Momentary Panic

One of my computers died this weekend. While I’m in the process of turning all PC support to another firm, I, being the tech guy that I am, decide that I could fix this one my self. I KNEW that everything I need is backed up so all I need to do is let my Dell restore its initial settings and I’ll be good to go.

Except that when I went to restore my key Quickbooks files, I can’t find them. I start to panic. I know I set Mozypro, the remote backup service I use, to back these files up. They are really all I care about on this computer. Still, I can’t find them. All the while my son is asking why he can’t use Noggin and my wife is bothering me about the printer. I barely restrain myself from telling both of them to leave me alone while I think about what I’m going to do. I think my CPA probably has a copy that’s only a few weeks old and being the paranoid I am I have another backup somewhere but it’s not exactly recent. Still, I’m looking at the loss of dozens, if not hundreds of transactions.

Luckily, my mind clears and I remember where the files are and my blood pressure drops back down. I restored them successful, aided by the fact that wife and son went out to see Harry the Dirty Dog. Nonetheless, I feel silly because I’m always telling my clients that backups are useless if you don’t test them regularly.

I’m sure that most of your organizations run backups and that some of you may even make sure the data is stored off site and not in a file cabinet right next the computer. I’d bet, though, that most of you haven’t tested those backups in years. If you actually tested it, surveys indicate that at least 1 in 5 of your would discover that the information was totally worthless. In my case, I was only looking at a loss of a few weeks work. Imagine if you really tried to restore a major system and couldn’t. So, this week, make it point to find out the last time anyone tested a backup in your company. If they can’t remember when, make sure they do it within a week and every six months thereafter. I freaked out even though I thought I could find them. Imagine what I’d feel like if I really had lost my key files.

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