Server Backups: How Often Should You Really Do Them?

To be quite frank, no one thinks about the process of backing up until a catastrophe occurs. The matter of corrupted files, problems or attacks conducted by hackers, or unintentional deletion and just a matter of time before you’re urgently trying to get back months of work. The question is not whether you need backups but rather how often they should be created, no matter if you are operating a business database or one of the best Minecraft servers in your area.

The Real Cost of Not Backing Up

Here’s a hard truth: within six months, 60% of companies that lose their data go out of business. That one fact alone is enough to keep you alert. When your server crashes without a backup before the crash, you are not only losing files but also money, trust of your customers, and uncountable hours of work that can never be done again.

The phenomenon of people losing the trust in the community of gamers is true for the gaming communities. Players, who have built their characters over hundreds of hours, want their progress to be on the best Minecraft servers. One server crash without proper backups and your whole community might disappear in a split second.

How Often Should You Actually Back Up?

The backup frequency you need completely depends on how much data you can allow losing. Consider it as a question: if my server crashed right at this moment, what would be the maximum number of hours worth of lost data that I could bear?

For servers used by business with heavy traffic, which are dealing with transactions, you might require constant or hourly backups. Every customer order, every database entry, every piece of content comes into play immediately. For the case of community platforms and gaming servers, which include the best Minecraft servers that have daily player activity, daily backups are the right way of striking a balance between protection and practicality.

Less active servers might manage with weekly backups, but here is my recommendation: be careful and considerate. Storage is inexpensive. Lost data cannot be recovered.

The 3 -2-1 Rule You Can’t Ignore

This fundamental principle is very much endorsed by sysadmins: have three data replicas, store them on two different kinds of media, and put one copy offline. This extra measure ensures that in case the main server plus local backup are lost, you will still have a backup in another location. 

The usage of cloud backup solutions has made this process easier. While the automated systems are taking care of the backup, you can concentrate on actually managing your server and satisfying your users.

Making Backups Actually Happen

What consequently is that there is little use creating a flawless schedule for backups when it comes to situations when it is essentially neglected. Automation can indeed solve these matters.

Plan a backup procedure that operates with no human involvement. Regularly test your restoration process you would be astonished how many people discover their backups are corrupted only when they are desperate for them.

In case you are either protecting business critical data or preserving the player built worlds on the best Minecraft servers, consistent backups are not optional. They are your insurance policy against the unavoidable. Therefore, start today as tomorrow might be too late.