Several times year Southern California experiences strong "Santa Ana Winds" that uproot trees, bring down powerlines, and start fires. Right now there are, depending on who is counting and how, something like 17 fires from Santa Barbara, Malibu, Orange County down to the border with Mexico below San Diego. (See NASA photo below. The story on the NASA site also shows 2 photos taken 3 hrs apart on October 22nd, 2007- what a difference.) A few of the fires appear to have been started by arsonists. However they start, anyone who has lived here a few years knows they will happen. So why then don't more people clear the brush away from their houses?
When I read that we would have strong winds over the weekend I took down all of the patio umbrellas, canopies, and other large things that catch the wind and either tip or rip. I looked at a some other items and decided I could wait. Well the winds during the night were much stronger than I expected and now I have a lot of broken pots, lattice work, and branches. I could have dealt with those before but I was hoping they would stay in place.
I suppose that is what we do with data, important files, or papers. We hope things will not get so bad that those things are lost. We have locks for the doors. We keep money in the bank, and we have routine data backup. If we don't check on those precautions we might as well not have them.
How many times have you heard of people who put the tape backups in the desk below the computer they backup? In a fire both will be lost. Also, many tapes do not deal well with extended use or storage. Testing them on a regular basis should be an integral part of the backup plan.
Offsite storage of data is a very wise thing to do. Google, Yahoo, or other online sites can be a good resource for small businesses. Large businesses should already be using offsite storage for data and networking. A completely failsafe plan can be very expensive. A failure can be even more expensive.
With this in mind, take the time now to go over how you would deal with a major loss of equipment, facilities, or people. It will probably be worth buying pizza for everyone and considering the issue over an extended lunch.
» Know More Media Review: California Wild Fires, Open Content Competition, and World Series Faceoff from Know More Media
This week the dominant news was and continues to be the California Wild Fires. Thankfully none of our staff or authors we directly affected by the fires aside from having to deal with the poor air quality. There was... [Read More]
Tracked on: October 26, 2007 9:13 PM | Permalink to Trackback