Step 4: When Should Backups Take Place?
When or how often one should backup their data depends on a number of personal and organizational dynamics; however, some questions to kick off this conversation and guide the decision-making process is:
- How much data do I generate?
Depending on how much data you or your organization generates, you may need to backup more frequently. For example, an organization that generated up to 1TB of data a day cannot afford to wait a week to backup. Such an organization may have to explore an appropriate backup type (see Step 5: Types of backup) - How much work can I afford to lose and have to repeat?
It’s also worth mentioning that some types of data may need to be backed up more frequently than others. Considering a layered approach could be useful, wherein all of your data is regularly backed up on a recurring basis, with more frequent backups taking place for certain more important or sensitive kinds of information in between the larger, overall organizational structures, or individual activities, may require a more tailored approach to regular data backup, it can regardless be a good practice to backup your important data at least once per week.