Long Pause Clients

I received a phone call today that I always dread receiving. I can usually tell from the tone in a client’s voice; they are sick to their stomach and worried to death. Their laptop was lost or stolen. Or, their server crashed. Or, they had some sort of disaster that has caused them to lose all of their data, via a virus, malware or hardware failure. Regardless of the reason, the first question I ask is always the same: when was the last time you backed up your data? The longer the client takes to answer, the worse it usually is - the length of the pause tells me everything. It is very rare that the client answers “just a few minutes ago”.

In 2006, we formed a company to specifically address the “data” and security issues of computers. www.MyBackupData.com was born, the day after my own personal computer crashed. Just thinking back to that fateful day makes me nauseous. The pain of completely losing my own data – and I certainly knew better – lead to the birth of MyBackupData.com. Until someone has a catastrophic loss of data, they will never know what it feels like to lose it all, with no hope of the photos, documents and files ever coming back.

The sad thing is that with today’s technology, there is no (zero) reason for any computer, laptop or server to permanently lose its data. For less than $0.30 per day, a typical computer can be completely backed up, and have full 24 x 7 virus and malware protection. The power of the Internet has made real-time cyber security and data protection possible. And yet, not a week goes by that I don’t receive at least one of those dreaded phone calls. For all those who care to listen: protect your data. Don’t rely on flash drives, or tapes, or external hard drives. Until the data is backed up automatically, frequently, encrypted and stored off-site, you are not fully safe. There is nothing worse than backing up you data every day, to then have the backup files lost or damaged. And, backing up data that is full of malware or infected by a hidden virus can corrupt files, and make your backup file sets worthless. Thinking you are protected and safe when you are not, is even more cruel a fate. For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can avoid the nightmare of permanently losing it all.

That is all I have to say. You must protect your data, the right way, every day, automatically, period. It is not a matter of if you will lose your data, but a matter of when you will be making that dreaded phone call. Please don’t be a “long pause” client when you call.