Four Basic Backup Steps

"I have this cool backup tape drive in my new computer and a couple of tapes so I am all set!" That is true, you now have a level of protection that a lot of people do not have but are you going to do it right? Change the tapes regularly, replace them when their life runs out, clean the tape drive and store them offsite?

First, having more than one tape is a good thing but you will need more than the standard four or five. I would suggest slowly adding to the stack at about 5 per week until you have around 35. The reason is simple. Tapes were not meant to be used and reused infinitely.

Which bring me to my second reason. Tapes also wear out and break. They are not indestructible and they should be cared for much like a volatile piece of hardware. After all, it is your data on the tape so keep it safe. They also stretch over time so if you replace your tape drive after three years and you never replaced your tapes; then you might have a problem.

This one catches a lot of people. Clean the tape drive at least once per week. Even though the tapes and the drive itself is new; dust and dirt can get inside the unit. It never fails, when you absolutely need a backup to be made then that is when it will fail because of a dirty head.

Store the tapes offsite. If this is your home computer then think of a place where you can store it routinely. Preferably, at work or a friends house but definitely not on top of the computer.

One last piece of advice. Test your backups. This one act can save you countless problems. It is better to find out that the backup did not work after you made the backup than it is to discover the failure when you need the backup for recovery.