Network attached storage (NAS) devices play a major role in today’s collaborative workspace. Their file storage, sharing and syncing capabilities often position them at the center of many small business’s data storage structures, and the data they store is often essential to maintaining daily operations. Because of the importance NAS devices play in the workplace, they need the proper protection in order to ensure that the data they house is always safe and can be retrieved in any situation — from device failure, to human error, natural disaster and more.
If you haven’t considered the need for NAS backup, or think your business is immune to NAS data loss, here are 4 reasons you should reconsider:
1. You can’t afford to lose business-critical data
Between technical services, lost productivity and the value of lost data itself, businesses can spend an average of nearly $4,000 trying to recover from a data loss event. NAS devices often house the most vital business information within an organization. Because they hold such valuable business assets and are an integral component to an organization’s day to day operations, it’s essential to take steps to guarantee the data they store.
Not taking the proper precautions to fortify the data within your business’s NAS device is negligent and will put your business at a much greater risk for permanent data loss and the expenses associated with it. By backing up the data on your NAS device, you’ll be able to recover it quickly and with the least financial impact.
2. You’re using your NAS as your organization’s one and only backup solution
NAS devices are storage devices connected to a network in order to allow storage and retrieval from a centralized location. However, they are not and should never be considered a backup solution.
While they are intended as storage devices, some businesses mistakenly use them as backup solutions. While NAS devices are often used to hold backups for company data, they should never be the only backup a business relies on. This is because, as physical storage devices, they are vulnerable to a myriad of threats. These threats include flood, fire, device failure, and more. Using one local, physical NAS device to account for all of your business critical data is just about the worst data mistake a business can make, as it violates multiple backup solution safety and reliability recommendations:
Data should be backed up to at least 3 places
Backups should not only be stored locally (where they are vulnerable to the same local threats as your other business devices)
Physical storage devices are not 100% reliable and should be supplemented with a cloud backup solution
Storage devices are not backups (Exception: you can store backups on storage devices for easy access, so long as you still follow all additional backup guidelines)
Off-site cloud backup is the most recommended backup solution and should be included in your data recovery plan in some form
NAS devices were designed for file syncing and sharing, and while keeping data backups on an NAS device isn’t a cause for concern in and of itself, trouble arises when businesses use them as their go-to backup solution.
3. You need control over data outages
Device failures and physical damage are an all too common cause of data loss. If your NAS device goes down or stops functioning, you need to be able to continue operating your business in the meantime. In order to do so, you’ll need to have a solution on-hand that gives your people the ability to recover files quickly and seamlessly. This ability will allow your staff to reduce downtime associated with data loss.
By backing up your NAS device to an off-site location that can be accessed via the cloud, you’ll be able to access your data in the meantime while your company works to replace your NAS device. This will allow your staff to greatly reduce downtime due to data loss.
Even better, once you purchase a new NAS device to replace the failed one, you can quickly re-configure your NAS device with all of the data you need by simply restoring your backed up data from the cloud to your new device.
4. Bounce back from collaboration & syncing errors
While file syncing capabilities are one of the major reasons businesses adopt NAS devices, these capabilities can also be a source of frustration and lost work due to lost or overwritten file changes. When documents and files are shared company-wide and multiple users have access, file changes are bound to get overwritten. By implementing an NAS backup solution that provides unlimited previous file version histories, your team will be able to search your backup to find the exact version of any document you need.
Unlimited previous file versions also come in handy if your NAS device is infected by a ransomware virus that encrypts all of your data, making it unreadable to you until ransom is paid. Once the virus is detected and removed, your work can be restored from the previous file versions held within your backup.
Best NAS backup solution
Because of the importance of the data held on NAS devices, the reasons for ensuring the data within them are vast. But in order to guarantee your NAS data is always retrievable, you’ll need to select the appropriate backup solution.
Nordic Backup provides multi-computer and NAS cloud backup solutions for businesses of all sizes. If securing the data within your NAS device, having speedy data restore options, and access to unlimited previous file versions is important to you, Nordic Backup is the NAS backup solution your business needs. Click here to start a free 30 day trial.
