7 Key Tips To Choosing The Right Data Protection Software For Your Needs

Let's get the definitions out of the way first thing. "Data protection" is something that requires a solution, not a software package. That is, you may be able to safeguard, backup, restore and control access to your data, and you may even be able to do it with one application (although it's doubtful). But protecting your data is more than the sum of a few certain steps. It requires planning and discipline, and requires hands-on, human intervention as well as automated systems.

If you are an IT professional responsible for your firm's data protection - or just the most computer-savvy person in your small or mid-sized firm - you may already have a favorite procedure. You have probably found a software package (or two, or three) that you have used with some degree of success and consistency. But if you are doing this for the first time, or rethinking your company's approach because of less than stellar results, these six key tips to choosing the right data protection software for your needs is right on time.

1. Decide "where" before "what": Do you want web-based backup and recovery, local backup and recovery, or some combination of the two? This decision should be made first, since the kinds of software and procedures differ for each approach. You will need to crunch a few numbers so you know how much space you will need, wherever the backup server is located, and you will have to develop schedules and protocols (and enforce them) to make it all work.

2. Consider a subscription: There are a number of subscription-based online services that charge monthly fees ranging from $4.95 to a few hundred dollars per month, depending on your unique needs and storage requirements. The software that is provided by these services is always available for Windows environments, of course, but these days Linux and Macintosh clients are usually supported, as well. Such features as 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and near-continuous data protection are common, but be aware that some products are intended more for the home than the business environment. Read the fine print.

3. Try "set and forget": For many businesses needing a modest amount of local backup and recovery, software vendors have created various programs that you can "set and forget." These products put a premium on ease of use, and make it simple to get status reports, general system information or specific file data. With these "smart syncing" applications, you can set your system up in one short session of perhaps five or six mouse-clicks. The programs are not as robust and multitalented as some "enterprise" solutions, but they don't cost $11,000 either.

4. To clone or not to clone: Another excellent and often overlooked option for backing up laptops and desktops locally is to simply clone their hard drives. Instead of deciding what files or applications to backup, cloning software will make a sector-by-sector "twin" of the target drive that can be saved not to another internal or external hard drive, but save as another drive. You can also create ISO or proprietary disc images of the drives and burn them to DVD (or across a lot of CDs, but why?) or park it on a small office server. This is a fast and low-cost solution, meaning that it does not have tremendous flexibility. You would have to create a completely new clone every day, although some programs will let you pick up from where you left off and add to a previous clone (incremental saves).

5. Don't just backup, roll back: You also need to protect against data corruption and deletion, and most computer users with more than two months' experience already know how easy it is to "corrupt" a single file or an entire database, or make a once- functioning system totally unusable. There are hundreds (thousands?) of "system rollback" utilities that have arrived on the scene to help out. In fact, both the new Windows Vista and Macintosh OS X Leopard have these functions built in. The rollback applications take periodic "snapshots" of the entire system - from the Operating System (OS) and its many parts, to applications, files, documents, etc. - and date them. If a problem occurs, you can "roll the system back" to a date when things were running smoothly.

6. Do you need tracking and analysis?: Many companies, of all sizes, will need to track all computer operations for a variety of reasons, from financial to security-related. The performance and condition of every component in the device chain is of critical importance. In the largest, most complex backup environments, though, exceptionally powerful tools with "analytic engines" are deployed to keep management apprised of up to the nanosecond system status. These tools allow managers to solve performance bottlenecks, determine ongoing and growing storage needs, analyze competing procedures and oversee the entire operation with scheduling, troubleshooting, reporting and repair utilities.

7. Think broad and deep: You need to cover more bases than most single applications can handle, so think in terms of a data protection solution rather than a data protection software package. Although your firm may be large enough to develop its own proprietary software for onsite use, that is quite an investment, and it may be that you are reinventing more than one wheel. Try to assemble a solution - with software, hardware and human beings all being components - that addresses your firm's unique needs and will be practical, possible and fairly painless to implement. There will be bumps in the road, of course, but your good planning ahead of time should result in a solution that works - if you work it!