Computer Disaster Recovery Planning

Aloha!

Though hurricanes are rare in Hawaii, we have suffered them. Tropical storms can wreak havoc too. We may be overdue for an earthquake, and volcanologists say pressure has been building in Mauna Loa. Hawaii is paradise, but natural disaster is ever lurking.


Making a disaster planning checklist can take some of the anxiety out of potential natural calamities. When you work on your checklist, be sure to consider your computer system/s. Ask yourself the question: What would I do if my computer were damaged, or destroyed, in a natural disaster? This question is especially pertinent if you run a business.

You may have heeded my advice about data backup in a previous blog and are now religious about this practice. Well, what if your computer AND your external hard drive where you back up your data were destroyed? (Imagine your laptop and external hard drive crashing to the floor during an earthquake. Not a pretty sight!)

Even if you have signed up for an online backup service, which backs up your essential data to a server on the Internet, what about the application software running on your computer? Do you have the installation discs in a box somewhere safe and accessible to reinstall on a new system if your current one goes down?

What if there was a fire on your premises caused by a natural disaster and all the discs in that box were burned up? You'd have to buy them all over again, unless you can find sympathetic software vendors who will let you download the applications, after you prove by you own the licenses. But what if your license paperwork gets damaged too, or you didn't save the email from an online order? What if you never bothered to register the software?

I'm not trying to scare you. I'm just alerting you to the possibilities. In this modern age where the computers are largely indispensable, businesses should devise some sort of computer disaster recovery plan. It's not too tough to create one. Just make a list of programs that are critical to your operations, note the license info, where data is backed up and how often, and envision how you'd respond in a disaster that damages the computers, data, discs, etc.

One part of a preparedness strategy is to have a copy of every critical computer-related tool that you need at your business available in a box at home (e.g. copies of your software discs, licenses, and recent data backups). If you work from a home office, then have that same stuff stored somewhere offsite, like the garage of a trusted neighbor, friend, or relative. Or perhaps in a fire safe.


Then write a step-by-step action plan detailing how to respond to a computer disaster, and indicate how much downtime you could expect before you are operational again. Solicit input from staff if you are the office manager to make sure all bases are covered. When this action plan is finalized, keep a copy somewhere offsite, perhaps even in your smartphone.

Computer disaster planning is just like any other type of planning. The purpose is to position ourselves to respond to challenging circumstances with maximum intelligence and minimum panic.

Wishing you akamai computing!