Oh, the Horror! Don’t Be Left without a Data Backup System


You know what’s really scary?  Losing your law firm data.  Even so, many law firms don’t utilize effective data backups.



Every business needs to backup its electronic data; but, the imperative is even more important for law firms, which have ethical and fiduciary duties tied to their client relationships.  And, although it’s now 2018, many law firms subsist on remarkably thin data backup systems.  This is true even though law firm data loss is not an extremely rare or impossible occurrence.  Fires, floods, natural and manmade disasters -- those all still wipe out law firm data.  So, if you’re concentrating on securing your law firm data backup, there’s no time like the present to get a handle on it.

This is a three-step method to making sure your data is recoverable:

(1) Set up a physical data backup.  It doesn’t really matter what it is (some firms still use backup tapes) -- just have something in place.  (If you’re picky, check out an ioSafe harddrive; these things are basically indestructible.)  And, whatever physical backup tool you use, don’t leave it at your office, with all of your other hardware.  Take it to another location at the end of the day -- the last thing you want is to have your on-premise data backup unit engulfed in the same disaster that takes down the physical hardware it’s supposed to be backing up.

(2) Next, you’ll want to supplement your physical data backup drive with an incremental, online backup system, like Mozy or Carbonite.  The idea here is that if the physical drive fails, you have a cloud-based copy; and conversely, if the online copy is unavailable, you have a physical backup.  Services like SpaceMonkey provide physical drives with a cloud-based backup, if you’re hunting for a 2-in-1 solution.

(3) And, last but not least, you should always test your data backups in non-emergency situations, just to see if they are working properly.  The last thing you want is to be trying to figure out how your data backup works (or determining whether it works at all) in a true emergency.

. . .

Through a unique partnership between the bar association and Jared Correia’s Red Cave Law Firm Consulting, National Creditors Bar Association members now have access to experienced law practice management consultants at a special discounted rate.  To get started, visit Red Cave's NCBA landing page, and start running your law practice like a business.

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