I can’t tell you how many times each year I hear from clients, colleagues and others about the problems they’re experiencing with their computer. Sometimes they are minor and they can fix them, while at other times, they are of major import and necessitate the calling in of experts.
Last year, right before Christmas, as I was in the last two weeks of leading a team of product developers, my computer decided to have problems. First, the power box went out — so I took it in to get repaired. That ended up costing me several days.
Then, of course, it was discovered that the hard drive was ready to fail. Yes, it was sounding funny, but I was too busy to attend to it. Luckily, and on it’s last leg, the technicians were able to rescue all of my files, including websites, book manuscripts, articles, client files, you name it. I ended up without my computer for two weeks. While I had a backup computer, I still didn’t have access to all my files. Never again was I going to go through this. Experiencing all this around the holidays made it even worse.
For Christmas, I received a gigantic external hard drive. Now I schedule in a weekly backup of everything. I no longer worry about losing anything. Worse case, I can take my drive over to the library, plug it in, and I’m in business. I encourage everyone to buy an external hard drive or to buy a service on the internet to which files can be uploaded.
When you’re in business, you can’t afford a computer failure. Make it a part of your weekly routine to back up everything. I’ve set aside one hour each week to do just that. And, I keep at least 4 weeks of backups at any one time. It’s also a good idea to keep a monthly copy of your drive in your safe deposit box. You just never know when you might need it.
Ask yourself these questions: When was the last time you backed up your hard drive? If your hard drive failed right now, how would it impact your business? Can you afford to not have your data for even a day? Risk management is a part of every good business plan. Make sure it is a part of yours. (And, yes, I backed up my computer … yesterday!)
Posted on Sep 14th 06 by Tara Alexandra Kachaturoff.
Tara Alexandra Kachaturoff is the creator, producer and host of Michigan Entrepreneur TV, a weekly television talk show featuring business leaders and businesses from start-up to stellar. With over 15 years of experience in corporate finance in the tech sector, she now coaches executives and business professionals on leadership, management, operations, and relationship issues. http://www.tarakachaturoff.com
Other posts on Coachamatic by Tara Alexandra Kachaturoff.
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