We have all heard the importance of backups. Indeed, it is extremely important up to a point. When backups interfere with daily work, we begin to ignore them, we work around them and eventually the backups are skipped entirely. This defeats the purpose of backups.

I wrote previously about the importance of redundancy (see Redundancy: Always Have a Second as a Backup). This referred to power redundancy, to computer redundancy and even online access redundancy. A backup is far more complex than simple redundancy and is therefore not the best option, especially for startups when the budget is tight and there is not enough time for it. This article will look at a simple alternative to backups.

The lessons from the big guys

As a former computer department manager for 25 years, I have had to rely on being able to recover from a backup many times. Most of the time this was for individual files, but also several times for entire drives and even entire systems. Backups are critical but working in high-use environments makes backing up a hassle for the employees.

Typically, backups are performed at night, during a window of low use. However, that is not always possible. In the department where I worked, we had people using our servers as late as 2am and as early as 5am on a regular basis, not to mention those people who logged in remotely at all hours.

This made finding a convenient backup window tricky. While the 2am-5am window was three hours, it was not possible to back up the entire network in three hours. This required scheduling backups of different portions of the network on different nights. Unfortunately, that meant that some backed up files could be as much as 2-3 days old. As network access times increased, we needed better solutions.

Fortunately, backup software and systems have become much more sophisticated in recent years. Newer software allowed backups to go back and re-try files that had been in use during the first pass. It would also learn from experience which files were problematic over time and it would allow us to re-adjust schedules to better accommodate open files. Compression became more sophisticated as did speed, which also improved performance.

Today, most enterprise-level backup software is extremely sophisticated. It can back up files that are continuously being accessed like web servers and databases. It can create instant snapshots of entire systems in very short times, thus creating unique time-stamped backups.

As our needs grew, we invested more into our backup systems, adding modules to also provide better handing of errors, sophisticated reporting tools, better AI, and complete hierarchical storage management services. We even appointed a specific employee to this task. As you can guess, this also became increasingly expensive: $5000-15,000 a year and up.

Backing up eventually becomes part of the larger disaster recovery procedures that the company has in place. It becomes an investment where cost-benefit is carefully evaluated and included in the company’s overall budget decisions.

But what about my small business?

I mention these developments because I oversaw several of these expansions over the years. Almost every one of them started off very small. What started off as a simple computer-staff task eventually became part of the larger business decisions that need to be made.

As a small business I recommend that this simple task of backing up becomes part of the larger business as soon as possible. Backups are not as exciting to talk about as developing marketing brochures and new social media opportunities. I understand that. However, they quickly become very exciting when the network is down just before that marketing brochure needs to go to the printer.

I realize I may have lost some of my readers when I mentioned the high cost per year. Fortunately, you do not have to start there. If you are a Fiverr freelancer moonlighting as a part-time bookkeeper in the evenings, you should start much smaller. Consider making backups not just a conscious decision, but also a budget decision. Even as little as $5 a week on this issue (the price of a single frou-frou drink), is a good place to start.

This amount will likely increase over time as the business grows, but just making this conscious business decision from the very beginning will be good insurance against disaster. On a sidenote, it also looks good on a business plan, insurance documentation, and adds to the image that the business is professionally run.

There is another important reason I mentioned all the steps that businesses go through in developing effecting backup plans: it establishes a path forward. You should never start on a path without knowing where it leads. However, understanding that this is a necessary progression that will continue to require not only funding, but regular upgrades, allows business owners to plan.

What if the budget does not allow for this expense?

OK, so you are selling succulents on Etsy and the orders are not exactly pouring in. I get that. That is where most small businesses are, and we were there not too long ago as well. For those, you can start with a free solution. You should still shift your mind-set about doing this regularly, and frankly that is much easier when you pay for it regularly, but you can start with a free option.

As a matter of fact, that is why I wrote this article as well: even if you are not prepared to invest in backups, you need to change your mind-set about them. You need to do two things:

1. You need to be disciplined about doing backups regularly

2. You need to be prepared to invest something when your budget allows

Our business is a 24/7 business of online services. There are people accessing our services at all hours, so locking it down for 2-3 hours for backing up files is not an option. So I don’t use backup software on live files. What I do use is synchronizing software, that is software that synchronizes files between two folders.

I started with a simple tool that also happens to be Free and Open Source Software (FOSS). I wrote an article about FOSS not too long ago, but essentially it means the software is free to use. If you are a small business with limited funds, FOSS is your friend, and a clear example of that is a file synchronization tool called FreeFileSync.

What it does is compare the contents of two folders and continually ensures that they are identical. If there is a difference between the two, it initiates a copy to correct that. It does this on a regular basis without requiring any input from you. This means that you can continue working and let FreeFileSync ensure that you have an exact copy of all your files on another drive.

In our company we store our files centrally, so that other drive is on an entirely different computer. It is simple, effective, and most importantly it does not interrupt anyone’s work, no matter when they are working on that computer.

Now I have used FreeFileSync for over a decade and have seldom had any issues with it. I should mention that I am not affiliated with the company in any way, I am just a fan of the product. Frankly, there are also other applications that do the same thing, but this one has worked flawlessly for me for a long time.

I do recommend that you check up on the process regularly and ensure that the files are indeed synchronizing as expected. Other things like network connectivity could be hampering the process, so it does require occasional checking.

Best of all, it is free. So, if you are on a limited budget that is a great place to start.

Conclusion

We have used FreeFileSync for years in our company as well. It is simple to use, works on many different operating systems, including Mac & Linux, and as mentioned, it is free. If this is the first time you have ever considered backups for your new business, it is quite possibly the best option to get started.

It should be mentioned, though, that it should not be the end of the discussion on backups. FreeFileSync is not a backup application. Its scheduling tools are limited, and it does not compress or encrypt backups. Likewise, it does not offer reporting tools or more advanced backup and restore features that commercial backups software packages typically include.

From the onset, we knew that we would eventually outgrow it and we did. That is part of that conscious decision to accept that this is a growing business process just like any other. That said, if you use nothing else, start with a free synchronization tool like FreeFileSync. If nothing else, it will encourage you to start thinking about how you will be backing up your data not just presently, but also into the future.