How to Troubleshoot A Failed Backup

Your business relies on its IT to get things done, but if disaster were to strike, would you be able to recover efficient operations without having to deal with the numerous headaches that are associated with downtime? Even if you have instituted a reliable backup solution, your business could still be hurting if your backup failed. Here’s how you troubleshoot this scenario.

It could be a nightmare if your last backup didn’t process correctly. According to Rachel A. Dines, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, it could, and is most certainly something to take into consideration. Sometimes backups don’t finish before issues arise, or your organization's backup strategy simply didn’t have a backup scheduled in the time between the last operations ceased and the disaster struck. Regardless of your situation, working with an incomplete or corrupted backup could mean significant downtime for your business.

To start troubleshooting this problem, it is important to ascertain what the problem is. Is it a one-time event, or is it a system-wide problem that is going to take some investigation and time to properly fix? If it’s a single backup failure, that is, if it was a one-time problem, the issue comes isolated, giving you the best chance to fix the problem without hindering operations. If it is affecting multiple servers and is keeping your files from being backed up, more investigation will be needed.

It could be something simple such as a discrepancy with the power supply or the network connection; in which case, resolving the issue should alleviate your backup problems. Most times, the running backup solution is simply overwhelmed by the amount of information that it’s backing up. A remedy for this issue is to put together a business continuity plan to isolate the mission-critical information you need to protect, and focus your backup efforts toward making sure that data is redundant.

The best case scenario, especially if you have information that would devastate your business if it were lost, is to call Preferred at 708-781-7110. We can present you with options, including our complete Backup and Disaster Recovery solution. Our BDR performs regular backups throughout the day, then pushes your backups to a secure, off-site location, where your backups are constantly monitored and tested to ensure your data is available when you need it.

To protect your business from disaster and keep your operations up and running smoothly, put your trust in Preferred, the Chicagoland area’s top solutions provider.