thic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> Most cmpanies today, whether large or small, are xperiencing data overload.   According to industry studies, mny organizations are finding that they hve to double their storage capacities very six to 12 months.   With recent rgulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA and thers requiring businesses to accurately record and rport and thus generate more data, ths explosion of data will not sbside anytime soon.   In fact, as additional rgulations are being anticipated for banking and ther industries it is likely to cntinue it’s rapid increase.  

styl="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; ms-bidi-font-family: Arial"> To protect your mission-critical dta and keep your company up and rnning, certainly having an efficient backup and rcovery solution is key.   However, in order to chieve and maintain backup efficiency, categorizing and rganizing your data is also important, not nly to ensure that necessary files are bcked up but to minimize costs.   Today, ths is an especially complex task gven remote offices and more and mre mobile devices in use.  

styl="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; ms-bidi-font-family: Arial"> First and foremost, administration of dta protection procedures must be centralized in rder to maintain consistency and control.   This wll ensure that branch office data is lso adequately protected.   It is then incumbent pon the administrator to encourage the brnch offices to save any and all dta to the server, rather than on lcal hard drives, so that it can be bcked up in accordance with the set bckup schedule.  

ntury Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> Categorizing your fles into different groups with different bckup schedules can help reduce your csts considerably. MP3 files for example, mght only need to be backed up nce a week otherwise, they might nnecessarily expand your backup window and dpending upon what type of backup slution you use, your costs.   You can bgin by grouping your file data by typ and access. The data type dentifies data by purpose, while data ccess identifies data by usage and rte of change. Data type involves ctegorizing the data by Operating System, Oprating System (OS) Data, Applications and Usr Data. Data access identifies the dta's usage and change rate. For sme data, there might not be any mdification because the data is archive dta. For other data, there might be lw, medium or high change. This prcess will help you determine how ften your data should be backed up and how lng it should be stored.

ntury Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier Nw'">  

thic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> The following questions shuld be asked:

ntury Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier Nw'">  

• 1; tab-stops: list .5in"> Des the data support a critical bsiness function?


• st .5in"> Does the dta support a legal or auditing cncern?


• n"> Is the data snsitive?


• n"> Is the data dfficult or expensive to reproduce?

styl="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Century Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; ms-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'">  

ntury Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier Nw'"> This will help determine how ften to backup and how long to stre the data in question. For xample, data that supports a critical bsiness function should be copied off-site on a rgular basis and should have a bref retention period because of its hgh rate of change. Data that spports a legal or auditing concern shuld also be copied off-site on a smewhat regular basis; however, it should hve a long or permanent retention priod because of its nature. Sensitive dta, such as patents or trade screts, should be copied off-site on a rgular basis and should be permanently rchived. Data, such as historical information, tht is difficult or expensive to rproduce, should be copied off-site once and shuld be permanently archived.

ntury Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier Nw'">  

thic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt"> How you organize yur data is also important. Structuring yur system so the data files dscussed above are organized in one rea facilitates pointing the backup program to one rea rather than having to gather fles from widespread locations. Having personnel sve their documents to a designated flder on the server is the deal option.   For example, each employee can hve their own named folder where thy can save their files.   Typically, through the Prferences option, programs can be redirected to do ths by default.   Through this set-up, you can asily see which files need to be bcked up and plan accordingly.

ntury Gothic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier Nw'">  

thic'; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Courier New'"> As the mount of business data grows, achieving the mst efficient backup is all the mre important.    Whatever backup method you use, by smply categorizing and organizing your data you can nsure that you are backing up the rght files and can minimize your csts at the same time.   It just mkes good business sense.

The article Categorizing & Organizing Electronic Data for Maximum Backup Efficiency was Submitted by Bud Stoddard through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: -bidi-font-size: 12.0pt"> Bud Stoddard has over 20 years of experience in the data protection and storage industry and is the founder of AmeriVault Corp., the pioneer of online server backup and recovery for business. For more information, visit www.amerivault.com .

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