Data Recovery Plan and Offsite Data Recovery Information

Any computer user's first priority, especially if he or she is an administrator or works on the executive level, should be to have a data recovery plan in place in preparation for data loss. Physical damage to a computer or a secondary data storage device almost always leads to at least some data loss. A good data recovery plan involves having a data backup plan of some sort that can lead to file recovery. Ideally, a computer user will have a data recovery plan wherein he or she backs up all of their files so that they can have a full file recovery.

Occasionally, a data recovery plan can also be called a disaster recovery plan due to the fact that such a plan involves data recovery after the event of a disaster. A disaster can mean a natural disaster that actually damages or destroys the computer or secondary data storage device such as a storm or earthquake. It can also be an event that in some way threatens to damage or destroy the computer or secondary data storage device. This includes the loss, theft, or abandonment of a computer or secondary data storage device.

Thorough free data recovery plans will generally have multiple backup solutions in place. This way should both the computer and the secondary data storage device become damaged, destroyed, or threatened in whatever way there remains a backup system in place that will lead to a total data recovery. In many cases, at least one of the backup solutions featured in a data recovery plan will be offsite data backup and recovery.

An offsite data recovery plan means data backed up at another location other than on the computer where the data was originally stored, be it at home or at the office. This can be as simple as keeping copied files in one's car or as elaborate as copying an entire computer system and putting it on another computer in another office.

For optimal protection, a data recovery plan will involve not only several secondary data storage devices (such as CDs, DVDs, hard disks, etc), but also several offsite data backup systems as well. This can simply involve saving files on both home and office computers. Another offsite data backup plan or remote data backup plan that works especially well for a data recovery plan is online data backup.

Online storage (as part of a data recovery plan) has no manual steps such as sliding a CD in, saving data on it, and then putting that CD away. An online backup service provides software that encrypts data and then sends its via the Internet into a server where it can be accessed from any computer with a working Internet connection so long as the user possesses the decryption key. As a data recovery plan, this works extremely well since the data is easily accessible and the Internet's capacity for data storage is infinite. An efficient, well thought out data recovery plan will include online backup.