Frequently Asked Questions

how can i lose data?

That’s easy. Lots of ways.

1. Hardware failure

2. Natural disaster

3. User error

4. Malware

5. Fire

6. Software “errata”

how do I protect myself?

First you need backup AND restore software (this sounds obvious but there used to be two very popular backup programs; one didn’t like to back up and the other routinely failed at the latter). After that, you need to ensure your data is being properly backed up (Exchange, SQL, other databases, etc). Finally, the data needs to be secure. This means having an on-site replica for fast restores that’s not accessible to ransomware as well as an off-site copy for when the unimaginable happens.

What else can go wrong?

It is imperative that no user intervention is required for continued backups. “I forgot to change the disk” can be really bad. Backups also need to be monitored as we’ve seen many times where the backup software stopped working months before and nobody noticed.

but i have raid

Cool. That’s nice. Raid controllers fail. Drives fail in ways they’re not supposed to taking out the array. Ransomware encrypts the volume, not the disks. Power issues, users deleting files, and a whole host of other things cause data loss. Still need backup.

it’s just a printer?

A $299 color laser printer can cost over $20,000 by the time it is scrapped. Seriously. The right printer can cut that by more than half and that doesn’t even include the user time wasted waiting for a cheap machine or replacing tiny cartridges weekly.

that’s not a monitor; it’s a television!

Monitors are cheap. Really cheap. Even huge ones. How much time does a $20/hr employee waste flipping back and forth between windows?

All modern computers support multiple displays. Multiple and/or humongous monitors are the best investment you can make with the fastest payback.

Consumer vs. business pc’s

They’re actually built differently. Consumer PCs are made to be on 2-3 hours per day. Business PCs are made to be on 10-12 hours per day. Servers are made to run 24x7. Solid State drives have a failure rate 10x or more better than spinning drives and are wildly faster. Buying cheap PCs is wasting money.

i’ve been on the phone with tech support for 2 hours

Yup. Most companies stick you in a queue and make you wait to talk to someone who has no idea what you’re talking about. Why not?

We deal with vendors who provide us better support. You call us. If we can’t fix it we call in the big guns. It gets handled and you get back to work.

I’m secure… i use a mac

Congratulations but there are plenty of viruses running around that infect Macs. And Windows. And Linux. Anti-Virus is 95%+ effective. If you get one of the 5%… well… If you think you can survive an attack I would suggest you simply shut down your computers for a day and see how that goes. Now imagine your data’s gone for good. I’m not trying to scare you, just a wake up call.