Data is everything. Without it, you can't do your job or any of the activities in your life. Losing your data can be a traumatic experience that leaves you scrambling to find out how to get it back.

If you don't protect and back up your data, then you're risking losing it all. You need to know where all of your important documents are stored and create a plan for what will happen if something happens to those files. Data backup and recovery is essential on a daily basis but becomes even more so during natural disasters or other unforeseen events that might disrupt networks, power, or computers for a long period of time. Here are some tips on how to create a plan for data backup and recovery today.

Danger zone- when you should take more precautions

There are certain times when you should be more cautious about data backup and recovery.

Natural disasters: Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters can cause serious damage to your computer systems. If there's a natural disaster in your area, you should have a plan for data backup and recovery ready ahead of time.

Computer crashes: You'll want to make sure that you have data backups stored in an offline location so if your computer crashes or is hacked, you won't lose all of your saved documents.

Fire/flooding: You're going to want to store backup copies in an offline location in case the fire or flooding damages your office space.

Viruses: Viruses can infiltrate your system without warning and destroy everything in their path. It's important to back up everything on a regular basis so if a virus strikes down on your system, you won't lose everything.

Backup data at regular intervals

One of the most important things you can do is back up your data at regular intervals. This means saving your files onto a USB drive or hard drive. You should also have it saved offline in case if the power goes out and your computer malfunctions.

Create a plan for data backup and recovery

The first thing you need to do is identify where your data is. If you have a laptop, get in the habit of connecting it to an external hard drive or other external storage. And even if you only have one laptop, make sure all your work files are kept in a separate folder from your system files so it's easy to back up and recover. You also want to keep an extra hard drive on hand just in case something happens to the first one. This way, you will always be able to access your important documents.

What to do if your data is lost forever

If your data is lost forever, the first thing you'll want to do is call your IT support service. They can tell you what types of files they were and help you find a solution. Once they give you the information, there are steps you can take to try and recover your data.

You can always visit data recovery sites on the internet that offer services for recovering lost or deleted files from any type of media. You might even be able to recover your data by following these simple steps:

-Bring your computer back up

-Use an anti-virus program to scan for viruses. If none are found, then it's likely it was due to human error and not a virus

-Repair permissions

-Use Disk Utility in the terminal on Mac OSX to repair disk permissions

-Another way to recover data would be to use a hard drive recovery specialist such as DriveSavers.

Conclusion

Data loss can happen at any time and it's important to have a plan in place for when it does. The most important thing you can do is to make sure you backup your data at regular intervals. Create a plan for data backup and recovery and make sure you are prepared for when disaster strikes.