Imagine an employee accidentally deletes an important customer file or a ransomware attack paralyzes your servers. Without backup, operations come to a standstill – high costs threaten and possibly the company's existence is at risk. SMEs in particular rely on smooth IT processes but can hardly afford extended downtimes. Data backup is therefore not a luxury, but a necessity.
Learn why backups are crucial for SMEs and what backup strategies are available that you can adapt. From classic approaches like full backup, incremental and differential to cloud solutions and the 3-2-1 rule – we provide you with a clear overview here. Additionally, you'll receive proven implementation tips and learn how Backup ONE as a provider can support you.
Data loss can be devastating for a company. Causes like hardware failures, human errors, or natural disasters can destroy important information. According to a study by Digilan, 4% of surveyed Swiss SMEs were victims of serious cyber attacks in the last three years, which extrapolates to about 24,000 companies. In 73% of these incidents, substantial financial damages occurred.
SMEs with limited IT resources are particularly vulnerable: Even a single incident can lead to significant financial losses and long business interruptions. A well-thought-out backup concept is therefore the life insurance for your company data and crucial for business continuity.
Depending on needs and company size, often several backup approaches are used in combination. Here's an overview of the most important backup strategies, their functionality, and their advantages and disadvantages:
A full backup is the classic complete backup of all data. Advantage: Simple restoration since all data is available in one backup. Disadvantage: Time and storage-intensive, as each backup copies all data. Daily full backups of large data volumes are often not very practical. In practice, full backups are therefore often performed at larger intervals (e.g., weekly) and supplemented with incremental or differential backups in between.
With incremental backup, after an initial full backup, only changes since the last backup are saved. Example: The day after a full backup, only data changed since the full backup is backed up (instead of copying all data again). Advantage: Very fast, space-saving backups after the first full backup, as only little data is transferred daily. Disadvantage: For a complete restoration, you need the last full backup plus all subsequent incremental backups. If one of these backups is missing or defective, restoration becomes more difficult.
Differential backup is a middle ground between full and incremental. After a full backup, differential backups save all changes since the last full backup. Advantage: Faster restoration since only the full backup and the last differential backup are needed (not an entire chain). Disadvantage: Differential backups become more extensive day by day because more data accumulates each day. Without regular full backups, storage requirements and backup duration increase.
A mirror backup creates a 1:1 copy of the current data on a target medium. The folder and file structure on the backup medium matches the original data. Advantage: The backed-up files are immediately usable – restoration of individual files is quick since no backup archive needs to be unpacked. Disadvantage: There is no versioning. If a file is accidentally deleted or overwritten and this change has already been copied to the mirror backup, the earlier version is lost. Additionally, a mirror copy needs almost as much storage space as the original.
Tip: Often a hybrid solution is ideal: Keep a local backup ready for quick availability and additionally a cloud backup as external security.
A proven rule of thumb for data security is the 3-2-1 rule: Keep 3 copies of your data on 2 different storage media, and store 1 copy at an external location. For example: Original data + one backup on an external hard drive + one backup in the cloud. Different media and external storage ensure that neither hardware failure nor a local disaster destroys all copies. Even in the worst case, at least one current data backup remains available. The 3-2-1 rule is easy to implement and provides a solid foundation for data security.
Regardless of the chosen strategy, there are some proven measures to make data backup more effective:
These measures significantly increase the reliability of your data backup. A backup is only as good as its restorability – so invest some time in monitoring and maintaining your backups.
Implementing a reliable backup strategy doesn't have to be complicated. We support SMEs with automated, encrypted cloud backups in highly secure data centers. The solution enables hybrid backups: You can backup simultaneously locally (e.g., to a NAS or external disk) and to the cloud. This gives you a quick restoration option on-site and additionally a geo-redundant copy off-site.
If desired, Backup ONE also takes over monitoring of your backups. An expert team monitors the backup jobs, handles error resolution, and relieves your IT. The solution is also scalable – from individual workstations to complete server landscapes – and you only pay for the storage you actually use. In an emergency, our support team is there to ensure rapid data restoration. Let's work together to realize your strategic backup goals.
A well-thought-out backup strategy is essential for companies of any size. There are various backup methods, and usually a combination of these approaches provides the best protection. Orient yourself on the 3-2-1 rule to secure your data redundantly and externally. Most importantly, backups must be performed consistently and regularly verified.
SMEs without large IT departments can also place the task of data backup in experienced hands. We help ensure that backups are professionally managed while you focus on your core business. Because in the end, the question is not if data loss occurs, but when. With the right backup strategy, you're prepared for this and can look to the future with more peace of mind.
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