{"id":657,"date":"2025-03-31T02:40:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T07:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/?p=657"},"modified":"2025-04-28T05:16:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T10:16:03","slug":"backups-gone-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/blog\/backups-gone-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Backups Gone Wrong: What I’ve Learned from Other People’s Disasters"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 31 is World Backup Day<\/strong>, which in my line of work is like Christmas, Halloween, and Groundhog Day rolled into one. It’s festive (if you\u2019re into data), a little spooky (if you\u2019ve ever lost a file), and cyclical (because some people never learn).<\/span><\/p>\n

As someone who\u2019s spent a career in technology and years advising other business owners, I\u2019ll tell you this: If you’ve ever said \u201cI’ll do that backup tomorrow,\u201d congratulations. You’re officially part of the Groundless Optimism Club. Most of us have been there\u2026 right up until the moment when tomorrow is too late.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve seen my share of data disasters. Some were preventable. Some were painful. And several were just plain funny.<\/span><\/p>\n

(As long as they were happening to someone else.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are a few of my favorite real-life stories of backups gone wrong.<\/span><\/p>\n

And yes, I\u2019ve changed the names to protect the innocent. Except the first one. That was Pixar.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. An Animator\u2019s Wipeout<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Years ago, during the production of<\/span> Toy Story 2<\/strong>, someone at Pixar accidentally ran a delete command that wiped out nearly the entire film. Everything vanished \u2014 characters, environments, and years of rendering work.<\/span><\/p>\n

    But it gets better: when they went to restore the backup, they discovered it hadn\u2019t been working correctly for<\/span> months<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    The movie was saved by one woman on maternity leave, who happened to have a full copy of the project on her personal computer. (Why she had it is another story, but let\u2019s thank the gods of good fortune.)<\/span><\/p>\n

    Lesson:<\/strong> Even high-profile companies can forget to check their backups. It turns out having a logo with an adorable hopping desk lamp and an office big enough to host a foosball table in the break room doesn\u2019t exempt you from verifying your backup system.<\/span><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. (Too) Magnetic Personalities<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      A colleague told me about a client who kept all their backup tapes in a filing cabinet next to the elevator shaft.<\/p>\n

      Let me pause here and say, just because your office wall looks like any other office wall, that doesn\u2019t mean there isn\u2019t an elevator on the other side.<\/p>\n

      Turns out, elevators and magnetic tape don\u2019t mix. Each time the elevator went up or down, it slowly and methodically erased the backup tapes. By the time anyone noticed, years of data were scrambled like eggs on a camp grill.<\/p>\n

      Lesson:<\/strong> Backups are only as good as where and how you store them.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Bonus Lesson:<\/strong> Magnets are not your friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Mirror, Mirror on the\u2026 OMG<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Another business owner, who prides himself on his DIY tech abilities, felt confident in his backup strategy because he mirrored two hard drives together. \u201cEverything is backed up automatically!\u201d he told me proudly, knowing the second drive captured a duplicate of the primary hard drive.<\/span><\/p>\n

        What he didn\u2019t realize was that mirroring only creates a real-time clone. When the first drive became corrupted, the second drive copied those errors faithfully. Like a loyal Labrador, it fetched the bad data exactly as instructed.<\/span><\/p>\n

        Lesson:<\/strong> Redundancy isn\u2019t a strategy, it\u2019s a feature. Thinking strategically, backups should live separately and ideally be invisible to everyday operations until you need them. (Also, Labradors are great, but don\u2019t let them manage your IT.)<\/span><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Flood of Data<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Then there\u2019s the company that stored all<\/em> their backups \u2014 tapes, drives, and paper files \u2014 in the basement. You already know where this is going.<\/span><\/p>\n

          A pipe burst. By the time they discovered the damage, the water had destroyed not only the backups but the labels, the files, and the server closet. Mold took care of the rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

