One of our best selling products, Barracuda Essentials Complete includes two features that people often confuse: Archiving and Backup. The quick answer is that backups are for recovery, while archiving is for discovery. But what does that really mean to you and your files?
Backups
Backups allow you to recover deleted or damaged files. They are important in case of user error, hardware failure, cyberattack or ransomware attack. Your files are an important part of your business and you don’t want to lose them.
But doesn’t Microsoft 365 backup my files? There is an automatic backup of your cloud files that allow you to recover problems by user error. You can always revert to a prior version, which has saved me more than once! If you delete a file, you can recover it from your online Recycle Bin within 15 days; your Office Admin can recover files from the second-stage Recycle bin for up to 30 days. So what if you don’t realize your file is missing before then? That’s why you need a third-party backup.
Microsoft’s backup will also not protect you if you receive a ransomware attack, which is again why a third-party backup is necessary for total protection.
Archiving
Archiving is not the same thing as a backup: archiving is your long-term storage needs. My most common examples are lawsuits and audits. It’s easier to visualize archiving of documents – we pretty much know what the important files are and where they are stored. But what about email messages, calendars and other electronic notes? Archiving services will capture and secure all email at the time it is sent and received. Accurate, unmodified copies of every email is stored outside the product email environment. Messages can be retrieved even if it has been deleted or changed from a user’s inbox.
eDiscovery and Legal Holds are other terms you hear about archiving. A good archiving system will make it easier for the lawyers and auditors to do their work without interrupting your current workflow.
Your archive system should help you keep your data for an appropriate amount of time. Many files and records only need to be held for 3 years. An archive system will allow you to purge those files regularly. Similarly, an archive system will allow you to mark those files that have to be retained indefinitely.
While you may think you only need one or the other – the two go hand-in-hand to keep you safe and to allow your business to meet any compliance requirements.
Doing IT the Turner Way!
Because Turner Technology does IT the Turner Way, you can rely on us to help you get your systems set up correctly and help you in times when you need to recover a file or have to comply with an audit. Contact us today to learn more about our services.
