, you will save so much in the end.

For more information on the batteries, please visit http://www.rechargable-nimh-batteries.info

Have you ever accidentally deleted a file on your computer? Was it important? Did you suffer? Well, imagine if your whole website got deleted! This could happen in any number of ways:

These sorts of things happen to thousands of web masters every day! Even experienced webmasters who should know better lose their files on their web server.

What to do?
Can you imagine having to build your website from scratch again? Quite a daunting task. Imagine having to remember everything that was on your old website and recreating it. It is very near impossible. The longer your site is up and the more you have added to it the more difficult it will be. However, with a bit of foresight and planning, losing your website files will be just a blip in a normal day, with minimum disruption.

The most important thing to do is to back up your website. In fact, if you haven’t done it before, you should suspend reading this article and go and back it up now. If you used FTP to upload your site you will be able to use the same program to download your site. If you have a small site you may be able to use your browser’s ‘Save Web Page’ feature to save each individual page. Work out whichever is the best way to get the webfiles onto YOUR computer, and do it!

Ideally you will need 2 backups of your site, one to save at home, and another to store offsite in case something happens to the first backup. Make sure you label your backups clearly and put them in a safe place where you can find them later. I have to emphasize this last point as I once backed up a website but later couldn’t find where I put the backup when I needed it! Disastrous.

If you update your site on a regular basis you will need to backup on a regular basis too. It is essential that you label each backup correctly with the website name as well as the date. The date is necessary so that you don’t copy an older version of a website if something happens to the newer one.

For larger websites which are constantly changing you will need to install a RAID disk on your web server. RAID disks are basically two disks writing the same information so that 2 copies are created on the fly. Very useful. Ask your web host if he uses RAID disks. It is important to note however that you will still need to do regular backups.

One experienced webmaster relied on RAID disks alone for his backup, however the web server had a virus on it so the backup had to roll back by a month. He lost a month’s worth of work he had done on his website, which was quite an amount as he was changing the design and adding a lot of content. If he had only backed up it would have been no problem instead of becoming the huge headache it did for him.

Remember, there are 3 words you need to remember to protect yourself from a mountain of work if your web files are compromised - BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP!

Edward Sodor has been a part of the webmaster community for nearly 10 years and is always happy to give advice to budding webmasters. For great tutorials on creating, maintaing and improving your website and traffic visit his Website Design and SEO pages.