          They had insurance. It didn\u2019t cover stupidity.<\/span><\/p>\n

          Lesson:<\/strong> Off-site or cloud storage for backups isn\u2019t just a suggestion. It\u2019s a lifeline. Basements are for sump pumps and regret.<\/span><\/p>\n

            \n
          1. The Groan Heard<\/em> \u031bRound the Office<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            This one came from an IT guy who had just joined a small company and was asked to clean up the server. In a rush, he used the classic Linux command: [REDACTED]. (Yes, I\u2019ve hidden it in case someone\u2019s feeling naughty.)<\/span><\/p>\n

            If you\u2019re not familiar with that command, just know it\u2019s the nuclear option. It doesn\u2019t ask questions. It doesn\u2019t do takebacks. It just removes everything<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

            There was no backup. Just a long week where too many people spent their time retyping from paper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

            Lesson:<\/strong> Every command has consequences. Not having a backup makes those consequences painful.<\/span><\/p>\n

              \n
            1. A Backup by Any Other Name<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Back in the 2000s, I worked with a guy who was meticulous. He made backups every week onto tapes. The problem? He labeled each one \u201cTuesday.\u201d That\u2019s it. Just \u201cTuesday.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

              When his systems failed, he had a stack of 36 tapes and no idea which Tuesday was the<\/em> Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Eventually, after a long night of playing \u201cdata roulette,\u201d he found the right one and restored the data.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Lesson:<\/strong> Take a second to label your backups accurately \u2013 as if your future depends on it. Because it might.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Why I Care About This (and Why You Should Too)<\/strong><\/p>\n

              I know what you’re thinking: This won\u2019t happen to me, because my files are in Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or iCloud. It saves my stuff automatically.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

              You\u2019re right to think that your files are saved, but sadly, not right to assume they are backed up.<\/span><\/p>\n

              I\u2019ve seen clients lose invoices, contracts, videos, payroll records, and even entire CRM systems because someone assumed someone else (like Google) was taking care of the backups. That\u2019s the kind of assumption that eats weekends.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Here\u2019s what I do at my company, and what I recommend to clients:<\/strong><\/p>\n

              1) Keep three copies.<\/strong> One primary copy that you rely on every day; one local backup stowed each night in a safe place in your office, and one off-site or cloud-based that updates frequently so you risk losing only an hour or a few minutes of work.<\/span><\/p>\n

              2) Regular testing.<\/strong> It\u2019s not enough to back up; you need to know the backup restores your data<\/em> properly. (We\u2019ve written a special program that tests our clients\u2019 backups every day.)<\/span><\/p>\n

              3) Automation with oversight.<\/strong> Automatic backups are great, but you need someone to check the system\u2019s activity logs to see that your backups actually occurred. Trust, but verify.<\/span><\/p>\n

              4) Version history.<\/strong> Backups should include past versions of your documents in case corruption sneaks in and quietly ruins your files over time. Those older files will help you resurrect your everyday business operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

              You don\u2019t have to be a tech genius to implement this stuff. You just need someone who is, and who knows your business.<\/span><\/p>\n

              One Last Thing<\/strong><\/p>\n

              If you\u2019re reading this and thinking, \u201cYeah, I should probably look into this,\u201d that\u2019s your cue. It\u2019s like seeing the check engine light while driving through the desert. (You can ignore it, but you probably shouldn\u2019t.)<\/span><\/p>\n

              If you\u2019re one of our clients, we\u2019ve already got backup plans for you. If you\u2019re not, and you\u2019d rather laugh at someone else\u2019s disaster than live through your own, let\u2019s talk.<\/span><\/p>\n

              And yes, I know this post started as a PSA for World Backup Day and turned into storytelling by the watercooler. It happens.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Regardless, here\u2019s the takeaway: back up your stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

              Or someone like me will be telling your story next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

               <\/p>\n

              Pictured: I say this only 365 times a year.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

              March 31 is World Backup Day, which in my line of work…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1039,"featured_media":658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-it-services-for-the-greater-philadelphia-area","tag-backups"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1039"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cmitsolutions.com\/philadelphia-pa-1200\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}