The process of recovering or re-entering data lost in a system crash can be a nightmare for a POS business.  Luckily, there are steps that can be taken in advance that will help avoid lost data and facilitate restoration of data if a disaster does occur.

To keep your precious data safe, here are some tips presented by Jeff Haeffner of Point of Sale Software Buyers Guide:

• Back up your POS Software data every day.  This will require installation of a good tape backup, external hard drive, zip drive, or CDR-W drive.  The software that usually comes with these products will need to be configured to back up the hard drive that contains your POS Software data.  With the advent of Cloud Computing, you may want to look at Internet Servers as a backup alternative.

• Schedule your backup to run every night and always check the log for errors the next day.

• Don't overwrite your backup every time.  Rotate your backups on a weekly basis and monthly basis.  You then have a backup for each day of the week and one for each month of the year.  

• It is best to make the backups Before end-of-day posting so you can reset if it fails.

• Remember that Media can go bad and hardware problems can occur at the same time.  If you backup over the same media, and it is your ownly copy, then logic shows that you will have nothing to recover with, if you have simultaneous backups and hardware failures.  

• You need to be able to revert to data from several days earlier or you do not have a well planned backup procedure..

• Take the previous day's backup home to keep it safe.  Off-site backups help if you do not have fire-proof and theft-proof enclosures at the office.

• Test the backup once a week or month to insure its accuracy.

• Install a UPS and surge protector on at least the main computer that stores your POS data.  The Ethernet cable, modem phone line, monitor, and power cord should be plugged into the UPS to protect against such things as lightning strikes.

• Install RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) hard drives on your server.  This will keep your server running even with a hard drive failure.  CCS should be contacted for this option.

Taking preventive steps like those shown above will help immeasurably in protecting your data from being lost.  CCS can help you with this important facet of keeping your business healthy.  Call us for more information at 425-672-4806 or email us.