For years, I’ve always believed that keeping your data safe is critical. Without a safety net, there’s no fast method to recreate years of blog or web site content additions and updates. I’m sure you’d agree with me right? Right! I’ve rarely had any issues until recently. Do you want to avoid some of these costly issues for your blog?

As some of you are aware, I recently experienced two disasters that effected my blog and how I worked. The first disaster resulted in the initial loss of my blog (and several hours of work it took to write the initial content). The second resulted in the near-loss of data on my computer and a loss of my Internet connection. Both issues lost me time and cost me money.

Issue #1 - Software Related

The web server was configured to automatically create file and database backups every 24 hours. I even received the daily email messages, indicating the backups were created; and faithfully downloaded the new backups each day. Shortly after a I launched this blog, a scripting issue on the server caused all databases to be dropped (deleted). Normally it would be a simple fix to use the existing backups to restore the blog, without much stress.

The reality:

The backups were not overwriting the old ones. So while I was able to use the backups to obtain lost content, the actual data was old (and therefore out dated). Needless to say, it was upsetting to think that I may have lost all my content for a newly launched blog. Unfortunately, the database backup only contained the default blog post and comment entries that are included with the basic Wordpress installation. I did have the files (they were also on my PC), but again, the most important aspect of the blog was the posts (contained in the database).

Fortunately I was saved by the Google Cache, Windows Live Cache and Yahoo Cache using the search term “site:bloggersavvy.com”. If you need to reclaim your posts from the cache you can use the same command to obtain copies of your lost posts using the  same search syntax (site:your-domain-name.com). That search term will list all the pages of your site that the Search Engines have indexed and cached. As this was the only recourse, I was lucky to recover 100% of my posts and pages! It took about 8 days for all the content to appear in the cache. One thing I noticed was that I had to search several times a day to catch cached pages, as in some cases cached posts disappeared quicker than I expected (so keep monitoring and save your lost pages right away).

What I learned:

• Do not rely or trust in the accuracy of automated backup scripts. Actually read the contents to confirm accuracy.
• Do not rely on one or two copies of backups, have a third (independent) “fail safe” to save your posts if your primary backups fail.
• Always have an action plan in the event of such a disaster, if you have a plan you will avoid the stress of trying to determine a solution, when things are not working. Speaking of which, finding solutions when you are under stress is not as productive as finding them when things are okay.
• Solve the problem before it happens, be proactive. Had there been a third independent backup system operating, chances are the recovery would have taken a couple hours at most (instead of a week).

Issue #2 - Hardware Related

I configured my computer to automatically download all data, every 24 hours. This resulted in backups being created on my PC (which I later forwarded to another small file server on my local network). This resulted in me having a second off site backup of all my blog posts and files (the first backup remains on the hosting server). Also because I would copy the backups (on my PC) to another file server, I had a third backup. A backup of the backup so to speak.

The reality:

While I was diligent in ensuring I had off site backups (with current data), I failed to plan effectively for a hardware failure. My computer has two hard drives and both of them started to fail! My operating system became crippled and it was hard to boot up the PC. I used a bootable diagnostic disk from the hard drive manufacturer and their diagnostic confirmed the hard drives were failing. To further compound this issue, I had a switch on my network (it acts like a hub to allow more than one computer to access the network - and internet), which failed, resulting in me not being able to access the Internet.

Replacing the switch was easily accomplished by a quick trip to the PC hardware store. I had to order 2 new hard drives to replace the failing ones and reinstall the operating system along with the applications. Before doing this, I needed to reclaim the lost data (as the file server only had some of the data copied to it). After phoning a few data restoration companies, who gave me (in my opinion) excessive and expensive options of $250 - $3500 CDN, before even working on obtaining the actual data, I decided to find out other options. I send a few messages on twitter from a friend’s computer and used Google to search for some self-help options. I found a good solution for about $135 CDN, called “Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recover“. I downloaded the demo version first, just to see if it could access the drive (it did) and then paid for the full version to recover my lost data (which automatically sent it to the working file server). One issue I had to deal with was the constant reboots of the system (not because of the recovery software) but because of the failing drives (which the operating system was also on). It took almost four days to finally reclaim just about 100% of my data.

I also opted to install a proactive solution and purchased a D-Link DNS-321 network storage unit, to which I added two more hard drives again, and had one mirroring all it’s contents to the other. In the event when one of those drives fails - and eventually they will, the second drive in that unit will be a duplicate of the failed drive.

Waiting for parts, installation of software, etc. cost me about a week of lost time and work. But using the data recovery software and replacing the hardware fixed all issues.

What I learned:

• Always plan for unexpected hardware failures. Moving parts (such as hard drives) do eventually fail.
• It is unrealistic (for home users or small business operators) to keep extra hard drives on hand, so make sure there is a separate storage unit (that is a backup of your existing data).
• Keep 3 sets of blog backups at the very least. One on the web server, one on your PC and the third on a separate system (or backup network storage unit). Doing so is proactive and resolves data loss issues before they happen).
• Be nice to your web hosting support team! - If you are nice to them, they will be nice to you. Capiche?

I should note that there are online solutions as well, such as:

• Remote Backup using Rsync or FTP.
• Rsync Remote Backup.

However, I have not actually used their services, so have no idea of the support or service level quality. I’d appreciate (we all would, I think) comments below from anyone who does use online backup services. Are they effective, easy, affordable, etc? Please let us know in your comments.

Side note: I also use a Wordpress plugin that supports automatic backup scheduling of my blogs database and emails me a copy of the database every day, it may help you too.

In conclusion, I cannot stress enough the need for all blog owners (such as myself) to have a disaster plan ready. Doing so will reduce stress and down time. Additionally, the second factor that needs extra emphasis is to ensure you operate in a proactive manner. Remember that your data (and the blog requiring it) can be effected by software failures, hardware failures, malicious activities, and so forth. As such, I cannot stress enough the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge that redundant backup systems bring.

Here’s a helpful how-to backup video from BetaFlux Studios on YouTube: “…it will show you how to create and run a very important backup utility in your operating system…”:

Have you had any issues similar to these? How did you resolve them? Did I miss anything in this post? Or do you provide related solutions that help blog owners? Feel free to answer below!