There are many things in this world that we don’t want to think about, things like insurance and taxes, that are just inevitable. On that list for most people is computer back-up and recovery. Unfortunately, every nonprofit needs to at least consider their backup solutions. Dare I ask the question: what if your hard drive stopped working right now!

In order to help you sleep at night, this article will discuss considerations and options for keeping your nonprofit up and running in the event of data loss or a complete hard drive loss. Backup should be part of a larger disaster recovery and business contingency plan. The Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York offers a document that has many things you should consider far beyond data backup.

What to Back Up

The first thing to consider is what to back-up. There is limited value in backing up the software on desktop machines. You can always install the software again. Indeed, as machines are used they run slower and often need a refreshing of software. The critical things to back up are data and custom settings.

You'll need to identify and find the important files or folders. Here is a list of items to think about:

• Main Files (e.g. My Documents folder)
• Email
• Favorites
• Custom templates

If you are using database applications like Raiser's Edge or QuickBooks, you will need to make sure that the relevant files from these programs are backed up as well.

Having a good data organization scheme is helpful for backup, because it’s far easier to know you have everything backed up if you know where the files are first.

When making your data backup plan, you will need to think about which, if any, of your files are stored in encrypted areas. Can these encrypted areas be backed up or do you need special software?

Where to Backup

Now that we have the what, we need to discuss where to backup to. Some of the options include CD/DVDs, removable hard drives, thumb drives, network drives, tape drives, offsite data backup services and many more. You have many choices in backup media, and your options will continue to grow as organizations of all sizes realize the centrality of their data to their day to day operations.

We are going to review these methods and look at some of the pros and cons of using them, and I will share how I use them for my small business. It is generally best to use a variety of tactics to make sure that your data is as protected as can be.

CDs and DVDs are great for moving data from one place to another and even for making incremental backups of data. I use CDs to send backups of websites and data I create for a client to them. Occasionally I will make a DVD of a project when it is finished and file it with other documents for the project. If you do not have the hard drive space to backup videos and images, this may be a good way to archive event photos and videos as well.

CD/DVDs are great but can be easily lost or stolen. It is important to keep them in a safe or other fire resistant area if you are using them for an archive. You should also always make more than one copy in case one of the copies is not good or one gets broken.

USB Keys/Thumb drives provide a great tool for short term file transfer. For instance, you might need to take files home from work with you and then bring them back the next day. Though thumb drives are more stable than floppy drives, data on them can still corrupt relatively easily, and the tips can break if you're not careful.

Some USB Keys have security features, but you need to make sure you enable them before transmitting secure information.

Removable hard drives are a very popular form of backup, and they are great for keeping files backed up. They require a great deal of diligence, however. To use this method correctly, one copy of the hard drive should be connected to the computer so it can be backed up regularly, and the other copy needs to go off site so a local disaster doesn't destroy your data. The off-site and on-site copies should be swapped regularly in order to keep the off-site version up to date. In general, schedules for taking backup drives off site get lax, and then the backup doesn’t work.

Tape drives are waning in popularity in the small organization market but are still popular for larger enterprises. Tapes are slow and still expensive, but they are effective for large amounts of information.

It is important to recognize that data on storage that you can remove from your site can be removed by others from your site. Also fires and floods do happen, and having all your data in once place is very risky. Internet based off-site backup is a way to address these issues.

There are many solutions that backup your data to the Internet. There are several key factors to examine when looking at services.

• Can you trust the company with your data, and is the connection to their servers secure?
• Will the service hurt your computer and network speed?
• Can the service handle the amount of data you have?

SOS Online Backup (beta) is PC Mag Editor’s Choice but has very poor user ratings. The network is considered trustworthy and the speeds are rated as being OK. The pricing is based on the amount you store. SOS Online also has a server backup product, which some of the other services do not offer.

Carbonite Backup is an excellent product that works on Windows XP and Vista and seamlessly keeps your computer backed up securely. Carbonite has a higher user rating than SOS Online Backup. Carbonite is only $50 per-year/per-computer. Carbonite will not work with servers, which is a downside to the service.

There are many other services designed for desktop and small network backup. Dell, HP, Verizon High Speed, McAfee and other vendors are adding services to help keep computer users secure and bring easy backup to the masses. Services are also available for enterprises as well. These services can be very expensive, but having a good solution is very important.

When to Backup

Backups should happen as often as possible. You also need to think about when to backup revisions. For example, I often save revisions of files before I make big changes if I am unsure how these changes will affect the overall project. If your backup software does not keep revisions, just save the file with a revision name, and that should keep you up to date.

Creating a backup schedule is very important. If you will be backing up to local media, you will want to make sure your backup schedule matches the times when you will be able to switch the media. If you are using a remote backup, your scheduling should take into account your bandwidth availability and the service you are using.

Closing Thoughts

Backup is critical, and I hope you will consider how to make it work for your organization. The cost of hard drives is going down and so are the costs of services to make backup offsite viable.

Here are some other places to look for information

• PC Magazine Article – The Best Online Backups
• Backup Preview Site
• Nonprofit Times - Insuring Donors' Goodwill Going beyond the data back-up