Hey, your conscience called. It said to backup your server.

When is the last time you verified that your server is
actually backing up all your files like you think it is?

Ever read the fine print at your server company?

If you even have back-up service, and you likely don’t,
they have no liability if it isn’t working. And in my
experience, it often isn’t.

As internet marketers, we have a lot less physical stuff to
worry about than retail business owners or service firms.
But we do owe it to oursleves to make sure our valuable
intellectual property is protected through proper backups.

I’m in the process of moving to a new dedicated server. My
old one claimed I had regular back-ups, but I made sure to
manually download a home directory back-up every week or so.
Just in case.

Luckily, I never needed it. But it always made me a bit
nervous.

With this new server, I have virtually bullet-proof backup.
I’m paying extra for two RAID disks so if one hard disk
fails (or should I say WHEN one hard disk fails), the other
works seamlessly.

RAID protects against hardware failure, but what happens if
a virus infects and corrupts your data? The RAID system
will mirror the bad data onto both hard drives.

That’s why you also need archival backup. My new server has
a separate storage device set to automatically backup data.

If my data gets corrupted, I can retrieve a backup set and
restore normal operation.

Actually, I don’t know how to do that. So I am also paying
for a premium level of support.

Another feature I’ve got is a Cisco firewall protecting
against hackers, Denial of Service attacks and other
nasties. And all this is actively monitored by the hosting
company.

Granted, not every business out there needs to be spending
over $700 per month for their server. But when you’ve got
a lot of affiliates promoting your site, and you’ve got a
lot of different sites, I think the extra performance and
safety is a good investment.

Even if you’ve got a shared hosting account, at the very
least make sure you have good backups. Imagining the
feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize all
data on your server is lost should be all the motivation
you need.