Why do you backup data?

When I'm asked about best practices for backup (DR) I turn the tables and ask this question. The responses vary greatly, but most are along the lines of "to be able to recover from a disaster." This usually implies 'the big one' low probability disaster and being able to recover under such circumstances is a good thing. However how about being able to recover from the personal disaster of deleting or losing a file for the report to the CEO due later in the day? I personally would like to be able to get that back very quickly instead of having to call an administrator to schedule an off-site tape pickup, schedule the restore and hopefully have the file back in a couple of days. I don't think the CEO would be very impressed. My answer to the question is 'to be able to restore data' efficiently and quickly regardless of the type of data loss.

The basis for appropriate backup/DR planning and implementation is to focus on data management vs. storage management.

Storage Management or Data Management

Read my article Storage Management or Data Management?
Part I —The Role of Information and Data in Today’s Business Environment
about the importance of managing Data vs. Storage.

Welcome to the Infostructure blog

No, it is not a typo - it really is infOstructure. Information is one of the most important corporate assets which has been a paradigm shift from the computing infrastructure. The infrastructure remains an important element to business but is now the means to deliver corporate information to support and grow the business. It is our intent to utilize this blog as a means of exchanging ideas, experiences and knowledge in better management of corporate information, or the infostructure.